The worst…
Francis Jeffers – 8 million pounds from Everton (2001)
Francis ‘fox in the box’ Jeffers was one of Arsenal’s most expensive signings at that time. Playing at Everton he caught the eye of Wenger who pushed for a A8 million pound move for the English striker from the Toffees. The result was somewhat disastrous.
He was plagued with injuries during his time with the Gunners making just 38 appearances in two seasons and scoring 8 goals. To be fair Jeffers was not that bad a player, but the fact that he performed so poorly alongside some of Arsenals greatest is what makes him a bad signing. Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Sylvian Wiltford largely overshadowed the striker making it difficult for him to make it to the first team. Injuries further restricted the Englishman to the sidelines.
Over the next nine years Jeffers played for around 11 clubs, some on loan, eventually playing at Accrington Stanley after short stints in Australia and Malta.
Mikael Silvestre – 0.75 million pounds from Manchester United (2008).
It was the year 2008. Mikael Silvestre was at the end of a trophy-studded career at Manchester United with him seeing out his contract and playing a testimonial match at the end of season of 2008-09. Things changed when Mark Hughes offered him a transfer to City. The deal was as good as done but a last minute call from Arsene Wenger saw Silvestre opt for Arsenal instead who ended up paying almost a million pounds for the ageing defender.
The Frenchman was one of the Abest defenders of his time but his age had caught up with him and no one expected Wenger to even think of this transfer. On the other hand Sir Alex Ferguson probably couldn’t believe his luck when Arsenal offered to pay such a large sum.
Strikingly though Silvestre’s and Jeffers’ statistics somewhat match ; the Frenchman scoring Athrice in 43 appearances for the Gunners. His performances at the other end of the pitch made him something of a joke.
Sloppy defending, injury prone seasons and most of all the lack of pace, which was once his strongest attribute at Old Trafford, made his time with the Gunners a downright disaster.
Sebastian Squillaci – 4 million poundsAfromASevilleA(2010)
Photo: Haddon / Camera / Icon Sport
Arriving from Sevilla on a three-year contract Squillaci was bought with the hope of filling the defensive gap and strengthening the back four, a task he couldn’t even come close to completing. There’s always a doubt about defenders from the Spanish league whether they can adapt to the quick and physical game of the Premier League. The answer when it comes to Squillaci is a no.
The defender had some shaky starts in the starting run of games which the fans thought the defender might overcome given that the league is pretty new to him. But when shaky turned to jittering wreck the fans were sure that they had signed another dud.
The signings of Laurent Koscielny in 2010 and Per Mertesacker in 2011 Asaw the Frenchman falling down the pecking order at the club. None of the Aattributes that one looks for in a defender were to be found in him. He lacked pace, couldn’t head the ball properly let alone read the game. He looked like an exact copy of Silvestre who had just been offloaded by the club.
At the end of his three-year contract the club decided to let him go alongside Andrei Arshavin and Denilson.
Andre Santos – 6.8 million from Fenerbahce (2011)
Santos was a typical Brazilian full-back with lots of pace, an attacking mentality and a knack of scoring goals. At least that’s what Wenger and the fans thought when they signed him and boy were they wrong.
Though Santos Astacked up some decent performances in his first few games even scoring a Abrilliant goal against Chelsea. That, though, was as good as it got.
His defending skills were average and his fitness even worse. A string of poor performances saw Arsenal fans losing faith in him. But the last straw came when he embraced ex-Gunner and now Manchester United striker Robin Van Persie. And he went on to swap t-shirts with him just after the Dutchman had scored against his former side.
The Brazilian failed to dazzle the fans on the pitch as well as of it. Two years into his contract the full-back was loaned to Grimeo after which he moved to Flamengo.
Park Chu-Young – 5 million pounds from Monaco (2011)
Arsenal paid 5 million for the South Korean striker who apparently had an ‘eye for the goal’ and arrived ‘with a rich pedigree’. Little was known about the South Korean and if he was good enough for Arsenal.
It is rumoured that he left the hotel room
without finishing his medical examination for the French club Lille OSC when he became aware of Arsenal’s interest in him.
The striker,given the number 9, only featured in one league game for Arsenal that too as a substitute against Manchester United which saw the Gunners lose 2-1 at home. His other appearances came in the Champions League and the League Cup in which he scored just 1 goal in a total of 7 appearances.
Newly signed Lukas Podolski was handed Park’s number 9 jersey who in return was handed the number 30. Park did not play another game for Arsenal for the next 14 months till October 2013 when he was brought on as a substitute against Chelsea, a game which Arsenal lost 2-0.
Park did not feature for Arsenal after that defeat against Chelsea and was let go when his contract expired in June 2014.
