Arsene Wenger was Arsenal boss for 22 years, so we surely cannot look at all the players
he signed during his time there, so instead, we will look at the last 10 players he signed
at the club and where they are now.
Let’s start with Alexandre Lacazette.
The French striker was signed by Wenger from Lyon in the summer of 2017 for a then-club-record
fee.
He went on to help Arsenal win the FA Cup and Community Shield and was named Arsenal
Player of the Season at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Wenger loved him, but after the French gaffer left, Laca started to fall out of favor with
the subsequent coaches.
He eventually left the club after his contract expired in the summer of 2022.
He returned to Lyon where he currently plays, and he’s tearing things apart there, too.
He’s currently in the top 3 top scorers in the French Ligue 1.
Pretty impressive for a striker in his 30s.
After breaking the bank for Lacazette in the summer of 2017, Arsene Wenger then got Sead
Kolasinac for free from Schalke 04.
He remained at Arsenal till 2021 when he rejoined Schalke on loan.
After a year back in Germany, he moved to France to join Marseille where he currently
plays.
Okay, you remember that Wenger signed Lacazette and Kolasinac in 2017, but do you remember
that he also signed Cohen Bramall that year?
He was just 21 at the time.
He went for trials at the Emirates and he impressed Wenger who signed him up ASAP in
January 2017.
That summer, he was loaned out to Birmingham.
He came back the following year, but things didn’t exactly work out for him at the club,
so he was sold to Colchester in 2019.
After 2 years, he moved to Lincoln City, and then in 2022, he moved to Rotherham United
in the Championship where he currently plays.
In 2016, though, Wenger signed Shkodran Mustafi for about 35 million pounds.
He spent 5 years in North London and they were not exactly the best years.
Over the years, he came to be known for his many errors.
In February 2021, he finally left Arsenal for Schalke 04.
In September of that same year, he moved to Levante and followed them down as the team
got relegated from La Liga that season.
Now, Lucas Perez is another guy who knows a lot about playing in the lower leagues in
Spain.
The Spanish striker was also signed by Wenger in summer ‘16 from Deportivo La Coruna.
A year later, he went back to Deportivo on loan.
After his loan spell, he returned to London, joining West Ham in 2018.
After a year back in the Premier League, he went back to La Liga, joining Alaves then
Elche and then Cadiz in 2022.
Then on the 31st of December, 2022, Lucas Perez did something very interesting.
The club he loves so much and had spent 3 different spells at had dropped to the third
tier of Spanish football, so Perez paid Cadiz 493,000 euros from his own pocket in order
to be released to rejoin Deportivo and try to help them get back to the Spanish top flight.
What a guy!
We always knew that Arsene Wenger had an eye for bright young talents, so, many of us weren’t
very surprised when he signed Kelechi Nwakali in 2016 after he won the Golden Ball at the
2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The Nigerian midfielder then went on loan to 4 different clubs before signing permanently
for Huesca in the Spanish second division in 2019.
In 2022, he moved to Ponferradina, another second tier club in Spain where he currently
plays.
Another youngster Wenger signed in 2016 was a certain 21-year-old Rob Holding.
Holding has been at Arsenal since 2016 but hasn’t always played much.
However, a recent injury to William Saliba has made him a staple in the first team in
the second half of this season.
Now, to Wenger’s final year as an Arsenal manager, 2018.
In January of that year, the boss made 3 signings.
He signed Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Manchester United as part of a swap deal which saw Alexis
Sanchez move to Old Trafford.
Things didn’t exactly click for the Armenian at the Emirates, so he moved to Roma first
on loan in September 2019, and then permanently in August 2020 following a termination of
his contract with Arsenal by mutual consent.
In 2022, Mkhitaryan moved to Inter Milan where he currently plays.
In January 2018, Wenger also signed 20-year-old Konstantin Mavropanos from PAS Giannina in
Greece.
In January 2020, Mavropanos left the Emirates and moved to FC Nunberg on loan until the
end of the season when he moved to Stuttgart on loan.
He spent 2 years on loan with the German club before signing permanently in 2022.
Now to Arsene Wenger’s best parting gift to Arsenal – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Wenger signed the Gabonese striker on the 31st of January, 2018, and he immediately
proved to be a fantastic signing from the get-go.
He was signed for a then-club-record fee and he showed that he was worth every penny.
That season, he played only 13 Premier League games, but he scored 10 goals and provided
4 assists.
He also scored the last goal of Arsene Wenger’s coaching career.
In his first full season, Aubameyang led Arsenal to the Europa League final and also won the
Premier League Golden Boot.
The season after that, he was named captain and led Arsenal to FA Cup and Community Shield
victories.
He would then later fall out with Mikel Arteta which led to him being stripped of captaincy
and then having to leave the club to join Barcelona in February of 2022.
At the end of that season, he moved to Arsenal’s rivals, Chelsea, to reunite with former boss,
Thomas Tuchel.
But then, Tuchel got sacked, and he was relegated to the bench.
It’s looking likely that he’ll leave in the summer, but who knows?
What do you think about that one?
Anyway, those were the last 10 signings made by Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
Some really good names there, right?
Anyway, make sure to let us know what club and coach you want us to do next in the comments.
If you enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel.
Also, turn on the bell notification so you never miss out on new content.
Catch you in the next one.
Bye!