GOAL takes a look at some of the poorest transfer decisions made by the Gunners as their previous club-record signing prepares to depart north London
Arsenal have signed some world-class players in their long and illustrious history, many of whom arrived during the past three decades under former manager Arsene Wenger.
But for every Thierry Henry there has been a Francis Jeffers or a Gervinho – dire under-performers who, in some cases, were acquired at great cost only to be sold without ever leaving a mark.
Perhaps the worst of them all, however, has been Nicolas Pepe. Signed for a then club-record fee of £72 million ($88m) in 2019, the winger endured three forgettable campaigns at the Emirates Stadium before heading out on loan to Nice for the 2022-23 campaign.
With no way back for him into Mikel Arteta's first-team plans, Pepe is now set to leave Arsenal on a permanent basis, so where does he rank among the Gunners' worst-ever signings? GOAL takes a look at 15 transfers Gunners fans would rather forget…
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15Gervinho (£10.8m from Lille, 2011)
Arsenal signed Gervinho at a time when Lille had the likes of Eden Hazard and Yohan Cabaye in their Ligue 1-winning team. It's fair to say, then, that Wenger went after the wrong player, as the Ivorian international never settled at Arsenal after coming in as a replacement for Samir Nasri.
Eleven goals in 69 appearances showed that he wasn’t the right man to lead Arsenal’s attack and a terrible open-goal miss against Bradford City in the League Cup probably best sums up his Arsenal career.
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14Lucas Perez (£17.1m from Deportivo La Coruna, 2016)
Lucas Perez came to prominence in La Liga in 2015-16 with a fine season to keep Deportivo La Coruna out of relegation trouble. His 17 league goals convinced Arsenal that he could be the answer to their troubles up front.
Unfortunately for the Gunners, Perez proved to be an unmitigated disaster. He managed just one goal in 11 Premier League games during his first and only season with the club, and spent the following campaign back at Deportivo on loan before Arsenal offloaded him to West Ham at a considerable loss.
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13Marouane Chamakh (Free from Bordeaux, 2010)
Marouane Chamakh joined Arsenal on a free transfer from Bordeaux in 2010 and had a promising start to his Gunners career. However, the striker scored just 14 goals in 67 appearances before joining West Ham on loan in January 2013, as Robin van Persie’s rise to prominence displaced the Morocco striker from the starting line-up.
Chamakh later revealed that he feels Wenger misled him over his first-team opportunities at Arsenal, saying: "I played for six months, I scored goals, I was decisive. In January [2011], Robin returned from injury and overnight, I landed on the bench without justification.
"It is clear that I am a little annoyed at [Wenger] because I think I deserved more playing time than what I was given. As the year began, at the start of the season, he told me that we might change tactics and maybe I would be able to play up front with Robin.”
- FC Goa Media
12Andre Santos (£6.2m from Fenerbahce, 2011)
Signed in the same transfer window as Per Mertesacker and Yossi Benayoun, Andre Santos arrived at Arsenal to solve the club's left-back shortage.
However, his lack of pace and poor positioning saw him vilified by press and supporters alike, and his decision to swap shirts with Van Persie at half-time during the club’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United only provoked further ire.
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