Has to be Jeffers for me. Arshavin is a good shout, but he at least had a good first year or so before he fell off a cliff. Jeffers was pretty expensive at the time, and made absolutely no positive contribution at all. Baptista is a candidate based on expectations, but as it was only a year-long loan it didn’t really matter all that much. Stepanovs has to be mentioned for sheer uselessness as a footballer.

Reyes would be another one for me – like Arshavin he had a great first year or so but then completely fell off. Considering transfer fee, expectations etc he’s definitely up there, and I think him not panning out really hurt us. Watched him sometimes for Atletico and later for Sevilla and he could still completely take over a game when he wanted to (which was usually once or twice per season). Infuriating player.

Sanchez and Walcott out with Malcom (not Malcolm!) and Lemar in would be a great transfer window for me. Would be kind of fun to see Sanchez go to United and still not win any big titles (they’re going nowhere with Mourinho) but I hope we do not want Mkhitaryan in an exchange deal. Just the money will do.

I honestly think there's a link between Arshavin's form whilst playing in a country where state sponsored doping was rife and encouraged and his form dropping off after a few months in a new country where it's not.

Ain't rocket science.

Seems like the new Greek lad has impressed in training. Let's hope he's finally found a decent defender.

As regards's Wenger's buys I think some of his odd last ditch signings have been the most frustrating in that we've tended to be linked with quality for weeks only to end up with some watered down cheap and cheerful version or some has-been panic buy.

Agree, although as a caveat I would say that one or two, Arteta & Mertesacker for example, have been some of the most solid characters we've had for a while. Not world beaters but really good, professional men who got what it meant to play for The Arsenal and may well go on to become fine coaches.

Oh and not forgetting Monreal who signed on the January deadline day of 2013. Another of Wenger's better signings.

Are you saying he was on drugs. Maybe all our players are, would explain stuff. Horse tranquillisers possibly.

More plausible that simply the premier league is a different kettle of fish to Russian football

I think there is two ways to looks at those kind of signings.............good solid pros with great character but on the other hand not really good enough to elevate us to where we wanted to be in terms of improving the team.

A bit like putting a very good quality sticking plaster over a bleeding wound knowing that what's really needed is some stitches.

I think Wenger is definitely on some kind of hallucinogenic drug because he is definitely not seeing what everybody else is seeing.

If your doing a bad list for arsene then you should do a good list

1)Vieira
2)Anelka (500k!)
3) Henry
4) Pires
5) Kolo Toure

For me...

Sol I never really considered a Wenger signing as it had David Deins finger prints all over it but those 5 are distinctly Wengers buys. Honourable mentions for Sanchez and Özil but their size of fees makes it difficult to consider when compared to those 5 buys.

Given his profile I found it really weird that Baptista struggled to make any impression on the team. Arshavin proved to be a disappointment as on his day he was world class, yet after a promising start he lost interest and looked like he would rather be out shopping for designer ripped jeans on Bond Street. Santos is probably the obvious candidate though.

Other bad signings Eboue and Denilsen. Both didn't financially didn't cost much but denilsen played about 100 times for arsenal and Eboue 132 so it took Wenger and awfully long time to realise those 2 players were not up to scratch to the detriment of our team.

Best signing must be Henry for me. Vieira, Pires, Petit, Anelka, Campbell all great, but Henry more than anyone gave us a chance to win against any team. Didn’t matter how good they were, with Henry on the pitch there was a chance he’d score a goal or two (or three) against anyone when he was on his game. Best player in the world for several years. He could’ve cost twice as much and I’d still see him as our best signing.

He was absolutely robbed of at least two Ballon d’Ors as well, just look at the top three from Henry’s best years:

2002: Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Oliver Kahn
2003: Nedved, Henry, Maldini
2004: Shevchenko, Deco, Ronaldinho
2005: Ronaldinho, Lampard, Gerrard
2006: Cannavaro, Buffon, Henry

The only one who come even close to Henry those years are Ronaldinho, with a nod to Kahn and Buffon as it’s hard to compare keepers and outfield players. Henry was the man.

They were poor in terms of what came before them but by today's team's standards they are probably no worse than what we currently have.

Its hard to comprehend looking back how he didn't get at least one. I suppose us being shite in the CL didn't help in terms of his european profile.

Denilson had a couple of seasons for us where he looked really promising. Stuck with him for a couple of years too long, but our team was based a lot around youth back then, it wouldn't have worked if we got rid of players after their first bad spell. I can understand that one.

Eboue was just *%^@ always. Funny guy though.

I think that's slightly unfair. Bellerin is better than Eboue and Xhaka (whilst not impressing me) is better than denilson.

I agree with what you said on Arteta and Mert, 2 solid professionals and decent players in the new diminished Arsenal. Either of them would have spent and awful lot of time sitting the bench if they were in the squads of any of Wengers title winning sides.

I mean, I know my position is probably a bit extreme, but I honestly can’t see how anyone can make a case for Nedved or Shevchenko over him in 2003 and 2004. This was during the years where I regularly watched at least 3-4 games per week, I saw these players a lot. Both of them were great, but the way Henry won games on his own and toyed with some of the best defenders in the world on a consistent basis was something else entirely.

And Deco?? That was the most ridiculous of them all. Not even a top three player in his own team.

Henry is a great shout and our best ever player but if you are looking at the business transaction and judging the manager on the ingenuity of it then Vieira and Anelka top it as far as giving props to the manager. Vieira was 3 million and playing in milans reserves and went on to be our greatest midfielder of all time and Anelka was a 500k buy as a 19 year old nobody had heard then sold to Madrid for 23 million with the entire fee building our new training ground and buying Henry. 2 incredible pieces of transfer business, Henry was an amazing buy but the other 2 our absolute testaments to Wengers acumen in recruitment (at that point in time)

Jeffers is the obvious worst signing for reasons outlined already. I would put Xhaka close to the top. He cost a lot of money and has delivered very little.

Although Arshavin's final season was abysmal, he doesn't really come into the reckoning for me because he was very good for his first year and a half....and that performance at Anfield...

Gervinho is right up there. He was highly rated and had tremendous dribbling ability but quite bizarrely for a professional footballer, he couldn't kick the ball properly. At least we got most of the money back, but he was bad.

Richard Wright was another huge disappointment. He looked like the perfect candidate to take over from Seaman but ended up being 3rd choice.

But for the fact that Liverpool paid us a fortune for him, I'd consider Oxlade Chamberlain a poor signing. We paid £12/15m for him when he hadn't kicked a ball in the PL. That was a lot of money for a totally unproven teenager.

Ox is a good shout. Actually you could even suggest Chambers who at 15 million was a lot of money for unproven talent and you could have signed a very experienced right back to cover his development instead.

Wasn't the rumour at the time that Wright and Jeffers were not Wenger's choices?

and Gervinho had quite a good season in Italy after he left us. Frustrating player but not without some skill.

Ronaldinho did more than come close. He was the best player in the world for a while. Absolute genius. Ronaldo was better than Henry but not in 2002. Didn't he miss most of that season but was top-scorer in the World Cup?

Henry should definitely have got it in 2003 or 2004 though. He was the best at that stage.

Very skilful. Brilliant ability to dummy and feint. Couldn't pass or shoot though, which is somewhat useful for an attacker.

Yeah, Ronaldinho has an excellent case from 2004 to 2006. Think Henry edges him for that first year though.

I remember Ronaldinho's peak at Barcelona as being longer. He was only there for five seasons, and the last one really wasn't that great. Him being compared to the all-time greats was done very prematurely it must be said considering how short his peak was compared to most of them. Henry as a comparison had seven straight seasons with 20+ goals, and five seasons scoring 30 or more.

On the subject of bad signings, rumours that Real Betis want to terminate the Joel Campbell loan and send him back to Arsenal. That's Sanchez replacement sorted.

Ljungberg also. Watched him vs England and signed him immediately for £3m. That was Wenger at his best too, taking an ingenious punt. The result, one of the best goalscoring widemen in the era with important goals and assists |(one in particular) that will live in the memory banks forever.

Overmars and Petit in '97 also have to be up there despite the fact their spells were relatively short.

I know some will disagree but Gilberto was an inspired signing on the back of a WC. No expensive either, was it £6m or something for a WC winner.

Exactly what we need right now in the middle of the park, a strong athlete with some defensive nous and a decent technique.

He's better than Iwobi, I'd take him

Andre Santos level player. Tracking back a bit and scoring one good goal was all it took for some.

Good news!

Iwobi on coke is more of a threat than Campbell.

Igor Stephanovs...as told by Ray Parlour.

https://www.balls.ie/football/ray-parlo ... nal-333476

I wonder if this is true.

I suspect he was on PEDs, yes. He admitted himself in an interview a couple of years back that "sport was impossible without doping". Didn't Wenger also say a few years back that when he signed certain players, blood levels were abnormal in a few of them?

Yeah but, I mean, this was far from stale and boring Arsenal:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPyludgy0_A[/youtube]

They can't have been very effective, I watched him at Barnet and he came back from summer training vastly over weight.

Just read those comments he made which are bizarre and would indicate he may have however wasn't he the Russian captain ? It's par for the course he's going to say something pro Russia as Putin has a habit of putting bullets in heads of those who oppose the state.

The gooner seem pretty sure Ancellotti is coming this summer

http://onlinegooner.com/article.php?sec ... lig9tGnyhA