Ranking the 10 WORST Arsenal signings in Premier League history, including £72m flop

Arsenal have made some truly iconic signings over the years, and the Gunners can claim to have enjoyed more successes than most – but it’s not gone to plan every single time, as this list testifies.

Every club has made signings they’d rather forget about, but it’s rankings like this that ensure that is not a possibility.

Earlier this week, we examined the Gunners’ 10 greatest signings of the Premier League era – and some truly iconic names made the cut.

This time around, it’s the other end of the spectrum, with the 10 worst additions that Arsenal have made in the Premier League era, starting with, arguably, their costliest ever transfer miss…

10) Nicolas Pepe

Pepe is nowhere near being one of the worst players to pull on an Arsenal shirt, but he was a very expensive mistake, costing a club-record £72m in 2019.

It’s that transfer fee alone that means Pepe must be included in this list, but he wasn’t actually that bad for Arsenal.

9) Richard Wright

Arsene Wenger envisioned Wright being David Seaman’s long-term replacement, but Wright had other ideas.

After a decent start, he punched the ball into his own net in a 4-2 home defeat to Charlton and things quickly went downhill. An injury suffered against Deportivo La Coruna did not help and Wright soon found himself behind Seaman and youth goalkeeper Stuart Taylor in the pecking order.

8) Denis Suarez

One of the most pointless signings of all time, not just in Arsenal’s history, Suarez was signed on loan by Unai Emery in January 2019.

Suarez joined from Barcelona but only made six substitute appearances before an injury ended his season and he returned to Spain.

7) Park Chu-young

Arsenal went for it on deadline day in August 2011, signing Park, Andre Santos, Per Mertesacker and Mikel Arteta after a catastrophic start to the campaign that came to a head in the famous 8-2 defeat at Manchester United.

Arsenal got better – they couldn’t get any worse, mind – but not thanks to Park or Santos. Arteta and Mertesacker were excellent signings, but the other two were disastrous.

Park only played seven times for Arsenal, scoring once.

6) Andre Santos

Swapping shirts with Robin van Persie at half-time of a game in which he scored against Arsenal at Old Trafford for Manchester United is the image most Gunners supporters will remember of Santos.

Besides that, he was a disastrous left-back for the club. He couldn’t defend, couldn’t attack and was a meme during his entire Arsenal career. Very forgettable!

5) Francis Jeffers

After a good spell at Everton, Jeffers convinced Arsene Wenger to splash the cash on him as Arsenal spent an initial £8m with £2m in potential add-ons, which was a hefty transfer fee back in 2001.

Jeffers will always be remembered as a massive flop at Arsenal. We don’t want to be too harsh, but he was bloody hopeless in red, scoring four goals in 22 league games.

4) Willian

Fair play to Willian, who left on a free without taking any compensation after a year of ridicule at Arsenal. That was by far his greatest contribution for the Gunners.

Signed on huge wages from London rivals Chelsea, Willian was patient zero for Mikel Arteta, who developed an addiction to signing unwanted Chelsea players despite the Brazilian’s woeful performances under his stewardship.

Not only was Willian terrible for Arsenal, but he was also one of the highest earners in the Premier League during his single year at the Emirates.

3) Sebastien Squillaci

You could say Arsenal’s banter era spanned from 2008 to 2022, and over such a long period, there were different stages in which certain players became the face of that disastrous spell. Squillaci is probably the poster boy for his 2010-2013 stint.

It was fitting that Squillaci took the No. 18 shirt previously held by fellow French flops Mikael Silvestre and Pascal Cygan.

Simply put, he was nowhere near good enough for the Premier League, let alone Arsenal.

2) Alex Runar Runarsson

Runarsson wasn’t the best with the ball at his feet, yet his ability to distribute was on a different level to his ability to keep the ball out of the goal. As a goalkeeper, that is far from ideal.

His arrival was met with bemusement, but Arsenal supporters were prepared to give him, and goalkeeper coach Inaki Cana, who pushed for the move, the benefit of the doubt.

As it turns out, the bemusement was justified. Runarsson’s Arsenal career can be summarised by Riyad Mahrez’s free-kick goal against him in the League Cup. Runarsson left the entire left side of his goal open, yet Mahrez decided to shoot straight at the Icelandic, and the ball went through his hands.

1) Shkodran Mustafi

It feels like a lifetime ago that Mustafi couldn’t lose a game in an Arsenal shirt, but when that 22-game run came to an end, the floodgates opened and he was quickly exposed as a ticking time bomb every time he played.

Mustafi was extremely error-prone and cost Arsenal £35m, which is how much back-up centre-backs cost big clubs nowadays but was a marquee, big-money fee back in 2016.

Unfortunately for the German, he epitomises the banter era at the Emirates. Not that he will care much, being a World Cup winner.