WORST SIGNINGS

Sebastien Squillaci

Sebastien Squillaci arrived at Arsenal for £3.2m in 2010 from Sevilla. Upon his arrival, Wenger sang praises of the defender, saying, “We needed a centre-back of quality and experience and at the right price – he was all of that.”

But the Frenchman failed miserably to live up to his manager’s expectations with dismal performances one after the other. The defender seemed to possess none of the key characteristics and traits required of a centre-back lacking heavily on features like heading, tackling, physical strength or the ability to read the game, leading to questions over Wenger’s transfer acumen.

Squillaci made a meagre 23 league appearances for the club over three injury-ridden, abysmal seasons before moving to his native France where he signed up for Bastia on a free.

Andre Santos

Andre Santos caught Arsene Wenger’s eye when he played a friendly for Brazil at the Emirates and the Frenchman did not waste time in signing him up for a reported fee of £6.2 million from Turkish side Fenerbahce.

Things started brightly for Santos at the Emirates, a few decent outings in his early life and a beautiful goal against London rivals Chelsea. That, though, was as good as it got for him. The Brazilian was an all-out attacking left-back, known for his blistering pace, but was highly 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 presence on the field was turning out to be a liability, more often than not, for Arsenal.

But his lowest point as a Gunner came when, after a poor first-half showing against Manchester United, he warmly embraced former Arsenal captain and their pantomime villain Robin van Persie, who had joined the Red Devils from Arsenal that season and also decided to swap shirts with the Dutchman at half-time. The Arsenal supporters completely turned on him following that incident and he soon departed back to Brazil.