TRANSFER MISTAKES THAT SET THE GUNNERS BACK A FEW YEARS.
We are a club that has come a long way, from the latter stages of Wenger’s reign through to the early stages of Mikel’s tenure, we were a club in complete disarray, characterized by terrible transfer decisions and policies which translated into further decline in performance levels on the pitch.
The combination of those factors made it a painstakingly long road to recovery, it was during this period that we broke unwanted records for the ages. One of the key reasons responsible for this was the number of bad transfers we made during that period, so follow me as I go through three of the worst transfer decisions, we made during that.
1. Willian: Eyebrows were raised when Arsenal decided to snap up the Brazilian winger on a free in the summer of 2020, he had a pretty decent season with Chelsea prior to the move, contributing 20 G/A (11 goals & 9 assists) in all competitions however the prospect of moving to North London was met with skepticism. The skeptics were seemingly proven wrong on his debut however due to his man of the match display against present club Fulham. Nevertheless, the fears were proven right eventually when he went on to have one of the poorest seasons of his career, the only blame I had on Arteta was the persistence of playing him when he was desperately out of form and needing confidence.
2. Sokratis: One of the very first signings of the post Wenger era, the Greek Central defender represented one of our biggest transfer mistakes during that phase, His profile was a total mismatch to how we were trying to play. lacking the pace & mobility to cover spaces in behind along with not being technical enough to build from the back, were just a few reasons why this was one of the worst transfers the club made during that period, Couple that with the partnership he had with Mustafi for the most part, then there’s no wonder why we were in disarray.
3. Nicolas Pepe: A player of great potential and quality, you just have to accept that it wasn’t meant to be, he was a player I really liked and supported even when he was not in the richest vein of form but however, we just had to move on. He just couldn’t adjust to the huge demands of premier league football also the price tag was just too big for him to handle; it weighed him down like a shackle and this led to inconsistencies throughout his Arsenal career.
Is there anyone else you would include in this list?
