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Arsenal are nowhere near the club they once were and that is a reality their supporters have come to terms with. They have been in the need to rebuild and carry out a proper transition for the last few years. Mikel Arteta, now in his third season, is the man in charge to spearhead that process.
The Spaniard is not afraid to let go of players who he feels will not help the club make serious progress. The next list on that name could be Nicolas Pepe who is the north London club's most expensive player at €80 million. The winger has shown glimpses of his quality and trickery when isolated with defenders but hasn't produced the numbers he should be producing.
Many players failed to do justice to the Arsenal badge
His understanding of the game has been poor and that has seen him fall down the pecking order. Many Arsenal fans have pronounced him a flop, but there's always a chance that he can turn things around. His tally of 26 goals and 20 assists in 102 appearances is decent if viewed in isolation without letting the price tag influence you.
However, there have been worse players in the club's history who were massive flops while they lasted at the club. Their arrival was looked forward with anticipation and once they started exhibiting their game, their departure was looked forward with equal anticipation.
There was hope attached to all these signings, but they never fully delivered on the promise. Here are 5 of the biggest flops at Arsenal.
#5 Francis Jeffers
There can be multiple "worst" Arsenal playing XIs that can be compiled for various reasons, but the likelihood that Francis Jeffers will make the centre-forward spot in all of them is very high. By no means was he a finished product when Arsene Wenger signed him from Everton for €15.3 million.
That was a lot of money in 2001 and it was being paid for a youngster who was going to develop and come good. But, the then 20-year-old forward flopped royally and rather than reaching his predicted ceiling, declined badly.
Jeffers was hailed as a "fox in the box" while he was with the Toffees. Clever with his movement inside the box and tidy with his finishing.
With the quality of the players Arsene Wenger had surrounding his No.9, the new lad was never going to lack quality service. But Jeffers succumbed under the pressure that came with the Arsenal badge. He scored eight goals in 39 appearances and was eventually considered impotent to even be the back-up striker.
It was not his fault that he was signed by the Gunners over a certain Ruud van Nistlerooy. What a joke.
#4 Gervinho
Inconsistency has been one of the major issues that famed players have been criticized for at Arsenal and Gervinho was no different. There were flashes of promise and glimpses of how dangerous his phenomenal pace could be for opposition defenses. However, that pace only seldom accomplished the wonderful.
The Ivory Coast international joined the Gunners in 2011 and left after a two-year stay. His figures of 11 goals and 12 assists in 63 appearances were not particularly bad, but it was what the forward did before and after his spell at the Emirates that made him an underwhelming signing.
Gervinho arrived at the back of two very successful seasons with LOSC Lille, having provided 23 and 27 goal contributions in successive Ligue 1 campaigns.
One of the reasons he flopped at Arsenal was Arsene Wenger's decision to utilize him predominantly on the left wing, while he played on the right side of a three-man frontline at the French club.
But that does not take away from the fact that Gervinho is responsible for his own underwhelming tally in the Arsenal outfit. The player missed quite a few glaring chances and that is certainly on him.
#3 Willian
Mikel Arteta was looking to bring in an experienced customer to blend in with his young side, hoping that the combination would prove effective. Willian was the player he bet on and signed him from Chelsea on a free.
It turned out to be a painful experience for the player, who looked a shadow of himself from his time at Stamford Bridge. It was equally unpleasant for Arteta, who ran out of excuses and reasons while defending the Brazilian.
Willian was supposed to bring in creativity into the Arsenal side, create goal scoring opportunities and play defense-splitting passes, but nothing came to fruition.
His performances were dull, the player felt slow and hardly managed to make his presence felt in a side with only a couple of big names. He left Arsenal after a single season, registering abysmal figures of one goal and seven assists in 37 matches across all competitions. But Willian underwhelmed in so many other departments.
The Brazilian rarely pressed with the same intensity known from his Chelsea days and did not help the team set a tempo for the game because he was too lethargic. He now plays for Brazilian side Corinthians and, in 12 games, is yet to score his first goal. Can't blame his poor showing for Arsenal on Arteta, can he?
#2 Shkodran Mustafi
There was a time when Shkodran Mustafi was pretty good and thriving in defense for La Liga side Valencia. He was even starting games regularly for the German national team. So Arsenal were supposed to be getting a mature defender who went about his business in a no nonsense manner.
The Gunners forked out €41 million to secure his signature, making him their most expensive centre-back until Ben White arrived last summer. Mustafi had a good start to his career at the Emirates but eventually the reality got exposed.
The defender was all over the place and never looked like a commanding figure. His reading of the game and anticipation were poor and it was too easy to beat him in one on one situations. Aerially, he was good and scored a few goals in the Arsenal outfit, nine in 151 appearances to be precise, but the Arsenal faithful could never trust him to not make a mistake.
It's awful how with every passing season he kept losing significant pace and how his defensive abilities deteriorated. In addition to his own errors, he proved to be a liability for those that were paired with him. The likes of Laurent Koscielny and David Luiz all suffered.
He was a reliable partner for Nicolas Otamendi at Valencia, but in an Arsenal outfit he lacked composure and created more problems for his partner.
#1 Sebastian Squillaci
Arsenal's defensive woes have put them in a desperate situation a number of times and that has led to investment in hasty and ineffective solutions. If you told the Gunners fanbase that Sebastian Squillaci was a nice defender, they would not agree for one fleeting moment. And it's not their fault because what they saw of him was simply horrendous.
The Frenchman had successful stints at AS Monaco and after that won the Ligue 1 title twice at Olympique Lyon between 2006 and 2008. Before joining Arsenal in 2010, he spent two seasons at Sevilla, where he won the Copa Del Rey as well. None of that was even remotely discrenable when he took to the field at the Emirates.
The 30-year old made basic mistakes that took the momentum away from Arsenal. His clearances were off and rushed and there was panic when he found himself playing out from the back. Squillaci's own goal against Sunderland saw Arsenal crash out of the FA Cup in 2012.
The bar went so low that the French defender wasn't even considered fit to play backup. Considering everything that he had achieved in France, he definitely flopped big time in England.
