Arsenal's best ever transfer windows
Arsenal's best ever transfer windows
By Matt Wright
The system of summer and January transfer windows has been in place in English football for 20 years now and in terms of the business Arsenal have done, the current one has the potential to be one of their best.
So far this summer, manager Mikel Arteta has brought in two Premier League winners from his old club, Manchester City, with Gabriel Jesus expected to sharpen up the attack and Oleksandr Zinchenko set to provide stability at left-back or as a defensive midfielder.
Also coming through the arrivals gate has been highly-rated Porto playmaker Hugo Vieira, young Sao Paulo striker Marquinhos and back-up goalkeeper Matt Turner from New England Revolution.
There isn’t a doubt that the Gunners’ squad now has a stronger look to it than it did 12 months ago, even allowing for the departure of Alexandre Lacazette, as Arteta looks to ensure there is no repeat of the collapse that cost them a Champions League place last season.
But how does this summer compare to some of the other successful windows (we know, there have been more bad ones than good ones!) Arsenal have had in the last two decades?
Summer 2003
This wasn’t an exceptionally busy window, but it was vitally important for Arsenal in the summer of 2003 that Arsene Wenger brought in a goalkeeper capable of filling David Seaman’s considerable gloves.
After Richard Wright and Rami Shaaban had shown themselves to be nowhere near up to the task, this time Arsenal got it right as Jens Lehmann was brought in from Borussia Dortmund.
Yes, Lehmann was as mad as a box of frogs on a sugar high, but he played every Premier League minute in the ‘Invincibles’ season that followed and had a vital role in helping the Gunners reach the 2006 Champions League final (just don’t mention how that ended for him).
Elsewhere, two youngsters were brought in, with Gael Clichy doing a good job of eventually succeeding Ashley Cole before also deciding to follow the money and Philippe Senderos fading after a promising start.
January 2006
For years, Wenger had a reputation for pulling off masterstroke after masterstroke when it came to transfers and, even though this did lose its lustre over time, he still had enough of a Midas touch by January 2006.
Arsenal’s team needed refreshing by this point and Abou Diaby and Emmanuel Adebayor were both brought in from French football for fairly minimal prices.
Diaby has to be one of the most unfortunate players to pull on a red shirt, which he often did with distinction only for injuries to cripple his career, while Adebayor gave a sign of what was to come in his by impressing at first before falling out with the club and leaving under a cloud.
Both were talented, but you wonder what might have been and the same can be said for the other new arrival, Theo Walcott, who pointed towards a future more glorious than what turned out, despite a record of 108 goals in 397 games during 12 years at Arsenal.
Summer 2012
This might seem like a strange choice, seeing as Wenger lost two of his key players from the 2011/12 season, Robin van Persie and Alex Song, to Manchester United and Barcelona respectively.
However, after the chaos of 2011, when Wenger was stung into sanctioning a series of panic buys by a nightmare August, this was a return to something close to stability and his signings were largely successful.
Lukas Podolski impressed in patches, although he was one of those Germany players under Joachim Low who seemed to produce more for his country than his clubs, while Olivier Giroud wound up being one of the most underrated strikers of his generation, despite 105 goals - including that scorpion kick - in 253 appearances.
As for Santi Cazorla, he was just class. One of the best players to grace the Emirates Stadium in the last 10 years, the Spaniard controlled games almost effortlessly from midfield, only for injuries to spoil his last three seasons with the Gunners.
January 2018
We’re entering the dying days of Wenger’s reign now and although it didn’t salvage the Frenchman’s final campaign, one of his last signings often kept his two successors afloat.
Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was a record signing from Dortmund for £56 million, but that fee was soon forgotten as he went on to score 92 goals in 163 appearances.
His potency in front of goal fired the Gunners, by now under Unai Emery, to the 2018/19 Europa League final before back-to-back doubles against Manchester City and Chelsea won the FA Cup for Arteta (who he later irrevocably fell out with) the following year.
The other new face, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, was a frustrating player who went missing too often, but at least Arsenal got a slightly better end of the deal that took Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United. Unlike Sanchez at Old Trafford, you couldn’t call the Armenian a ‘disaster’.
Summer 2021
Credit has to be given to Arteta, who went into this summer under real pressure following a dispiriting 2020/21 campaign but ended up having Arsenal finally pointing in the right direction again thanks to the business done during it.
Top of the successes was Martin Odegaard, who started to fulfil the potential he showed as a teenager after making his loan move from Real Madrid permanent and he looks set to be in the Gunners’ engine room for years to come if he maintains his form.
Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsdale was a hugely pleasant surprise in goal and Ben White formed a promising centre-back pairing with Gabriel.
Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares haven’t matched their impact as yet, while it is to be hoped that Takehiro Tomiyasu will be able to put the injury troubles that stunted the encouraging start to his Arsenal career behind him.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
