As the season is drawing to a close I needed a distraction from the ‘Wenger Out’ campaigns so I thought I’d take a look at our last four years of transfers.
I know, I know! How can I get bored with the Arsenal fans who are crying about the prospect of not finishing in the top four? It’s like listening to one of the royal family complaining about how much work it is to go to all the state banquets… My heart bleeds for them all.
Let me disappoint you right at the start and say this isn’t going to be an in-depth look at every player we’ve signed since we won promotion to the Premier League in 2013. Not only are there so many players to review but the further back I went, the more depressed I became at the memory of them playing.
We really have come a long way during the four years that we’ve been in the top division. We’ve gone from signing players we’ve never heard of, in the hope they will be a success but ultimately turn out to be failures, to signing players we have heard of and knowing they are failures!
We might have come through that storm now into the area where we can attract big name players who need to play regular football rather than need a bigger salary.
I accept Big Sam has only signed four players so far but what a four they seem to be. Compare his winter transfer window to either of the two predecessors who had a winter window and he blows them out of the water.
I hate to say this but, if we stay up, I have not been this optimistic about a summer transfer window since that Judas bastard Terry Venables was appointed the second time around. In that case it wasn’t so much about money, because Mark Goldberg turned out to not have any, but in the names he might be able to attract and his scouting knowledge.
So, I thought a brief recap with my opinion on if a player has been a hit, a miss or if I am on the fence about them.
Note:
- Loaned players are in italic.
- A player who signs on loan and then becomes permanent is credit to the manager who initially loaned the player rather than the manager who signed them permanently.
Ian Holloway
| Player | Price | Hit or Miss? | Reason |
| Stephen Dobbie Dwight Gayle Jerome Thomas Jose Campaña Elliot Grandin Marouane Chamakh Jimmy Kébé Jack Hunt Adrian Mariappa Barry Bannan Adlène Guédioura Jason Puncheon Cameron Jerome |
Undisclosed £4,500,000 Free Undisclosed Free Undisclosed Undisclosed Undisclosed Undisclosed £500,000 £2,500,000 Undisclosed – |
Miss Hit Miss Miss Who? Miss! On the fence Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss Hit Miss |
Didn’t make the squad Showed promise Words fail me Words failed him Words failed everyone Was bad, good then injured Just not good enough Just not good enough Just not good enough Inconsistent Just not good enough Has become a mainstay Did okay, not enough goals |
Tony Pulis
| Player | Price | Hit or Miss? | Reason |
| Scott Dann Wayne Hennessey Joe Ledley Thomas Ince Frazier Campbell Brede Hangeland Martin Kelly |
Undisclosed £3,000,000 £700,000 – £900,000 Free £1,500,000 |
Hit On the fence Hit Miss Miss Hit On the fence |
Has become a mainstay Has been awful, turned corner? Solid if unremarkable Ego bigger than ability Tries hard, not enough goals Solid Scandinavian defender Not played in natural position |
Neil Warnock
| Player | Price | Hit or Miss? | Reason |
| Zeki Fryers James McArthur Andrew Johnson Wilfried Zaha Kevin Doyle |
£1,500,000 £5,500,000 Free £6,000,000 – |
Miss Hit Miss Hit Miss |
Not made the step up Solid and dependable Past his sell by date No words needed Past his best before date |
Alan Pardew
| Player | Price | Hit or Miss? | Reason |
| Jordon Mutch Shola Ameobi Pape Souaré Chung-yong Lee Yohan Cabaye Alex McCarthy Connor Wickham Bakary Sako Emmanuel Adebayor Freddie Ladapo Yaya Sanogo Patrick Bamford Steve Mandanda Andros Townsend James Tomkins Christian Benteke Jonathan Benteke Mathieu Flamini Loïc Rémy |
£4,750,000 Free £3,000,000 £1,500,000 £10,000,000 £3,500,000 £9,000,000 Free Free Undisclosed – – £1,500,000 £13,000,000 £10,000,000 £27,000,000 Free Free – |
Miss Miss Hit Miss Hit Miss Hit Miss Miss Miss Miss Miss On the fence On the fence Hit Hit Miss Miss Miss |
Just not good enough Just not good enough Slow start then became solid Just not good enough Inconsistent but class Had promise, not given a chance Needs more goals, promising Just not good enough Just not good enough Just not good enough Just not good enough If his ability was like his ego Not sure his head is in right place Inconsistent Has become a solid performer Needs to be more switched on Just not good enough Best days are behind him Sick note, not shown ability |
Sam Allardyce
| Player | Price | Hit or Miss? | Reason |
| Jeffrey Schlupp Patrick van Aanholt Luka Milivojević Mamadou Sakho |
£9,000,000 £10,000,000 £11,000,000 – |
Hit Hit Hit Hit |
Seems solid in def and att Seems solid in def and att A younger Jedi, solid Legendary and heroic defender |
Of course, it is debatable how much a signing is down to a manager and how much is down to backroom staff.
For example, Neil Warnock signed James McArthur and Wilfred Zaha. We all know Wilf wasn’t his signing so should he be credited with signing James McArthur?
When it comes to managers who have been in the game a while like Pulis, Pardew and Allardyce, you’d think they know people who know people but it seems Big Sam’s contacts are of a higher quality than the other aforementioned managers.
Let’s not even discuss Holloway’s or Warnock’s contacts even though I think both managers get stick they don’t deserve.
So, do you agree with my assessment of our signings over the last four years? Would you grade any player differently? Leave your comments below this article or message TEB on Facebook or Twitter.
