Arsenal flop has been a “waste of time” this season

Beneath Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have been totally remodeled.

The North Londoners have been caught in tenth place and searching downwards when he took management, and now they’re real contenders for the Premier League title.

Nevertheless, for every little thing he is acquired proper, the Spaniard has made his justifiable share of errors tactically and in recruitment.

The likes of Fabio Vieira, Pablo Mari and Albert Sambi Lokonga are all gamers who’ve didn’t dwell as much as their billing, however arguably the worst signing made underneath Arteta was Willian, and now it seems to be like he is discovered his new model of the Brazillian.

Willian’s disastrous Arsenal profession

Willian joined Arsenal in August 2020 on a free after his take care of Chelsea expired, however whereas he did not value the Gunners a payment, he was on a hefty wage of round £138k-per-week, which in flip meant there was an expectation that he’d be a helpful first workforce participant.

That regarded like it will be the case following his debut away to Fulham, as in simply 76 minutes of motion, the Brazilian winger managed to chalk up two assists in what was undoubtedly his greatest efficiency for Arteta.

Sadly, issues rapidly began to go downhill for the previous Blues star, and throughout his subsequent 17 league appearances, he’d present only a single help.

He finally ended the marketing campaign with a tally of 1 purpose and 7 assists in 37 appearances throughout all competitions, and for an skilled participant on the cash he was on, that merely wasn’t ok.

Furthermore, his precise performances have been so poor that he is now typically cited as one of many membership’s worst signings in latest historical past.

By the point the 20/21 season got here to an in depth, it was crystal clear that the Ribeirão Pires-born ace was not of the extent required to assist transfer the membership ahead, and to his credit score, he opted to tear up his contract as an alternative of demanding a big payout, which reportedly stunned the board.

In all, whereas the 36-year-old has loved an excellent profession, he was undoubtedly a catastrophe for Arsenal, and now it seems to be like Arteta has discovered his subsequent Willian.

Arteta’s new Willian

Regardless of remaining nearly inside touching distance of Liverpool within the Premier League and ending third within the league stage of the Champions League, it will be honest to say that almost all of Arsenal’s attackers have underwhelmed this season.

Leandro Torssard and Gabriel Martinelli solely have 11 purpose involvements a bit, Gabriel Jesus solely simply began to carry out previous to struggling his ACL damage, and whereas Kai Havertz has discovered the again of the web 15 occasions already, he is nonetheless extremely profligate, as demonstrated by Understat’s knowledge suggesting that his 9 league targets have come from an anticipated purpose determine of 11.76.

Nevertheless, none of those attackers could possibly be pretty described as Arteta’s new Willian; that slightly unlucky tag belongs to 1 Raheem Sterling.

There are a number of explanation why this comparability suits, such because the transfer from Chelsea to Arsenal and the actual fact he is a big-name participant, however probably the most important is that, just like the Brazilian, the Englishman has been extremely disappointing in North London.

In all, the Kingston-born attacker has made simply 18 appearances for the Gunners, during which he is scored a single purpose and supplied simply two assists, and worse but, two of these three purpose involvements got here in a League Cup tie in opposition to League One Bolton Wanderers.

The previous Manchester Metropolis star seems to be a shadow of the participant who used to terrorise Premier League defences for enjoyable, and whereas it sounds extremely harsh, it is exhausting to disagree with content material creator Connor Humm’s assertion that his mortgage transfer has been an “absolute waste of money and time” for the membership.

In the end, Arteta has labored wonders throughout his time as Arsenal boss, and for probably the most half, his signings have labored out a method or one other, however Willian’s transfer was unquestionably a mistake, and it seems to be like the identical will probably be mentioned of Sterling’s come the summer time.