Top 5 Players Who Failed At Arsenal
Football players who failed at Arsenal? Here, we look at the top five Arsenal players who have failed badly at the club. Which Arsenal players have failed at Arsenal?
There have been some great players at Arsenal but like most big clubs, a lot of disappointments too. Often, the failures that hurt the most are the ones who come with a lot of expectations with them. So here we look at the top five players who failed at Arsenal in recent history. These players have been picked based on the level of expectation and hype around them when they joined but ultimately disappointed.
However, players like Jose Antonio Reyes was not exactly a failure at Arsenal since he won a Premier League medal and the FA Cup with the club, not the mention the run to the Champions League final in 2006.
Below are the top five players who failed to meet expectations in the Gunners ranks –
5 Players Who Failed At Arsenal
5. Gervinho
Arsene Wenger made the decision to sign Gervinho when LOSC Lille were boasting of talents like Eden Hazard and Yohan Cabaye in their Ligue 1-winning team. Let us just agree that the Ivory Coast international was not the giant revelation we all thought he would be.
The Gunners shelled out £10.8m for him and got 11 goals in 69 games in return. AS Roma bought him for £7m in 2013 after just two seasons in the Premier League.
In an ideal scenario, Gervinho could probably have been a perfect backup option. He was ridiculously fast, had decent skill on the ball and could run for days. He just lacked the footballing intelligence to become a top player in his position.
4. Francis Jeffers
Signed from Everton for £8m in 2001, Jeffers was a grand failure at Arsenal especially at a time when the club was at their very best in the Premier League. He was given the nickname “fox in the box” and was even chosen over Ruud van Nistelrooy. RUUD VAN NISTELROOY! Can you believe it? Maybe we should make a list of all the blunders Arsene Wenger made during his Arsenal career!
Jeffers ended up scoring only 8 goals for the Gunners and was loaned back to Everton during the Invincible 2003/04 season. Charlton Athletic picked him up that summer for £2.6m and it was all downhill from there. During his prime years, he earned 1 cap for the Three Lions and even scored 1 international goal.
3. Park Chu-Yong Is Among The Players Who Failed At Arsenal
Park Chu-Yong was one of the strangest transfers in Arsenal’s history. In somewhat peculiar circumstances on 30 August 2011, the Gunners signed the striker for £5.5m from AS Monaco.
It was reported that Chu-Young became aware of Arsenal’s interest and fled his hotel room without finishing the medical he had scheduled with LOSC Lille.
He was not exactly a scoring machine at AS Monaco, managing 26 in 103 appearances but Wenger still decided to go after the South Korean. Chu-Young let it be known that he wanted to leave the French outfit after their relegation from the top-flight.
What was even more strange was that the striker was immediately handed over the number 9 shirt right, upon his arrival to the Emirates. A season later his jersey number was reassigned to 30 when Lukasz Podolski came in from Mainz.
Chu-Young spent three seasons with the Gunners during which he had two loan spells with Watford and Celta Vigo. After 7 appearances for the senior side and a single goal, he was released by Arsenal in June 2014.
As a result of his flop at Arsenal, Daily Telegraph reporter, John Duerden went on to compare Park’s move to North London as “the worst call to answer since Colin Farrell picked up a New York public phone in Phone Booth and endured a few hours of misery.”
2. Andrey Arshavin
Contrary to popular belief of Arsenal fans, Andrey Arshavin was actually a huge disappointment at North London. If you ask anybody about one clear memory of the Russian winger, they’ll remind you of the night he scored 4 against Liverpool at Anfield.
Otherwise, the €19m signing from Zenit St. Petersburg was a let-down during his 4 seasons with the club. It might have been Wenger’s decision to play Arshavin on the right flank when the player was clearly much better suited to play the number ten role.
He failed to adapt and after 105 appearances and 23 goals, he was returned to Zenit in 2012. We got to see glimpses of his true potential for the Russian national side but it was still quite underwhelming.
1. Shkodran Mustafi
If you are the club’s most expensive defender ever and then you perform the way he has been recently, then he definitely deserves to make the very top of this list! Shkodran Mustafi has been a massive failure at Arsenal after signing for £35m from Valencia in the summer of 2016.
Arsene Wenger had selected the German due to the his impressive performances in the La Liga, where he showed great technical abilities along with resolute defensive skills. The Gunners got a clear picture of his footballing talents but were also subjected to his woeful decision making on the pitch.
Mustafi has deteriorated with every season he has been at North London and all of the club’s fans wish to get rid of him this summer. Arsenal should move him out of the Emirates as soon as possible to extract whatever value he has left in him.
See Also:
- Arsenal Top Scorers Of All Time (All Competitions By Season)
- Top 5 Highest-Paid Arsenal Players
- 10 Players Who Played For Arsenal And Liverpool
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