Twenty years of January signings, pick your favourite…

Morning all.

January, the transfer window and Arsenal being on a winter break means it’s slow to no news. The only new things coming out of the club relates to Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey upping their recovery.

We all want to see a new player arrive, a striker, a left back or even a midfielder – we all have our own ideas I’m sure.

It’s been a quiet opening two weeks of the month with very few transfers going on. FFP, the Everton points docking and the ongoing saga involving Man City has possibly opened club owners eyes. Then there’s Newcastle Utd who have publicly declared they must sell before buying, Chelsea are also under scrutiny. Rightly so of course as every club needs to abide by the financial rules, especially these days when a token fine is no longer the punishment.

Arsenal haven’t often been a busy in the winter transfer window but let’s have a look back on a few. Some good, some not so good.

2022/23

Leandro Trossard
Jakub Kiwior
Jorginho

2021/22

Auston Trusty

2020/21

Martin Odegaard (loan)
Matt Ryan (loan)

2019/20

Pablo Mari (loan)
Cedric Soares (loan)

2018/19

Denis Suarez (loan)

2017/18

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Konstantinos Mavropanos

2016/17

None

2015/16

Mohammed Elneny

2014/15

Gabriel Paulista
Krystian Bielik

2013/14

Kim Kallstrom

2012/13

Nacho Monreal

2011/12

Thomas Eisfeld
Thierry Henry (loan)

2010/11

Wellington Silva
Ryo Miyaichi

2009/10

Sol Campbell (without a club)

2008/09

Andrey Arshavin

2006/07 & 2007/08 – None

2005/06

Theo Walcott
Emmanuel Adebayor
Carlos Vela
Abou Diaby

2004/05

Emmanuel Eboue

2003/04

Jose Antonio Reyes

2002/03

Guillaume Warmuz

2001/02

Edu Gasper
Kolo Toure
Stathis Tavlaridis

2000/01

Sebastian Svärd

23 years worth of winter transfers, I couldn’t be bothered to go back any further. It’s fair to say that the better of Arsenals January deals wouldn’t need more than both hands to count. Perhaps even just the one. Perhaps 6/8 players during those years were really good signings, that is for the impact they had after arriving rather than their entire career.

My favourite is between Aubameyang, Arshavin, Reyes, Edu and Toure.

Who is yours?

Catch up in the comments..

56 thoughts on “Twenty years of January signings, pick your favourite…

  1. Cicero says:

    Good morning Rico for me it has to be that French kid and winger Wenger signed, now what was his name? You know, the one fat Sam Allardyce called Terry ‘enry. Or was that Old ‘arry ? 😉

  2. rico says:

    Morning Cicero, Henry was only on loan though, scored against Leeds in the FA Cup of my memory serves me right and that was about it. 😂

  3. Joaquim Moreira says:

    There are several players who stood out. In addition to those indicated at the end of the text, I think that all those who wore the Arsenal shirt for several years and even became captain, despite not scoring many goals, are worth mentioning. For example, it is likely that no one will nominate Monreal, Walcott or Elneny, who ultimately ended up having the best part of his sporting career at Arsenal.
    One question: does anyone know V. Gyokeres? I think he was the best scorer last year for Coventry in the Championship. Today he plays for Sporting, he is the best scorer in the Portuguese League and he spends his life praising it. Now, it is overvalued but last year, it was affordable. Is there no center forward in the championship that might be of interest?
    Yesterday, once again the referee at Burnley-Luton made a mistake again, influencing the final score.

  4. potter says:

    Monreal was a good servant to the club , had his ups and downs but never let us down through lack of commitment.
    I saw your comments re Walcott and I think that goes for a lot of players under Wenger, not just January signings .
    Arshavin , Podolski and even to some degree Bendtner could have been so much more if Wenger had been more flexible in his playing style. Like Arteta he had his methods and rarely deviated from them .

  5. rico says:

    Very true Potter, Bendtner a striker instead of winger, same for Walcott, Podolski, Alexis – the list is long really.

    And here we are today, a CDM used at right back, a midfielder or two playing striker, and a left back who is usually left drifting in midfield…

  6. Cicero says:

    Newcastle 2 – 1 up against City. Doing it the hard way as they had a goal correctly ruled out for offside, but the linesman was so late with the flag that the City ‘keeper was injured trying make a save and has been subbed off as a result. Three further off sides have been correctly flagged immediately, where is the consistency?

  7. Cicero says:

    A few of mine have gone walk-about too Rico, but they are no great loss to mankind. Oops can I still say m*nkind? 😉

  8. Aussie Geoff says:

    All these missing comments, it’s the Aliens striking back for all the stuff people store in the clouds.

  9. allezkev says:

    Cut your comment, then paste it back and the send button miraculously appears, plus you save your comment if it disappears, it’s fiddly but less frustrating than losing everything.

  10. Cicero says:

    When I enter my e mail address and name I have to leave the cursor at the end of my name, otherwise the comment disappears.

  11. allezkev says:

    Hi Rico, it works for me at this end and best January signings, personally, Adebayor; should have been a legend but ended up a leg-end.
    Next Odegaard; brilliant player.
    Then Kolo and Edu, both champions.

  12. allezkev says:

    If Villa win today then they go joint top with Liverpool.
    If Spuds win today they go above Arsenal.
    It’s all set up to be a miserable day for Gooners.

  13. Limey says:

    Afternoon all,
    the best for me has to be Arshavin,brilliant the first few months,made a real impact, honourable mentions to Reyes,Edu and Kolo Toure. More recent Odegaard.
    Watching the Villa game(yawn) I just realised there are 3 ex Arsenal goalies in the Premier league,Martinez,Leno & Turner,technically 4 if you include Fabianski but the 3 have all played under Arteta.

  14. allezkev says:

    I’m listening to BBC5Live and it’s all about Jim Ratcliffe, ffs anyone would think he’s playing. 🙄

  15. Jnyc says:

    Makes the dirty cheaters result yesterday more frustrating.
    It’s up to our players and manager to raise our level amd consistency if we want to stay in the title race. We will coast to top 4 because most clubs will fall away naturally.. City and Liverpool will not.

    But I will point out that Liverpool have had almost every single bit of good fortune go their way through the first 20 matches.

    I expect pool to have at least 2 poor stretches in the second half of the season. Man City had one of those, we are in ours and need to fight out of it.

  16. Aussie Geoff says:

    I wonder how fans and board will feel if Villa finish on top of us.
    We must come firing and no excuses, the players have had a nice holiday. It’s time to regain top spot and knock Man C and Liverpool off their purch.

  17. rico says:

    Jnyc, I too think it’ll be a 3 horse race, maybe 4 with Totts in the mix because it seems they’ve been through their blip too. I can’t see Villa standing the test, but you never know.

    Totally agree re Liverpool, is there a more lucky club out there?

    Morning all.

  18. potter says:

    Reportedly Palace want Nketiah who we have valued at £30 million, and Olise wants to come to us but Palace want £ 40 million . Which goes to show how poor we are in selling players undervaluing them . But if the club are interested there has to be a deal here , maybe a swap.

  19. allezkev says:

    Olise is he that good?

    What is he, an attacking mid/inside forward? Left 8 type of winger?

    £40m is a lot and I’m not sure that Palace would pay £30m for Eddie?

    Is he English?

    I guess I should go on Google!

  20. allezkev says:

    Ok, he’s 22, is a right-winger/midfielder, he can play for England or France.

    Seems that Man Utd are favourites for him, followed by Liverpool and Chelsea, no mention of Arsenal. I’m not sure where his signing would leave Smith Rowe, Vieira and Nelson unless of course Arteta intends to move them on?

  21. potter says:

    As I said if the club wants to , Personally I can’t see it as we have just bought Marquinos back and he could back up Saka who looks unlikely to get a rest this side of the turn of the century. although knowing Arteta he would probably play him as an inverted fullback.
    The rumour mill is going full tilt as there is nothing else to do and the squad is a good 4000 miles away and the pundits are having their say . For once I find myself in agreement with Grahame Souness and his comments that he can’t understand buying Havertz when we already have a better player in Smith -Rowe .
    It seems that we are about to finalise the Raya signing according to Romano , I am slowly losing it with Arteta we seem to be spending in all the wrong directions.

  22. rico says:

    Marquinhos is off on international duty I think. Some kind of pre tournament tournament – no, I didn’t understand that either..

  23. rico says:

    Ridiculous spending money on Raya and I too agree with Souness. The only advantage Havertz has over ESR is height but he’s rubbish with his head anyway…

  24. Cicero says:

    Olise was on Arsenal’s books for a brief period in 2009 before moving to Chelsea, then Man City, Reading and Palace. There must be a reason why a young player has moved around so much.

  25. Cicero says:

    The Premier League’s PSR (Profitability and sustainability rules) are spreading fear throughout the clubs.

    With Everton being charged for the second time and Nottingham Forest also being sanctioned, all the clubs are looking closely at their spending plans. Arsenal are rumoured to be close to the edge and will need to sell before making any high priced signings. The club must also do what it can to further reduce the wage bill. Then of course, there is the major threat that is hanging over City, one hundred plus violations of spending rules, that too is stifling the transfer market.

    In view of the above, I will not be surprised if Arsenal fail to strengthen the squad in any significant way before the summer.

  26. rico says:

    Chelsea will probably resign him Cicero, they have a history of selling players they then buy again. lol

    Morning to you and all.

    New post up now.

  27. rico says:

    I don’t anticipate any signings this month either, Arteta has hinted enough about getting the best from who he has. Makes the Raya deal seem more bizarre really.

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