Twenty years. That is a long time. Especially in the current footballing atmosphere where managers are changed so often by clubs. ‘The Professor’ as he is called lovingly, Arsene Wenger has achieved almost everything there is in club football, except a Champions League.
From being an unknown entity when Arsenal got him onboard 20 years ago, Wenger has gone on to epitomise longevity in football management. A team that plays an attractive brand of football, a club with solid financial stability, that will be the Frenchman’s legacy when his time at the Emirates will come to an end.
He may not have won a Premier League title in 12 years, but qualifying for the Champions League for 19 successive seasons is no mean feat. The 2003-04 Invincibles team achieved something historic and are a true marker of the 66-year old’s managerial pedigree.
Also Read: EPL 2016-17: Can Arsenal finally win the Premier League?
Wenger in his 20-year long tenure as the Gunners manager has made some great signings, club and football legends, like Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry to name a few. But for every Henry there has been a Nicklas Bendtner, for every Patrick Viera there has been an Emmanuel Frimpong.
With Wenger completing 20 years at the helm, here we compile a team (4-4-2 formation) of the worst signings made by the Frenchman:
Goalkeeper
Manuel Almunia
Signed to provide competition for Jens Lehmann, Almunia impressed during his early days in the Gunners’ goal. He eventually displaced the mercurial German as first choice in 2007-08 and took the No.1 jersey the subsequent season, but his performances became highly inconsistent with time.
He could be brilliant one day, and utterly poor the next. And soon enough, he had become third choice behind Polish keepers Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski. He was finally released by the club in 2012.
In a period that showed promise, the Spaniard was not consistent enough and made some costly mistakes in his time at Arsenal.
Defenders
Right-back
Nelson Vivas
In the right-back position, it is Argentine Nelson Vivas. The defender arrived with a lot of promise from Boca Juniors for £1.6m in 1998. He was signed to ease some pressure on the aging Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn but struggled to break into the starting XI.
He hardly made any impact at Highbury spending most of his time on the bench and eventually departed after his contract expired in 2001. His lowest point in an Arsenal jersey came when he missed from the spot in a penalty shootout against Middlesbrough as the Gunners were eliminated from the 1999-2000 League Cup.
Centre-back
Sebastian Squillaci
Sebastien Squillaci arrived at Arsenal for £3.2m in 2010 from Sevilla. "We needed a centre-back of quality and experience and at the right price - he was all of that", Wenger gushed. But the Frenchman failed to live up to his manager’s expectations with disappointing outings one after the other.
Soon he went down the pecking order, with Wenger bringing in Per Mertesacker the next season. His highly incompetent displays meant Squillaci made just 23 league appearances for the club over three seasons before joining French side Bastia for free.
Centre-back
Mikael Silvestre
Another Frenchman who disappointed in the centre-back position is Mikael Silvestre. Signed for a small fee of £750,000 from rivals Manchester United in 2008, there’s no doubt as to which party walked out happier of the two from this deal, as he turned out to be a terrible piece of business for the Gunners.
Silvestre arrived with plenty of Premier League experience with 5 winners medals with the Red Devils, but a series of clumsy performances meant he made only 26 appearances before departing in 2010. He was hapless in defence at times and made one wonder what was it that Wenger saw before bringing in a player that was clearly past his heydays.
Left-back
Andre Santos
You cannot have Wenger’s worst XI without left-back Andre Santos featuring in the line-up. The Brazilian, known for his pace, was susceptible at the back. He made marauding runs on the left-flank only to leave enormous space behind him which the opponents exploited mercilessly.
His lowest point as a Gunners’ player came when, after a dismal performance against Manchester United, he decided to swap shirts at half-time with Robin van Persie who had joined the Red Devils from Arsenal that season. The fans turned on him following that incident and he soon departed back to Brazil.
Midfielders
Right Wing
Amaury Bischoff
On the right side of the midfield, we have Amaury Bischoff. The Portuguese arrived in 2008 from German side Werder Bremen and Wenger admitted the signing to be a gamble on talent, given Bischoff’s injury record.
The versatile midfielder was technically adept and could play anywhere across midfield but the gamble never paid off though, as the midfielder made just 4 appearances in his time at London, before departing in the subsequent summer.
Central Midfielder
Denilson
In the central midfield Denilson makes an appearance. Arriving from Brazilian side Sao Paulo for £3.4m as a signing for the future, Wenger described his new signing as ‘somewhere in between Rosicky and Gilberto. But contrary to that, Denilson lacked defensive ability and hardly contributed in attack.
He never really showed any flair that one associates with a Brazilian footballer and was passive and mediocre in most of his displays. Despite making over 150 appearances for the club, he hardly lived up to the billing and went back to Brazil after terminating his contract.
Central Midfielder
Kim Kallstrom
Alongside Denilson, we have Swede Kim Kallstrom in the centre of the midfield. Kallstrom was a surprise loan signing by Wenger in the winter transfer window of 2014. His history with injuries was well-known, but Arsene decided he could use some cover to ease a midfield crisis.
Kallstrom arrived in London carrying an injury and had to wait almost three months for his debut but could only make 4 appearances for the North London club before going back to parent club Spartak Moscow.
Truly, a strange one by ‘The Professor’.
Left Wing
Jose Antonio Reyes
Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes was one of Wenger's more expensive buys coming from Sevilla in January 2004. He struggled to adapt and handle the physical nature of the English game, making it hard for him to fit in the Gunners’ line-up.
His physical presence, or lack thereof, was targeted by opponent players regularly. As Gary Neville states in his autobiography, “I knew above all that I had to get physical. I had to make Reyes lose his confidence.”
Also Read: The 7 biggest flops from seven big clubs in Europe
After a decent start to life in London, the winger faded away into sharp decline. He scored just 23 goals in 110 appearances for Arsenal. Reyes struggled with homesickness and was eventually sold to Atletico Madrid for a fee in the region of £10 million in 2007 after a loan spell at Real Madrid in 2006-07 season.
Forwards
Striker
Park-Chu Young
With so many strikers failing to have had any impact in the past years at Arsenal, we are spoilt for choices to select two men to lead this line-up. But it is Park-Chu Young who makes the cut as one of the two strikers.
Park was signed by Wenger from Monaco in 2011 when the striker was close to completing a move to Lille. But his signing proved to be disastrous for the Gunners as the South Korean spent most of his three years as an Arsenal player on loan at various different clubs.
He made only 7 appearances for Arsenal, with just one coming in the Premier League scoring just one goal. He eventually was released by the club in 2014.
Striker
Francis Jeffers
Alongside the South-Korean, it is English striker Francis Jeffers who features in this line-up. Jeffers, aged 20 at that time, was brought in from Everton in the summer of 2001 for a fee around £8 million. Called the ‘Fox in the box’ by boss Wenger, he arrived with some reputation, having scored 18 Premier League goals in 40 games for the Toffees at such a young age.
However, his game was nowhere near the level needed to help his side challenge for Premier League and European glory. He also suffered injuries during his time in London and all in all was a flop signing scoring just eight goals for the Gunners in three years.
Here’s how the team lines up:
Substitutes:
Richard Wright (GK), Pascal Cygan, Johan Djourou, Abou Diaby, Junichi Inamoto, Gervinho, Nicklas Bendtner.
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