The Top Flight
Fansided

6 Arsenal Signings That Might as Well Have Been April Fools Jokes

By Mahith Gamage

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 15: Shkodran Mustafi of Arsenal reacts during the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Second Leg match between Arsenal and AC Milan at Emirates Stadium on March 15, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 15: Shkodran Mustafi of Arsenal reacts during the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Second Leg match between Arsenal and AC Milan at Emirates Stadium on March 15, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 29: Arsenal’s Gervinho celebrates scoring their first goal of the match during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on September 29, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 29: Arsenal’s Gervinho celebrates scoring their first goal of the match during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on September 29, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) /

Here are 6 Arsenal signings that might as well have been April Fools Jokes, just simply based on how poor the investments were.

In the last few years, Arsenal have become notorious for being poor spenders. They have overpaid for many of their current first-team players, whether than be in wages or in transfer fees. However even back in the late 2000’s when the Gunners were working with tight budgets, they still came up with some absolutely hilarious deals, although they did pull off some superb ones as well. In the spirit of April Fools Day, here are 6 signings that Arsenal have made since the turn of the century, that might as well have been April Fools jokes!:

Andre Santos – 2011

In the summer of 2011, Arsenal brought in Brazilian left-back Andre Santos for £7 million from Galatasaray in order to compete with Kieran Gibbs for the starting spot. Santos was expected to bring some Brazilian flair to the team, but ended up becoming a disaster quite quickly, even though he was a full international. Santos was extremely error-prone and certainly was not an Arsenal-level defender, as the club found out quite quickly. He was eventually shipped out to Brazil, and has had somewhat of a journeyman career ever since.

The signing is easily considered one of Arsenal’s worst, and that’s £7 million that they’re never getting back.

Gervinho – 2011

In Gervinho, Arsenal thought they were getting a skilled, dynamic wide player that could score goals aplenty for the club. After all, he did win Ligue 1 with Lille the season before he signed, scoring 15 goals and grabbing 9 assists. Although Gervinho has seen somewhat of a revival with Parma this season, his time at Arsenal can only be classes as a disaster.

Gervinho scored just 11 goals in all competitions for Arsenal in 2 seasons, and was subsequently sold to Roma. His worst Arsenal moment was either his red card on his debut against Newcastle where he slapped Joey Barton, or his open net miss against Bradford in the League Cup.

Home/Arsenal