Top 5 Most Hated Arsenal Players
Most hated Arsenal players? Who are the most hated Arsenal players? Most unlikable Arsenal players? Which Arsenal players are the most hated by football fans? Well, we’re going to create a list of the top five most hated Arsenal players ever. Watch & Bet Football Here =>
Top 5 Most Unliked Arsenal Players Ever
Many players have come and gone at Arsenal. Some players created a legacy for themselves. While others created a legacy for being the most hated Arsenal player. This list will include the most hated Arsenal player ever.
Note: Some players have been included because they were hated by other rival fans while some are hated even by Arsenal fans.
So here are the top five players hated the most at Arsenal:
5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Former Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the surprising name in this list. Aubameyang remained one of the finest strikers during his time at Emirates but his relationship with manager Mikel Arteta was not good.
The story become harsh when he was sacked from the club captaincy in 2021. Later, the whole drama led the 32-year-old striker to leave the Premier League club in the January transfer window.
Aubameyang didn’t even play a single game since a disciplinary breach in December 2021. He was forced to train by himself and stripped of the Arsenal captaincy.
Speaking at his Barcelona unveiling Aubameyang said: “For my part, I never wanted to do anything wrong. My problem was only with Arteta. I can’t say much more, I wasn’t happy.
“It was just him and he made that decision. He wasn’t happy, I can’t tell you more. He wasn’t very happy, I was very calm.
Aubameyang signed a contract with Barcelona until June 2025, with the option to terminate in June 2023, and has a buyout clause of €100 million. He surprised Arsenal fans by scoring the most number of goals in the second half of season 2021/22.
4. Patrick Vieira Was One Of The Most Hated Arsenal Players
Patrick Vieira is a legend at Arsenal and adored by unbiased football fans around the world but he will be forever hated by the Manchester United faithful. During one of the most heated rivalries in English football, Vieira was always the villain to instigate things between the two teams – according to the Red Devils fans.
Both him and Roy Keane butted heads in every single encounter and to all United fans – Vieira was a bully.
In a heated exchange between both sides in 2005, the defensive midfielder famously ‘picked on’ Gary Neville in the tunnel right before kick-off. This prompted Keane to jump to his teammate’s rescue before yelling, “I’ll see you out there!”
Vieira famously was also involved in an incident in September 2003 – a Premier League between United and Arsenal which has been named the “Battle of Old Trafford”. Both teams went to war that Sunday night, Arsenal recording 13 fouls and the Red Devils 18.
Vieira picked up a yellow card in the 77th minute and was sent off with a second only a few minutes later for a challenge on Van Nistelrooy. It created a huge fight afterwards between the players and even the managers.
3. Robin Van Persie
Robin Van Persie was always on the brink of breaking out before the 2011/12 season with an injury history like Jack Wilshere. He signed for Arsenal in 2004 and after years of learning from the great Thierry Henry he was finally allowed the chance to prove his worth in the starting strike role.
Through all the injuries, Arsenal kept their faith in him and extended his contract every time. He hit his best stride in 2012 and finished that season as the Premier League’s highest scorer with 30 goals. The Dutchman was named the captain of the squad and he was shouldering major hopes of finally ending the club’s long arduous run without a trophy.
Instead, Van Persie left for Manchester United that very summer on a £22.5m transfer. He did not stop there, however. Like a certain person on this list, he had no humility in his celebration when he scored against Arsenal in the 1-0 win. Watch & Bet Football Here =>
2. Ashley Cole
Probably every Arsenal fan hates Ashley Cole to this day for what he did in 2006. Many claim that the Englishman left for a bigger paycheck while Cole always maintained it was because he wanted to win trophies.
The left-back who was famously part of the “Invincibles”, earned the nickname “Cashley Cole” after that. He was routinely booed whenever he played against them. The FA charged him for making contact with Chelsea while still in contract with the Gunners. He was fined £100,000 after he met with Jose Mourinho in a hotel room. Afterwards, in his autobiography, Cole attacked Arsenal, claiming that the club’s board had treated him as a ‘scapegoat’ in the entire situation.
During his playing days, Cole also made the news for all the wrong reasons. Reports emerged in 2008 alleging him to have cheated on his wife, Cheryl Cole. It was claimed he kept three mistresses during his marriage which eventually led to their divorce in 2010. This is why the man is disliked by so many football fans but most especially, Arsenal fans.
In a completely separate topic, Cole is still regarded as one of the best left-backs in the Premier League and a pioneer of the modern day fullback position.
1. Emmanuel Adebayor
Emmanuel Adebayor like many other Arsenal players left for Manchester City. He had already evoked a spree of hate towards him with the transfer but it turned worse for him when he performed a certain celebration during City’s 4-2 win over Arsenal in 2008.
It was a Premier League game and the Togo international was already greeted with a white-hot reception right from kickoff. The Gunners fans did not hold back in hurling abuse at Adebayor.
“I was being abused by people who six months ago were singing my name,” he later reflected. “It wasn’t my fault I left, it was Arsene who wanted to accept the offer for me. They were all clapping Kolo but they were shouting personal abuse at me before the match had even kicked off.”
With the game locked in at 2-2, Adebayor silenced the away crowd with his club’s third goal. He proceeded to run the length of the pitch, slide on his knees in front of Gunners stands and lift his arms up.
“I scored and wanted to show people it is not a good idea to abuse me. I really didn’t understand it at all. I was running on pure emotion and when you take emotion out of football we are going to have a big problem. People say I had time to think about because I ran the length of the pitch but that is not true. I was abused all match and scored a goal I knew would win the game for us. Ten seconds is nothing – your emotion is going to last a lot longer than that.”
The celebration might have been personally justified by Adebayor but it never played down well with the Arsenal fans. After his move to Tottenham Hotspur in 2012, there.
Special mention: William Gallas
William Gallas represented three different London clubs during his tenure as a footballer – Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. That should give you a good enough picture on why he is one of the most hated footballers ever.
You can ask any section of support and they are all going to tell you how much they hated the Frenchman for joining their derby rivals. At Arsenal, Gallas was mixed up in a series of wild controversies.
In 2006, he left Chelsea after claiming that he would deliberately score own goals if he was not allowed to join the Gunners. When he did get to move, things quickly turned sour after he publicly attacked the team – which resulted in him being stripped off his captaincy. There was an air of hostility surrounding him and the rest of the Arsenal dressing room. It was even claimed that he was not on speaking terms with Samir Nasri and a few other players.
To make matters worse, he went on and joined Spurs in 2010, thereby demolishing any hint of respect he had at the Emirates. Watch & Bet Football Here =>
See Also:
- Arsenal Top 10 Goal Scorers Of All Time
- Best Arsenal XI Of All Time
- Top 5 Highest-Paid Arsenal Players
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