The procession of departures that painted Arsenal’s misfortune- Part Two

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Manchester City’s 2008 purchase from Abu Dhabi saw a flurry of transfers seeping into Manchester. Arsenal found themselves the victim of this cash fuelled onslaught on several occasions.

Many would see the success of Chelsea and Manchester City and the model of buying to succeed as the death of the major success of Arsenal as they navigated themselves through a costly bill for a sixty thousand seater stadium. In the 2011 summer transfer window, Arsenal would be struck by a double swoop from Manchester City.

Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri

Gael Clichy joined Manchester City in July 2011. He was Arsenal’s successor to Ashley Cole and left in a similar fashion seeking the riches of the Premier League in silverware and a wage bonus. He won two Premier League titles at Manchester City and left Arsenal lacking in quality in the left back position as they replaced Clichy with Andre Santos whose Arsenal career was uneventful, bar a controversy as he swapped shirts with a future “traitor”.

Samir Nasri was a skilful player who often dictated Arsenal’s attack with dangerous attacking runs through the centre. He was simply adored by the fan base and his magnum opus for the Gunners came through a dazzling solo goal against Porto in the Champions League 2009/10 which saw him pick up the ball, leave three players in his dust and thwack it in off the post with the precision of a gunslinger.

The Frenchmen left Arsenal in August 2011 and joined Manchester City. He spent six years in Manchester, winning two Premier League Titles. Samir Nasri is one of the most revered Arsenal ‘traitors’ in recent years with some supporters feeling he showed no respect to his club during or after his transfer.

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Robin Van Persie

After the woes of transfer upon transfer loss, Arsenal still grasped their fingers onto a solitary jewel. They had a clinical goalscorer who dictated games and scored wonderful goals. Robin Van Persie was world class for Arsenal, his goals were fantastic and his ability was outstanding.

He was created in the Netherlands but moulded in London. He grew up watching Dennis Bergkamp flawlessly practice keepy-ups on the training grounds and would build himself into a striker who would score 132 goals for Arsenal.

He scored thirty league goals for Arsenal in his last campaign for the club and secured a golden boot on his way. But just a year later, the Dutchman was given guard of honour at the Emirates as a Manchester United league winner.

The transfer of Van Persie to Manchester United was a demonstration of the gulf between Arsenal and United that had been created, especially after their fierce rivalry that took place a matter of years before. It was a clear display of the Gunners slipping down the footballing ladder.

Van Persie’s replacement at Arsenal came in the form of Olivier Giroud. Giroud had just completed a prolific season at Montpellier including 21 goals and nine assists. He could never match this performance level in his six year spell at Arsenal and went through good moments in stop start periods.

He was a solid striker for Arsenal but many feel he was given goals on a silver platter by Mesut Ozil whilst simultaneously missing a plethora of chances that Ozil fed to him. His lack of consistency made sure he would not be a worthy replacement to a world class striker such as Van Persie. It could be argued The Gunners lacked serious firepower upfront until the signing of current club captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

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Serge Gnabry and the rise of Tottenham Hotspur

A player who was scarcely seen for the Gunners and was even sent out on loan to West Bromwich Albion is German winger Serge Gnabry. During his loan in the Midlands, Gnabry was described as “not good enough” by manager Tony Pulis. Gnabry is currently at Bayern Munich and lifted the Champions League last season.

His skill and pace makes him one of the greatest current wingers in world football and Arsenal fan’s misery is orchestrated by their failure to identify his talent. This is seen as one of the greatest failures in the North London team’s set up in recent times as Gnabry would be an excellent addition to their current side.

The losses of Arsenal saw the rise of fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Although the only direct transfer from the Gunners to Spurs was William Gallas a man whose time was beyond up by the end of his stay in the red side of North London.

Tottenham began to dominate the derby games and finish above Arsenal on a more regular basis. A power shift was underway, much to the distress of a support who had lorded over their bitter rivals for as long as most can remember.

During the heyday of Arsenal in the 2000s, Tottenham offered almost no challenge with Thierry Henry never losing a game to Spurs. It continued after Henry’s transfer too as Arsenal were often played Tottenham off the pitch. Spurs were struggling during the Wenger years at Arsenal as they went through sixteen changes of management during that time.

Tottenham’s rise as they began to beat Arsenal was often led by Gareth Bale and then ex-Arsenal youth player Harry Kane, the side begun to finish nearer to Arsenal in league places and in grew status. This highlights the fact that not only were Spurs improving but how previous Arsenal transfer dealings were coming home to roost.

Alexis Sanchez

Arsene Wenger’s last campaign at Arsenal saw change in a mass way. It saw the purchases of Alexandre Lacazette in the summer and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January. The biggest transfer news on the season surronded their best player. Alexis Sanchez joined Wenger’s side on the 10th of July 2014 from Barcelona.

Sanchez joined Arsenal after they had secured an FA Cup win in a legendary final vs Hull City. Alexis would prove one of Wenger’s best ever additions and would change the belief around the club whilst embroidering himself as the talisman of the squad. He led Arsenal to another FA Cup the following season with a fantastic long range strike against Aston Villa to give the Gunners a two goal lead in their 4-0 win at Wembley.

His link up play with Mesut Ozil saw them implement themselves as the two most important players at the club and two of the best players in the league. Alexis Sanchez had this knack of finding a goal out of nothing and carrying Arsenal out of pain and misery.

A particular memory of Sanchez at Arsenal is his panenka penalty in the dying moments of the game to snatch an Arsenal victory against Burnley. He had icy cool veins and was made of steel. He became untouchable in the Arsenal side and also untouchable to defenders.

This saw him gain attraction from the richest clubs in the league which Arsenal seemingly failed to be a part of. Their second place finish in the 15/16 season was a real opportunity gone a missing as Leicester City lifted the trophy. Many fans believe that that campaign should have been Arsenal’s. It was not and naturally Sanchez sought glory from around the league.

Sanchez over the next few seasons established himself with the attitude of a troublemaker. He watched as his reputation to the fan base was torn up as he transformed from the talisman to an annoyance. This was visible with his teammates also as his relationships with them deteriorated and his ego lengthened as he prepared to exit the club.

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This is particularly demonstrated as tensions were created in the dressing room and on the field after a league win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in December 2017.  Sanchez scored twice and celebrated without five of his teammates.

Sanchez gestured in bemusement after this happened for the first goal and when the second goal went in it became more apparent that fuses were short between Sanchez and teammates when defender Laurent Koscielny did not move from his spot in retaliation to the Chilean’s recent actions. It was clear to see that a Sanchez exit was impending.

It came a month later through a swap deal which saw Sanchez move to Manchester United and saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan join Arsenal in exchange. The addition of Mkhitaryan was a main reason for Aubameyang’s transfer to Arsenal as they had played together at Borrusia Dortmund however things did not work out for Mkhitaryan at the Emirates and neither for Sanchez at United under Jose Mourinho.

The swap deal was another demonstration of Arsenal being inferior in size in comparison to their heyday as United took their best player on a second occasion in recent memory.

Arsenal did lose an edge without Sanchez as their form away from home became woeful, seeing them finish sixth in the league and leading to the resignation of Arsene Wenger amid tensions from the fans. Many felt that Sanchez’s clinical away form in the league was lacking and the trouble he had caused was a reason for the resignation of Wenger.