These are the three bargains of Mikel Arteta’s tenure so far!
The Gunners have been on a steady rise back to the top for a couple of seasons now after the stagnant period we suffered towards the end of Arsene Wenger’s time at the club, and also after the abysmal second season of Unai Emery’s reign at the club.
After the appointment of Mikel Arteta to replace his Spanish predecessor, we saw hopes of getting back to the top sooner with the Spaniard winning a trophy inside the first eight months of his time at the club.
However we followed that up with an 8th placed finish the following campaign before eventually getting it right in the last couple of seasons. One of the key reasons for us getting it right these past few seasons have been some smart recruitments from the club which have improved us immensely.
One facet of this smart recruitment are bargain signings and these bargains so to speak are players who cost way more than the original price tag we got them for. In my opinion these three players were exactly that (in no particular order).
Gabriel Magalhães:
The Brazilian international was one of the first summer signings of the 2020/21 transfer window, costing us a fee of £27million to bring him to North London which you can now consider an absolute steal given the way he’s playing now. This shrewd bit of business would have been acknowledged after his very first game for the club where he scored and kept a clean sheet against Fulham in the opening game of that Premier League campaign.
If there were any doubts of whether he was a bargain or not, him making up one of the best defensive partnerships in Europe (if not the best) should put those doubts to bed. His aerial ability is second to none currently especially in the opposition’s box, which is now no surprise that he has scored the most goals (16) of any defender since his arrival to the EPL. Couple that with his outstanding defending, then the price tag could have been way more than that.
Martin Ødegaard:
There are no doubts that our injured captain is one of the best signings of Arteta’s reign so far not to talk of it being an absolute bargain aswell, how he has fared for us can only speak for itself with the Norwegian being made captain just a year after his £34million move from Real Madrid in 2021, the price tag was viewed to be mostly fair at the time due to his limited playing time with Madrid despite having a reasonable six month loan spell with us prior to the move. His quality was undeniable though and could have easily been worth more than the price we got him for. His current market value is nearly three times as much as that which only goes to show that it was a shrewd bit of business by the club.
Leandro Trossard: The winter transfer window of 2023 was a very odd one, our search for a winger was documented throughout that window with the pursuit of Mykhailo Mudryk, the player was very likely to join given how he publicly showed his admiration for the club on his social media. However we all know what happened next though, losing out to Chelsea in what looked to be a shock turn of events.
It left us assessing our options though which led to the eventual signing of Leandro Trossard from Brighton for a reported fee that could have risen £27million. This was an absolute steal given how immense he has been for us ever since. He’s probably the best finisher at the club, chipping in with fantastic goals in the most important matches for us throughout his career so far. His versatility and technique are also some of the strong points that he has used to help improve us massively which makes his price tag at the time to be a steal.
These are my opinions. Are there any other bargain signings we’ve made during Arteta’s tenure that are better than these?
Kenneth Benjamin
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I agree with the ones you mentioned, hard to argue against them.
I think in the next couple years we can add a few more to that list.
The trajectory of Timber is the first to come to mind, Raya could be as well. Also Calafiori looks a quality player.
One would be hard pressed to find a better combination of GK and 2 FB for around 100 million; our cost to bring them in.
I would still like to see Timber in midfield, because we have such quality depth in defense.
With MLS showing well, quite a headache for Arteta in defensive choice. Likely some moving on in the Summer; Zinchenko, and probably one of Tomiyasu or Kiwior as well. Heaven also is developing well, and wouldn’t be surprised if he is promoted to 4th choice CB in the upcoming Summer.
A good place to be as a club, and only a striker and B2B midfielder to complete the project and the icing on the cake.
Agreed with Durand. if i were to use a particular order: 1. Odegard 2. Trossard 3. Maghaes
Timber looks almost certainly a shrewd signing so to Raya Arteta is surely been vindicated on that goalkeeping role! The way he plucks those crosses, Ram is no close to a sniff
They are, along with few others, clever buys. Fantastic job creating probably the best defense currently in the world with such low amount.
It nearly makes it up for the atrocious transfer business we did with so many players.