Unsurprisingly, quite a few of them are defenders.
Thierry Henry has claimed that Alexis Sanchez has to be considered Arsene Wenger’s best ever signing as Arsenal boss.
This could certainly be the case with he Chilean maestro becoming integreal to the Gunners current successes.
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But whilst Wenger has a reputation for pulling off transfer miracles and unearthing hidden gems, it doesn’t always go to plan.
We look at some of the Frenchman’s worst ever signing for Arsenal below:
10) Andrey Arshavin – £15m From Zenit St Petersburg – January 2009
Few signings will have sparked just as much excitement among fans with Arshavin arriving after a blistering Euro 2008 where he almost won Russia the tournament by himself.
Something clicked in Arshavin though after an incredible first six months that was typified by his four goal Anfield haul. The forward seemed to lose interest, lose ability, lose fitness; intact the only thing he managed to gain was a bigger waist.
He was eventually sent packing from the Emirates definitely with a question of “What could have been?”
9) Park Chu Young – £4m from AS Monaco – August 2011
Signed in the great, Wenger transfer splurge of 2011 after his side’s humiliating 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford. How he managed to convince anyone to join after that is a minor miracle in itself.
Park was on the verge of putting pen to paper for Lille before a call from the Arsenal boss stopped everything in their tracks. But the problem is, after he bought him Wenger either had a serious case of buyer’s remorse or he just didn’t trust him to play him.
A goal against Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup is all he managed during his three year spell in North London along with a meagre seven appearances in total.
Park may just wish he had never answered that damned phone.
8) Pascal Cygan – £2m from Lille – July 2002
The co-ordination of a newborn foal meant Cygan spent more time kicking the air than the ball and had a penchant for watching the action unfold in front of him.
That he somehow was a part of the Invincibles squad has to be one of the world’s greatest miracles and unexplained phenomenon.
7) Andre Santos – £6m from Fenerbache – August 2011
Santos was sort of the joke figure at Arsenal when he arrived; a loveably, funny, slightly overweight full back who could just as easily score a goal than cost one.
But his Arsenal career ended the day he was seen on TV swapping shirts with the recently sold and now hated Robin van Persie at half-time when Arsenal played Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2012 and were losing 1-0 thanks to an RVP strike.
He got the shirt but went from cult hero to zero and two months later was shipped back to Brazil to play for Gremio on-loan and eventually sold.
6) Richard Wright – £6m from Ipswich Town – July 2001
Punching your own ball into the net is never probably a great idea as Wright did against Charlton or the soft goal he gave to Gus Poyet in a North London Derby.
Wright was signed with much promise and proudly proclaimed he was there to compete with David Seaman, not sit on the bench.
Ultimately he was right because he struggled even to make the squad after some of his exploits and after just one season he left for Everton.
5) Mikael Silvestre – Free
Good when he played for Manchester United but even in his prime you suspected he could be given the runaround. Silvestre was snapped up by Wenger in 2008 who thought had a bargain and potential leader for his young defenders.
Whether Silvestre’s time with the Gunners was simply a great lesson by the Frenchman to show his young Arsenal understudies how you should never defend we’ll never know.
But that Wenger had to select him in a Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona at the Nou Camp to face Lionel Messi will always cause amusement.
4) Sebastien Squillaci – £3.2 million from Sevilla – July 2010
A rare Wenger signing in that he joined on a multi-year contract despite being over the age of 30 and also rare in that he made a career as a defender whilst being unable to defend.
In fact in one of his incredible displays for the Gunners he managed to head-butt Laurent Koscielny, his own teammate, when going for a header.
Koscielny was out cold and Fulham, the opponents that day, were able to score, it kind of summed up his career in red and white really.
3) Igors Stepanovs – £1.5m from Skonto Riga – September 2000
Inexplicably, the Latvian was actually signed as cover for Tony Adams but was more like the antithesis of the Arsenal legend.
The 6-1 drubbing at Old Trafford really marked Stepanovs nadir, so much so that even a picture of Dwight Yorke might be too much for him to handle.
Only made the 17 appearances in four years which really tells you all you need to know.
2) Manuel Almunia – Celta Vigo – July 2004
Sure, there are worse signings than the Spaniard. Sure, it wasn’t his fault he kept getting picked. But you’d struggled to find a man who caused so much pain to Arsenal fans over a relatively short period safe for Sir Alex Ferguson.
His introduction in the Champions League Final when the Gunners went down to ten man was a valiant display until the last few minutes when he allowed himself to be beaten at his near post and between his legs.
He seemed a man reborn during the Gunners 2007/2008 season and a world beater between the posts but it was a false dawn and in the years proceeding Almunia did everything short of throwing the ball in his own net.
Indeed, he could personally be held responsible for a number of missed trophy winning opportunities for the Gunners during his time as Arsenal no. 1.
1) Francis Jeffers – £8m from Everton – June 2001
There are players that have caused more misery than Jeffers but the ‘Fox in the Box’ has to be number one just for the sheer hilarity of his failed Arsenal career.
Arsene Wenger actually later admitted to passing on the opportunity to sign Ruud van Nistelrooy, one of the great striking names of our times, for a man who ended his time with the Gunners with just eight goals.
To put it in to context, this was Wenger’s second most expensive signing of the time and now probably Arsenal’s biggest transfer blunder.
The cap it all off, in his final appearance for the North London side, in a Community Shield match with Manchester United, Jeffers was sent off. Sums it up really.