Untold Arsenal » Wenger’s 25 most memorable transfers

There was a little comment from a reader about Arsenal being a selling club with a cheapskate manager. I’m long beyond taking any notice of such drivel, but I thought I would take a look at the major transfers that Wenger has been involved in since he came to the club.

And I was surprised that I couldn’t find a nice and easy list to read. So, despite the fact that I should have been typing up the interviews that I did earlier in the week I became distracted and put together my own list of Wenger transfers, in no particular order.

The information is either from memory or from what I could quickly look up. Please do correct errors, and add extra ones that should be here.

I was generally guided by the notion that the people listed should be seen as a success, and have played a fair number of games, or have only recently arrived. On the issue of quality of player, you might not normally include my final entry, who is described by some as solid rather than brilliant (although I saw him as one of those whose contribution is easy to overlook because of the nature of his game), but whatever your view his subsequent contribution to the club has been so overwhelming that he must be included.

So here’s the list – Wenger’s most memorable transfers… but please do note, I put them down as I thought of them – they are not in order of importance or anything else.

1: Patrick Vieira: Signed from AC Milan in 1996 for £3.5m. Sold to Juventus in 2005 for £13m.

2: Thierry Henry: Signed from Juventus in 1999 for £10.5m. Sold to Barcelona in 2007 for £16.1m

3: Nicolas Anelka: Signed from Paris-St Germain in 1997 for £0.5m. Sold to Real Madrid in 1999 for £23m.

4: Robert Pires: Signed from Marseille in 2000 for £6m. Sold to Villarreal, 2006, free.

5: Cesc Fabregas: Signed from Barcelona in 2003 for £0.25m

6: Eduardo: Signed from Dynamo Zagreb in 2007 for £16m

7: Bacary Sagna: Signed from Auxaure in 2007 for £7m.

8: Andrei Arshavin: Signed from Zenit St Petersburg in 2009 for £15m.

9: Emmanuel Petit: Signed from Monaco in 1997 for £2.5m. Sold to Barca for £7m

10: Marc Overmars: Signed from Ajax in 1997 for £5m. Sold to Barca for £20m

11: Freddie Ljunberg: Signed from Sweden in 1998 for £3m. Sold to West Ham

12: Lauren: Signed from Mallorca in 2000 for £7m. Sold to Portsmouth for

13: Sol Campbell: Signed from Tottenham in 2001 for free. Sold to Portsmouth for free.

14: Theo Walcott: Signed from Southampton in 2006 for £5m

15: Samir Nasri: Signed from Olympique de Marseille in 2008 for £12m

16. Gilberto: Signed from Atlético Mineiro in 2002 for £4.2m. Sold to Panathinikos in 2008.

17. Tomas Rosický: Signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2006 for £7m

18. Gael Clichy: Signed from AS Cannes in 2003 for ???

19. Kolo Toure: Signed from Breveren in 2002 for £150,000.

20. Silvain Wiltord: Signed from Bordeaux in 2000 for £13m. Sold to Olympique Lyonnais.

21: Robin Van Persie: Signed from Feyenoord in 2004 for £5m

22: Emmanuel Adebayor: Signed from Monaco in 2006 for £7m

23. Jens Lehmann: Signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2003 for ???

24: Gilles Grimandi: Signed from Monaco in 1997 for ???. Left for Colorado Rapids but retired to become chief scout in France

25: ?????? Who did I miss out? Gallas? Denilson and Song? Or Silvinho….. Or Edu? And we don’t have to stop at 25!

(c) Tony Attwood 2009.