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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Josh O'Brien

Arsenal's 22 players sold since 2019 and the £128m loss made on them

Mikel Arteta expects the very best from his Arsenal players when it comes to attitude and application - just ask exiled former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

It is for that reason that plenty of players have come and gone since the Spaniard took up the Emirates hot-seat in December 2019.

That ranges from the most high-profile of characters such as Aubameyang himself, to the more sparingly used back-up goalkeepers.

Remarkably, from the summer of 2019 to the winter window of January 2022 - Arsenal have seen a staggering 22 players call time on their Gunners career with very little money regained in return when it comes to transfer fees.

Mirror Football has taken a look at all 22 departures sanctioned by the Arsenal hierarchy in the last two-and-a-half years.

Danny Welbeck - Free Transfer

Danny Welbeck left Arsenal on a free transfer (Stuart MacFarlane)

The former Manchester United forward spent five years wearing the red of Arsenal before eventually departing for Watford at the end of his Gunners contract.

Welbeck enjoyed some stellar moments in an Arsenal shirt, most notably his last-gasp winner against Leicester City in 2016 after returning from a lengthy injury.

However, injuries started to define the second half of his Arsenal career and he was allowed to leave under Unai Emery's reign at the end of the 2018/19 season.

Aaron Ramsey - Free transfer

Many Arsenal fans still fume over the fact that one of the best midfielder players in their modern history was allowed to leave the club for nothing.

Ramsey was not offered a new contract by Emery's regime who instead let him join Turin-based titans Juventus for free.

Things did not go to plan in Italy and Ramsey has since returned to the UK to join Scottish giants Rangers on loan for the remainder of this season.

Cohen Bramall - Free Transfer

Plucked from non-league obscurity by Arsene Wenger, Cohen Bramall failed to make a single first-team appearance for the Gunners outside of pre-season tours.

Following his release, Brammal bemoaned the man-management stylings of Emery.

"I didn’t have a conversation with Unai at all. That’s the thing. I didn’t have a conversation with him once, he told Goal.

"It was probably difficult for him because I’m guessing he was told I didn’t have the best of loans at Birmingham, so he just binned me off."

Stephan Lichtsteiner - Free Transfer

Brought in by Emery from Juventus, Lichtsteiner lasted just one season at the Emirates in a campaign that was littered with individual mistakes from the Switzerland international.

In truth, the full-back probably played far more than Emery would have expected due to injuries to those above him in the pecking order.

Nevertheless, Lichtsteiner played his part in Arsenal's route to the 2019 Europa League final before joining German side FC Augsburg.

Nacho Monreal - £225,000

Nacho Monreal left Arsenal for £225,000 (REUTERS)

Five players in to the departure list and Monreal marks the first exit Arsenal actually received some form of compensation for.

With that being said, the ageing left-back went for a miniscule fee of £250,000 as he returned to Spain to ply his trade for Real Sociedad.

Monreal is a cult hero on the Emirates terraces for his hard-fought displays and tendency to pop up with a goal at the most vital times over the course of his five-year stay in north London.

Takuma Asano - £900,000

In many ways, it is impressive that Arsenal managed to get a higher fee for Asano than they did for Monreal when factoring in the former failed to make a competitive appearance for the Gunners.

Asano was dubbed "a talented young striker and very much one for the future" by Wenger after he became Arsenal's second summer signing of 2016 but the Japan international failed to make the grade.

He enjoyed two loan spells in Germany with VfB Stuttgart and Hannover 96 before eventually leaving on a permanent basis to Serbian side FK Partizan.

Carl Jenkinson - £2m

Carl Jenkinson left Arsenal for Nottingham Forest but has since gone Down Under ((Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images))

Adored by the Arsenal faithful in his day, Jenkinson lived every Gunners fan's dream by pulling on the shirt and giving it his all for a number of years.

Ultimately, he was deemed just not at the required level any longer after Emery's appointment and was sold for a modest fee of £2m to Nottingham Forest where he had already enjoyed one loan spell.

Jenkinson now plays his football down under with Melbourne City on loan from Forest.

David Ospina - £3m

The Colombian shot-stopper spent the majority of his time at Arsenal as a deputy but did occasionally enjoy brief spells between the sticks on a semi-regular basis.

When handed those opportunities, he rarely took them and never managed to convince Wenger nor the fans of his ability to one day become Arsenal's number one.

He upped sticks to Serie A giants Napoli in 2019 and has barely looked back after becoming an ever-present in their line-up.

Laurent Koscielny - £4.5m

Laurent Koscielny left Arsenal under poor circumstances (PA)

Koscielny is one of the longer serving Arsenal players in recent memory after enjoying just under a decade at the club.

However, his exit came under acrimonious circumstances after he refused to travel with the rest of the squad for the 2019 pre-season tour of the United States and demanded to leave.

Koscielny eventually got his wish and was allowed to return to France with Ligue 1 club Bordeaux on a permanent basis.

However, he is currently without a club after his high wages saw him released in January amid financial problems.

Krystian Bielik - £7m

The Poland international failed to make the step up into the Arsenal first-team after four years at the club but still commanded a decent fee from the now cash-strapped Derby County.

Bielik has had horrid luck in terms of injuries and suffered two anterior cruciate ligament injuries since joining the Rams in 2019.

However, he recently enjoyed some redemption after he came on and scored a 96th minute overhead kick equaliser exactly a year to the day after he suffered his second long-term injury.

Alex Iwobi - £28m (plus add-ons)

Alex Iwobi eventually left Arsenal for Everton in 2019 (Action Images via Reuters)

Iwobi graduated from the famed Hale-End academy at Arsenal with rave reviews but failed to deliver when it mattered most.

Apart from a select few moments of fleeting brilliance in an Arsenal shirt, Iwobi struggled to justify his place in a side pushing for Champions league football.

He joined Everton in August 2019 for a whopping £28m that could potentially rise to around the £40m mark if certain conditions are met.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan - Free Transfer

Joining the club as part of a swap deal with Manchester United for Chilean star Alexis Sanchez, Mkhitaryan got off to a bright enough start at Arsenal with a hattrick of assists on his home debut.

However, that proved to be the highlight of an otherwise underwhelming spell in north London that saw the Armenian provide Arsenal with basically nothing both in terms of on-field contributions and transfer fees.

Mkhitaryan joined AS Roma on loan in the summer of 2019 before eventually joining the Italian outfit on a permanent basis a year later.

Matt Macey - Free Transfer

The lanky goalkeeper spent the overwhelming majority of his time at Arsenal significantly low down the pecking order.

Seven years passed Macey by as an Arsenal player with just a few cup appearances to show for his efforts in the Gunners shirt, though he did enjoy three separate loan spells at Accrington Stanley, Luton Town and Plymouth Argyle respectively.

The shot-stopper was allowed to join Scottish side Hibernian in the summer of 2020 just after 'project restart'.

Sokratis - Free Transfer

Sokratis Arsenal 's career ended shortly after Arteta's appointment (Dan Mullan)

The Greek centre-back was one of the less successful recruits from the Emery regime that did not last very long under Arteta.

The former Borussia Dortmund man was thought to be a popular figure in the dressing room but was one of a number of Arsenal centre-backs who caused Arteta headaches upon his immediate arrival.

He eventually returned home to Greece to ply his trade for Arsenal's regular Europa league opponent Olympiacos.

Mesut Ozil - Free Transfer

Mesut Ozil was one of the more divisive figures at Arsenal ((Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images))

Ozil arrived in north London to huge adulation but left under a cloud.

The German playmaker was mercurial in fleeting moments but always struggled to nail down a regular run of stellar form in his eight years at the club.

The former Real Madrid midfielder was controversially left out of Arsenal's 25-man Premier League squad during Arteta's first full-season at the club which prompted Ozil to publicly question the club's loyalty.

He has since joined Turksih outfit Fenerbahce where he has shown glimmers of the kind of form that made him so adored at one stage by the Arsenal crowd.

Shkodran Mustafi - Free Transfer

The much-maligned German central defender endured an Arsenal career that was littered with high-profile mistakes that in turn ensured he was one of the less popular members of the squad.

Purchased for a staggering £35m, Mustafi's price tag hung over his head and was mentioned seemingly every time he made an error.

He was eventually released from his contract and permitted to join Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04 and is now with La Liga side Levante.

Emiliano Martinez - £20m

Emiliano Martinez spent the majority of his career so far at Arsenal (Stuart MacFarlane)

One of the heroes of Arsenal's 2020 FA Cup glory, Martinez last two games between the sticks for the club saw the Gunners lift two different forms of silverware in the FA Cup and Community Shield.

Reluctant to stay and contend with Bernd Leno for the number one shirt, Martinez upped sticks to Aston Villa where he has gone from strength to strength.

Martinez has enjoyed huge success at club and country level in recent years, winning the Copa America with Argentina last summer.

Joe Willock - £26m

Arsenal earning £26m out of an academy graduate is one of the few solid bits of business in terms of their outgoings in recent years.

Willock was sent on loan to Newcastle for the latter half of the 2020/21 season which saw him break Premier League goal-scoring records at St. James' Park.

As a result, the Magpies forked out £26m to bring Willock to the club permanently where he has failed to recreate that kind of form.

Willian - Free transfer

Willian lasted just one season in north London (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arguably the worst piece of business Arsenal have done in the last decade and the Brazilian arrived for free.

However, the former Chelsea winger was granted a stunning £250,000 per-week contract that returned just one Premier League goal all season.

After leaving, Willian has since confessed he wanted out of Arsenal after just three months but stuck it out for the remainder of the campaign.

He has returned to Brazil to play for his boyhood club Corinthians.

Sead Kolasinac - Free Transfer

Kolasinac is one of the more recent permanent departures after he joined Marseille having fallen well down the pecking order in north London.

Behind both Kieran Tierney and Nuno Tavares in the eyes of Arteta, Kolasinac has struggled to convince he was the man to nail down the left-back role on a regular basis.

Kolasinac was enticed to the Emirates on a free transfer from Schalke and left under the same circumstances, though his contract was terminated just five months before it expired anyway.

Calum Chambers - Free Transfer

After seven years in north London, Chambers surprised everyone with his shock move to Aston Villa last month.

The defender had not been the subject of any reports touting him with a switch to Villa Park and yet he now joins Martinez as another former Gunner playing under Steven Gerrard.

Chambers cost Arsenal £16m at the time of his purchase in 2014 but spent the bulk of his Gunners career as a bit-part utility player.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - Free Transfer

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leaves Arsenal after four years with an FA Cup and Community Shield to show for his efforts ((Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images))

Aubameyang's Arsenal career ended just this week after the 32-year-old joined FC Barcelona as a free agent once he had ended his Gunners contract by mutual consent.

The Gabon international's time in north London ended under acrimonious circumstances after being exiled from the first-team by Arteta after another disciplinary breach.

He scored 92 times in just nearly exactly four years as an Arsenal player before heading for Catalunya.

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