It’s January- and we know what that means, brace yourself for a wealth of transfer rumours over the next month and, hopefully, Arsenal will be in on the business to land some talented assets to help our Premier League title push.
Arsenal aren’t renowned for completing January signings but, as Jonathan Kaney shows us here, there’s been some major coups from Arsene Wenger over the year. In fact, some of these can go down amongst the best of Wenger’s all-time purchases as Arsenal boss.
Given the wealth of players he has brought in, that says a lot- and more is shown by the people who are excluded from this list, including Gabriel Paulista- who we think could be top of the lot in a few years, should he continue to impress in the first-team.
Who’s your favourite January signing of Arsene Wenger’s reign? Let us know in the comments below!
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Emmanuel Eboue
Virtually unknown Ivorian Emmanuel Eboue joined the Gunners from Beveren in January 2005 to provide cover and competition for Lauren at right-back.
Little was expected of him when he arrived but the following year he started in the 2006 Champions League final against Barcelona.
Towards the end of his Gunners career he was displaced by Bacary Sagna and struggled, but he exceeded all expectations at Arsenal after arriving for such a small fee and definitely goes down as a solid signing for Arsene.
Andrey Arshavin
Controversial, as many feel he was a massive failure, but on balance in his first six months he was superb for us.
The Russian superstar signed in January 2009 and in an impressive few months, which included a famous night at Anfield where he scored four goals, he injected some much need quality into a weak squad to help us qualify for the Champions League and was a huge hit with Gooners for a spell.
It was downhill from there in terms of quality and his relationship with the fans soured, but despite flattering to deceive on many an occasion he played 123 games for the club and in my opinion goes down as a good signing overall.
Nacho Monreal
Although Nacho Monreal was signed as emergency cover for an injured Kieran Gibbs in 2013 and initially struggled with confidence, the Spaniard has moulded into one of our best and most consistent players and arguably the best left-back in the PL this season.
Gibbs hasn’t managed to get back in the team since then and his deadline-day signing has proved a masterstroke from Arsene Wenger.
Emmanuel Adebayor
Sigh. It’s with clenched teeth that Gooners utter the name of Emmanuel Adebayor after the way he’s behaved at City and Spurs since he left the Emirates, but there is no question as a signing, he was another masterstroke from Wenger.
Arsenal fans had barely heard of the big forward when Arsene Wenger signed him for £2m from Monaco as cover from Thierry Henry in 2007. When Henry eventually left for Barcelona, Adebayor took his chance in the first team and and scored 30 goals in the 2007/08 season.
After becoming one of the most hated figures in football due to his ego and diva behaviour we sold him for £25m for a huge profit and his career has never the same. To top it off he currently collects a huge wage from Spurs for training with their reserves.
Theo Walcott
Say what you want about Theo Walcott’s younger days and lack of consistency, but Arsene Wenger’s gamble on a prodigious 16 year old in 2006 has paid off completely. Now 26, Walcott is one of the best players in the squad and has been a fantastic servant to the club and has scored 53 goals in 219 appearances. Definitely Arsene’s best ever January signing.