The 6 players Arsenal let go in the summer – & how they’re faring elsewhere
Arsenal have had something of a mixed start to the 2024-25 campaign, with injuries and suspensions starting to bite on Mikel Arteta’s squad. Could they have done with any of the players they let leave in the summer?
Results haven’t been bad by any stretch of the imagination. Arteta’s Gunners are riding high in the Champions League, where they’re yet to concede a goal, and have only dropped points in the Premier League after going down to 10 men. But with key players unavailable, will they have any regrets over the squad options they just sold?
We’ve checked in on the six players who departed The Emirates in the summer and have assessed how they’re getting on elsewhere.
Emile Smith Rowe
There was a period in the early days of Arteta’s revolution at Arsenal that Smith Rowe looked as though he might be just as important a player to the project as fellow academy graduate Bukayo Saka.
Things haven’t quite worked out that way. Smith Rowe has struggled with injuries, while club captain Martin Odegaard has fully nailed down that spot as the Gunners’ creative fulcrum.
Sod’s law that the loan departure, a return to fitness and Odegaard’s injury might have actually seen Smith Rowe get a run out in the first team, but he seems happy enough with regular minutes at Fulham.
He’s started seven of eight Premier League games for Marco Silva’s high-flying Cottagers so far this season and immediately looks right at home, having notched goals in wins over Leicester and Newcastle and an assist in a draw with West Ham.
Aaron Ramsdale
Ramsdale’s smiley enthusiasm in the All Or Nothing documentary immediately endeared himself to the Arsenal faithful and he leaves with nothing but good will.
The ‘keeper had some shakey moments during his time at The Emirates, with David Raya undoubtedly proving an upgrade, but he was nevertheless a decent servant as the club made a massive step up during his time there.
We’ll see how his career pans out from here, but already his title-challenging stint with Arsenal stints out as a strange, massive outlier during his otherwise beleaguered time of it battling relegations with Bournemouth, Sheffield United and now Southampton.
Ramsdale has lost – and conceded three goals in – all but one of his six Premier League appearances for Russell Martin’s winless Saints. Still, true to his character he’s kept up a positive can-do attitude and has spoken of his joy at playing regularly once again. But as he ships in all these goals you start to wonder if he misses standing behind Gabriel and William Saliba.
Eddie Nketiah
Another one yet to taste a Premier League victory at his new club, Nketiah has had a mixed time of it so far at struggling Crystal Palace.
Having ended last season so strongly, the striker looked as though he was joining an upwardly mobile force. But the loss of Michael Olise appears to have made an ever greater impact than anyone could have predicted, while he’s failed to step up and replace the goal void left by the suddenly misfiring Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The Hale End graduate did score in a League Cup victory over Queens Park Rangers, and he received positive reviews from the Palace faithful for his work rate and general play in his early performances, the longer he goes without a league win or goal the heavier his £30million price tag will weigh.
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Mika Biereth
London-born Denmark youth international joined Hale End back in 2021-22 but never progressed to make a first-team appearance, instead spending the last couple of seasons developing his skills in a series of loans away.
The forward spent the latter half of last season at Sturm Graz, who toppled perennial champions RB Salzburg to win the Austrian Bundesliga title, and has since made the permanent switch there.
He’s since made a blinding start to the 2024-25 campaign with eight goals in 10 Austrian Bundesliga appearances.
“I have nothing to complain about right now. I play every week at a good level, and now we also play in the Champions League, where I’m still waiting for my first goal,” Biereth told Danish channel TV2.
“If I keep playing well and scoring goals, hopefully a change can come, but right now I’m focused on Sturm and on doing well and scoring goals.
“A return back to Arsenal would be fantastic, but it’s not something I’m focusing on right now.”
Brooke Norton-Cuffy
Another Hale Ender that was frequently loaned away and never made a senior appearance, Norton-Cuffy was sold on to Genoa for a small €2million fee in the summer.
The England Under-20 right-back made his Serie A debut earlier this month with a late cameo appearance in a 5-1 defeat to Atalanta. He’s only made one sub appearance since.
Watch this space.
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Charlie Patino
We confess we might have got a bit ahead of ourselves when we talked up Patino as Arsenal’s next homegrown superstar a few years back – in fairness, we blame the youth coach that said “Of all the years I’ve been scouting, he’s the best kid I’ve ever seen.”
Back then we’d have predicted he’d be tearing it up in Arteta’s first team by now, but instead he’s playing – and not very often at that – out in the Spanish second tier.
While he only made his first Segunda start of the season in midweek in Deportivo La Coruna’s defeat at Levante, we have nothing but respect for Patino taking a career move that’s both left-field and romantic. He joined Depor having grown up supporting the club thanks to his Galician roots.
It’s early days, but we’d love him to make a success of himself for the fallen giants. We thoroughly recommend this recent Guardian interview in which he comes across as a switched-on and thoroughly good egg.