Arsenal January panic buys ranked as Arteta chases new striker after Zubimendi agreement

Jason Soutar
Arsenal ranking: Jorginho panic buys graphic
Jorginho is the third best January panic buy made by Arsenal

Arsenal need one or two January signings to get their Premier League title challenge back on track. It is time to press the panic button, just like they did on these 12 occasions.

The Gunners have reportedly already sorted the summer signing of Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi. Will Mikel Arteta panic and fast-track the transfer to this month? Will he finally spend big on a new striker after Gabriel Jesus’ season-ending injury? Alexander Isak would only cost £150million; Rio Ferdinand has suggested Karim Benzema.

We rank all of the panic buys Arsenal have made in the winter transfer window. Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery and Arteta signings all feature.

 

12) Denis Suarez (loan, 2019)
This is the most pointless loan signing Arsenal have ever made, though Neto is giving Suarez a run for his money this season. Seriously, who brings in a cup-tied cup goalkeeper?

Signed by Unai Emery for the second half of 2018/19, Suarez could barely get a kick despite costing a £2million loan fee, which was nearly as much as Barcelona had paid to sign him permanently three years before.

Suarez played a grand total of 67 minutes for Arsenal in the Premier League before returning to Barcelona to never be seen again.

 

11) Kim Kallstrom (loan, 2014)
From one completely pointless signing to another, Kallstrom is something of a cult hero at the Emirates after joining with an injured back, scoring a penalty in a shoot-out win against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup, doing absolutely nothing else, and then buggering off.

To this day, we are still not sure why Arsene Wenger sanctioned this one. Neither is Kallstrom. “Here, I walked in, hit the penalty, we won a trophy and then I walked out again,” the Swede said.

READ MORE: Premier League loan failures in the January transfer window features two Arsenal men

 

10) Mathew Ryan (loan, 2021)
The first three signings are from Arsenal’s last three managers as Australian goalkeeper Ryan makes it a trio of largely pointless loan signings.

Ryan’s low ranking might stem from the sheer disbelief held deep within me that Arsenal signed Runar Alex Runarsson six months before. Goalkeeper coach Inaki Cana recommended Runarsson and Mikel Arteta was quick to lose trust in the Icelandic ‘goalkeeper’ and his coach’s transfer advice, though he would eventually sign Cana’s best friend David Raya in 2023.

Ryan was brought in as Arteta decided Bernd Leno’s back-up required Premier League experience and be somewhat competent. He left Brighton after being dropped for Robert Sanchez and only played three times for the Gunners. Since leaving, he has hopped around Europe, playing for Real Sociedad, FC Copenhagen, AZ Alkmaar and is currently at AS Roma.

 

9) Pablo Mari (loan, 2020)
The £7million loan fee paid for Mari will never not be absolutely ridiculous. And to pay another £5m six months later? Bloody stinker, that.

Arteta wanted a left-footed centre-back and somehow stumbled across a 26-year-old Flamengo player. He was signed for too much money and did not impress. Being thrown around like a child by Romelu Lukaku was the final straw.

 

8) Cedric Soares (loan, 2020)
Loans truly are the epitome of the January panic buy. The biggest difference between Cedric and Mari is that the former cost nothing; not when he signed on loan and not when it became permanent.

Cedric was perhaps even more underwhelming on the pitch but a top professional off it.

 

7) Gabriel Paulista (£11.2m, 2015)
After signing Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy in the 2014 summer transfer window, Arsenal manager Wenger felt he needed more defensive depth. The latter was out with a dislocated shoulder and Chambers was struggling with the demands of increased first-team football.

Arsenal had a settled centre-back partnership in 2014/15 consisting of Laurent Koscielny and vice-captain Per Mertesacker, who boasted an impressive record when playing together. In games they played the full 90 minutes together, the Gunners went 30 matches unbeaten, starting with a 0-0 draw at Bolton Wanderers in 2011/12 and ending with a 5-1 defeat at Liverpool in 2013/14, keeping 18 clean sheets and winning 21.

Wenger still decided to delve into the transfer market with both players injured too often and Gabriel was his man. The current Besiktas defender played 64 times for Arsenal, winning two FA Cups. He was not a bad signing and didn’t cost much, spending two-and-a-half years in north London before returning to Spain with Valencia.

 

6) Sol Campbell (free, 2010)
The Football365 dictionary defines a January panic buy as the purchase of a player you would not buy in the summer. Or something along those lines. We don’t think the Arsenal transfer team would have been banging their heads against the wall when Sol Campbell terminated his Notts County contract in September 2009, wishing he was available a month before.

Instead, Campbell trained with his former club to keep fit and when January rolled around, both parties seized the opportunity and he became an Arsenal player again.

It ended up being a handy signing due to Thomas Vermaelen’s injury problems, while William Gallas also struggled to stay healthy, meaning Campbell played the full 90 minutes in 10 of the Gunners’ last 11 Premier League encounters.

The highlight from Campbell’s second spell at Arsenal was scoring at FC Porto on the same night Lukasz Fabianski picked up his back-pass and Radamel Falcao instantly scored. Good times. Before all the woke.

Having provided a definition, it feels important to note that this is why Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Martin Odegaard are not on this list. Both were long-term targets and the January opportunity to sign Aubameyang came after he fell out with nearly everyone at Borussia Dortmund.

 

5) Thierry Henry (loan, 2012)
Before the woke nonsense took over, MLS players used to play in the Premier League during their off-season. Landon Donovan was at Everton twice and Thierry Henry returned to Arsenal. During his second spell, the greatest Gunner of all time scored an iconic goal against Leeds United in the FA Cup and gave Wenger a last-minute winner at Sunderland as a parting gift. The man can do no wrong in an Arsenal kit.

 

4) Andrey Arshavin (£15m, 2009)
Arsenal broke their transfer record after nine years with the £15m signing of Russian international Andrey Arshavin from Zenit. They were awfully stingy in the 2000s as Wenger preferred buying young, promising players to transform into superstars.

As well as the club’s transfer record, Wenger broke the mold with a big-money signing in the January transfer window but injuries forced his hand. Cesc Fabregas had recently suffered knee ligament damage, Theo Walcott a dislocated shoulder, and Tomas Rosicky was made of glass and had only just returned to training after a year out.

Arshavin was a cult hero after his Euro 2008 exploits and helping Zenit win the UEFA Cup in the same year, but he rarely performed at a world-class level during his time at the Emirates. Of course, we all remember his four goals at Liverpool and his winner against Barcelona, but 23 goals in 105 Premier League appearances was pretty underwhelming.

He is a long way off being a flop but Arsenal expected more.

 

3) Jorginho (£12m, 2023)
A large portion of the Arsenal fanbase was irate when the club signed Jorginho on deadline day in January 2023. He was the latest Chelsea reject brought in under Edu Gaspar and Arteta’s watch and was met with confoundment after they initially targeted Brighton sensation Moises Caicedo.

While Caicedo has improved at Chelsea and is again one of the best midfielders in England, Jorginho has been absolutely fine. His leadership has been crucial and it is clear there is a great rapport with Arteta, who would be silly not to consider adding him to his coaching staff when the Italian hangs up his boots.

Some Arsenal fans still view the 2023 January window as a missed opportunity after Edu flunked his attempts to sign Arteta’s top two targets, with the Premier League title ultimately bottled and gift-wrapped for Manchester City.

 

2) Nacho Monreal (£8.5m, 2013)
Arsenal got a brilliant 251 matches out of Spanish left-back Monreal, who was not a world-class player but he had consistency in abundance, which is so, so valuable, guys. So valuable.

Wenger landed Monreal for a modest £8.5m on deadline day in the 2013 winter transfer window, acting through sheer panic after an injury to Kieran Gibbs. He was unfortunately ineligible to play in the Champions League for Arsenal that season but Wenger’s side only lost once more in the Premier League following Monreal’s arrival.

Monreal was ultimately a very successful signing, usurping Gibbs and playing centre-back on several occasions. He scored in a win at Old Trafford and against Manchester City in an FA Cup semi-final after establishing himself as a convincing left-centre-back in a three-man defence.

 

1) Leandro Trossard (£21m plus add-ons, 2023)
Trossard has been an inspired signing for Arsenal, even if he has been poor this season, especially in the matches he has started.

He was second choice to Mykhaylo Mudryk – in the same month Jorginho was second choice to Caicedo – but Arsenal played hardball with Shakhtar Donetsk and Chelsea swooped in, stealing the Ukrainian winger from their London rivals’ grasp. As it goes, it was a blessing in disguise for the Gunners, who struck gold with Trossard while the Blues struck horse dung.

Trossard has scored several huge goals for Arsenal and is a solid option across the attack, capable of playing anywhere and even being utilised in midfield this campaign.

The Belgian has picked up the unwanted super-sub tag from his clutch performances off the bench and has only strengthened that narrative with some sub-par showings as a starter in 2024/25. Regardless, he has been a huge success at the Emirates.

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