Arsenal have shown their eye for a bargain on many occasions, but their reluctance to break the bank has sometimes seen them miss out on some top players.
For every cut-price signing who has come good, there are plenty more illustrious names who ended up succeeding elsewhere because Arsenal were not prepared to meet their asking price.
When you throw in those who simply didn’t want to join the club, there’s a laundry list of top talents in the ‘might have signed for Arsenal’ pile.
So we’ve taken 10 players that Arsenal have missed out on over the last 13 years, looking at where they ended up and, where appropriate, who Arsenal signed instead.
2023 – Mykhailo Mudryk
The “Ukrainian Neymar” had been chased by the table-topping Gunners throughout the early weeks of the January transfer window. They reportedly had three big bids knocked back by Shakhtar Donetsk, who instead did a swift deal with Chelsea.
Arsenal didn’t rest on their laurels and quickly sprang into action to sign Leandro Trossard from Brighton. Time will tell which player does better, but Trossard at £27million looks much less of a risk than Mudryk for nearly three times that.
The two players made their debuts for their respective clubs on the same weekend. Mudryk, to be fair, looked really exciting in his first appearance for Graham Potter’s Blues, while Trossard was involved in the build-up for Eddie Nketiah’s 90th-minute match-winner against Manchester United.
2021 – Emiliano Buendia
After being named Championship player of the season for his exploits with Norwich City, Buendia reportedly became a top target for Mikel Arteta.
But Arsenal had a £30million bid rejected by the Canaries and they were also unable to convince the midfielder to push for a move to the Emirates.
The Argentina international decided to join Aston Villa instead, linking up with compatriot and former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Having missed out on Buendia, the Gunners instead signed Martin Odegaard on a permanent deal. Safe to say that’s worked out alright for them.
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2017 – Thomas Lemar
When Arsenal failed to reach the 2017-18 Champions League, the lure lessened for some European players.
Thomas Lemar had been heavily linked with the club while starring in Monaco’s run to a European semi-final but opted to stay in the principality despite interest from the Gunners and Liverpool.
The Frenchman would…
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