F365 Features

To celebrate 13 years of Arsene Wenger rule we take a look at the 13 best (and we could have done more) and 13 worst (frankly, we struggled) signings of those 13 years. He's been busy...

Oh and these lists are in chronological order - we're not claiming Freddie Ljungberg is better than Thierry Henry.

THE 13 BEST

1) PATRICK VIEIRA (bought for £3.5m, sold for £18m)
Bought with the nod of the incoming manager as a completely unknown 20-year-old in September 1996, 12 years later Vieira was voted the fifth-best Arsenal player of all time. In the meantime, the Frenchman had won three Premier League titles - the final triumph coming after an Invincible season with Vieira wearing the captain's armband. The Gunners have won nothing since his exit and lazy pundits still say 'for me, they never replaced Patrick Vieira'.

2) NICOLAS ANELKA (bought for £500,000, sold for £22.3m)
Possibly the best deal ever made by any manager in England, Anelka came to Arsenal as a 17-year-old, scored some goals (helping Arsenal to the double in 1997-98), sulked a little bit and then buggered off to Real Madrid for massive money. Kerching.

3) EMMANUEL PETIT (bought for £2.5m, sold for £7m)
I was at Highbury for the unveiling of Petit (along with Marc Overmars) and frankly, he looked like a cock, He was wearing some kind of see-through white vest and the gathered press wondered a) who the hell he was and b) who the hell he thought he was. Well, he was a decent defender who Wenger turned into the perfect partner for Vieira into the centre of the Arsenal midfield. Astonishingly, he was only there for three seasons...but lordy he was good.

4) MARC OVERMARS (bought for £5.5m, sold for £25m)
Crikey, he bought some fantastic players in those first seasons, didn't he? The Dutchman had the wonderful knack of scoring vital goals over three years at Arsenal (including one at Old Trafford, Gunners may remember) and formed an almost telepathic understanding with Dennis Bergkamp. He was then sold on for a phenomenal fee and few could quibble that he'd been terrific value.

5) FREDDIE LJUNGBERG (bought for £3m, left on free)
Apparently signed by Wenger on the strength of his performance for Sweden against England, the facially-blessed winger proved to be more than a little handy over nine seasons at Arsenal. He had the very happy knack of appearing at the far post to score those tap-ins that the rest of the Arsenal team rejected as far too easy.

6) THIERRY HENRY (bought for £10m, sold for £20m)
You know this story too well for us to reel it out again. Basically, he looked like a donkey and then he looked like the best footballer the world had ever seen. He scored a phenomenal 174 Premier League goals in 254 games and, well, he was frankly f***ing fantastic.

7) ROBERT PIRES (bought for £6m, left on free)
The sixth-greatest player ever to play for Arsenal and definitely the owner of the best goatee, Pires was Overmars' replacement and he certainly lived up to the billing. Had an almost one-in-three goalscoring record and clearly revelled in playing with the man above him on this list. Eventually fell victim of Arsene's ageism, but only after winning two Premier League titles.

8) SOL CAMPBELL (bought for nothing, left for nothing)
For three seasons (including the Invincibles year), Campbell was quite simply phenomenal. One of the best free transfers of all time, Campbell was the first central defender Wenger bought who was an unprecedented success. Latterly lost his way but Gooners should not forget just how good he was in 2003-04.

9) KOLO TOURE (bought for £15,000, sold for £16m)
Bought for peanuts as a striker or attacking midfielder, Toure left for big money as one of the best central defenders in the Premier League. He was quite simply brilliant in the Invincibles season beside Campbell as Arsenal finally found a central defensive pairing to match the one he had inherited from Bruce Rioch. Things didn't go quite so swimmingly with William Gallas but he remains an Arsenal favourite even after his exit. Mostly by virtue of not being Emmanuel Adebayor.

10) GILBERTO SILVA (bought for £4.5m, sold for £1m)
Abou Diaby's pre-cursor in attracting the considerable wrath of Pete Gill, Gilberto actually makes Diaby look like a world-beater. He may have taken his 'Invisible Wall' nickname a little too literally in latter years, but he deserves a place in this list for his part in the Invincible season when he dovetailed brilliantly with Vieira.

11) CESC FABREGAS (bought for nothing, valued at £30m-plus)
Still only 22 but has made over 200 appearances for Arsenal since they sneaked him out of Spain under cover of darkness. Phil Brown may not like the way he dresses, but Arsenal fans have been enjoying the way he plays since he took over the central midfield reins from Patrick Vieira. It seems more and more likely that he will exit the club next summer, probably for a massive wedge of money.

12) ROBIN VAN PERSIE (bought for £2.75m, valued at £20m-plus)
An absolute bargain, the Dutchman was signed as a winger with Wenger envisioning a conversion echoing that of Henry. Van Persie has never quite been in that class but injuries have prevented him really fulfilling his potential, though a league strike record of one in three is nae too bad.

13) EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR (bought for £7m, sold for £25m)
Unpopular player. Popular profit.

THE 13 WORST

1) ALBERTO MENDEZ (bought for nothing, left for nothing)
Spotted playing for German non-league club FC Feucht by Arsene Wenger, it soon became obvious that he probably should have left him there. Somehow stuck around for five years before wandering back to Germany via Spain and can still be seen podding around the (very) lower German leagues.

2) KABA DIAWARA (bought for £2.5m, sold for £3m)
Quite how Arsenal made a profit on Diawara is a mystery of Lord Lucan-esque proportions because he looked out of his depth in every one of the 12 Premier League appearances he made for Arsenal. Still wandering the world in search of a home, the striker has recently played for Al-Gharrafa, Al-Kharitiyath, Ajaccio, Gaziantepspor, Ankaragucu, Alki Larnaca and, latterly, AC-Arles Avignon. Next he'll get to B in the directory.

3) OLEG LUZHNY (signed for £1.8m, left for nothing)
Initially signed as a long-term replacement for Lee Dixon, he instead became back-up for the centre-halves as Lauren was signed to do his job at considerably greater expense. Very, very ordinary - especially when you consider that Liverpool signed Sami Hyypia for a similar fee in the same season.

4) IGOR STEPANOVS (bought for £1m, left for peanuts)
Another prime example of Wenger's defensive blind spot, Stepanovs arrived for a cool £1m from Skonto Riga and basically sat on the bench for three years before shuffling off to Beveren. All we really remember about him is that he was very tall and very slow. Probably still is.

5) DAVID GRONDIN (bought for nothing, left for nothing)
Another one of those players who somehow stuck around for five years despite being, well, rubbish. Was drafted in from St Etienne and was promptly sent back on loan before heading out for spells in various minor leagues (including Bevern in Belgium) before finding his level at Dunfermline. Currently plays for RAEC Mons.

6) TOMAS DANELIVICIUS (bought for £1m, left for peanuts)
For a while there, Beveren were the daft buggers who took all Arsenal's cast-offs, though this time Arsenal needed only a year to realise that Lithuanian striker Danilevičius was not up to the standard required of a team chasing the title. He was also very tall.

7) FRANCIS JEFFERS (bought for £7m, sold for £2.6m)
Wenger's first big-money flop, Jeffers was of course signed as a 'fox in the box'. It soon transpired that he should probably have saved his money and fielded an actual fox. So far out of his depth he was barely visible with binoculars, he eventually left for Charlton and is now on the transfer list at Sheffield Wednesday.

8) GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST (bought for £8.5m, sold for peanuts)
The Dutchman was supposed to be a replacement for Emmanuel Petit but he became a very expensive reserve left-back after suffering knee ligament damage. Arsenal were very happy to loan him to Barcelona after two underwhelming seasons and he eventually moved as a sweetener in the Cesc Fabregas deal.

9) RICHARD WRIGHT (bought for £6m, left for £3.5m)
Along with Jeffers, the disastrous signing of Wright is the reason Wenger began to shy away from spending big money on English players. Had one season at Highbury and ended it as third-choice keeper after a series of blunders, including one spectacular punching of the ball into his own net.

10) JOSE REYES (bought for £10.5m, sold for £8m)
Apparently, poor homesick Reyes thought there were "bad people" at Arsenal, who had taken him from his beloved Sevilla and put him in the nasty Premier League where people delighted in trying to kick him off the park. Not an absolute disaster by any means, but Arsenal fans had been spoiled by signings like Henry for a similar fee.

11) ABOU DIABY (bought for £2m, valued at £2)
He's very athletic and very tall, but he really doesn't seem to have a brain. Ask Pete Gill for a lengthier appraisal.

12) AMAURY BISCHOFF (bought for nothing, left for nothing)
It was a curious decision to give a contract to a player who had barely played because of a horrendous injury record. True enough, he played a few minutes in the Premier League against Portsmouth and then shuffled off to an obscure Portuguese side. Now a quiz answer waiting to happen.

13) MIKAEL SILVESTRE (bought for peanuts, now worth less)
When one of your major rivals allows one of their number to join your club for very few pennies, there's a damned good chance that they're more hindrance than help. Take heed.

Sarah Winterburn