5 of Arsenal's best transfer windows of all-time

#3 Summer 2013

The arrival of Mesut Ozil ushered in Arsenal's first trophy in nine years

By the end of 2012/13, Arsenal hadn’t won a trophy for nine years, and their most high-profile signings since their move to the Emirates hadn’t really been world-beater types, more players on a slightly lower level, though still good in their own right, like Olivier Giroud, Per Mertesacker and Marouane Chamakh.

That changed in the summer of 2013 and it wasn’t due to the signings of Mathieu Flamini and Yaya Sanogo on free transfers.

No, it was the biggest signing for Arsenal in probably over a decade – German superstar Mesut Ozil arrived from Real Madrid, in the prime of his career, for a club record fee of £42.5 million.

Admittedly, it wasn’t like they simply marched in and took him from Real – the Spanish giants were willing to sell him as Ozil had become surplus to requirements, but it was still a marquee signing not expected of Arsenal in 2013.

Unsurprisingly, Ozil was a massive hit at the Emirates instantly. He gave Arsenal a spark they’d been lacking for years and although he didn’t score that many goals in his debut season – seven in 40 appearances in all competitions – he did provide 13 assists, a great tally by anyone’s standards.

Oh, and he helped Arsenal to end their trophy drought by winning the FA Cup, too.

Throw in the fact that – until recently at least – he’s been one of their most consistently excellent players, and also the fact that the same window didn’t see any other major sales – and the summer of 2013 was definitely a successful one for the Gunners.