Arsene Wenger became renowned at Arsenal for unearthing gems – but not every punt he took paid off.
Wenger turned unknown youngsters like Nicolas Anelka and Kolo Toure into world-class talents during his near-22 years in charge in north London, but not everything he touched turned to gold.
And as well as the more high-profile failures, there are also some players you could be forgiven for forgetting ever existed, let alone were signed by Wenger for Arsenal.
Amaury Bischoff
“With Bischoff moving to Arsenal, Wenger has yet again signed an unknown youngster who might well become someone we rave about in the future,” noted Bleacher Report upon Bischoff’s arrival at Arsenal in the summer of 2008.
The warning signs were there for all to see when Bischoff’s transfer from Werder Bremen was delayed while the midfielder proved his fitness after two groin operations. Wenger himself admitted: “It is a gamble on his talent.”
It proved to be a gamble which backfired as Bischoff played a total of 74 minutes of first-team football across four substitute appearances before being released at the end of his solitary season.
The former Portugal youth international has spent the majority of his subsequent career in the German third tier but revealed in an interview with Goal that he still keeps in touch with Wenger.
“We still have a good relationship although we don’t talk each day,” he said. “But I see him once or twice in a year.”
Remember former Arsenal midfielder Amaury Bischoff? Here he is scoring a beauty in the German third division… pic.twitter.com/j8Dt504Zbs
— Eurosport (@eurosport) February 8, 2015
Juan
It says a lot about how many players could have been on this list that Juan did not even finish bottom of our ranking of every Brazilian to appear for Arsenal.
The left-back arrived from Sao Paulo as a 19-year-old in 2001 and made two cup appearances, providing an assist for Ray Parlour in the second, before suffering a serious ACL injury.
Upon recovering he was sent on loan to Millwall for two months but returned to find first-team chances at Arsenal limited with Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy ahead of him in the pecking order.
To his credit, Juan returned to Brazil and won honours with Fluminense, Flamengo and Santos, and even won two caps for the senior national team.
Alberto Mendez
Joining in the same summer as Nicolas Anelka, Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars goes a long way to explaining why Mendez was overshadowed at Arsenal.
The…
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