Ranking the 17 players Arsenal have signed from La Liga from worst to best
Mikel Merino is Arsenal’s latest signing from La Liga – but to say that the 17 that came before him are a mixed bag would be an understatement.
The 28-year-old Spain international arrives from Real Sociedad to bolster Mikel Arteta’s midfield options. But Arsenal’s track record of recruiting players from the Spanish top flight is far from spotless, although there have been some immensely successful additions along the way.
We’ve ranked the 17 players that Arsenal have signed directly from La Liga clubs in the Premier League era (senior players only – not including youth prospects like Cesc Fabregas or Hector Bellerin).
17. Shkodran Mustafi
While Mustafi was never going to challenge for a place in the top half of this list, you can make an argument for Mustafi featuring anywhere between bottom and… let’s say 11th. But what can we say? We’re feeling particularly uncharitable today.
It would be unfair to characterise the centre-back, part of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning squad and signed from Valencia in 2016, as a complete calamity.
He was capable of decent performances on his day and he wouldn’t have made over a hundred appearances for the Gunners were he totally lacking in ability.
On the other hand, he reportedly cost over £35million and made far too many high-profile errors. You’d have to say that he was at least partly culpable from the Gunners going from an ever-present Champions League side to Europa League stragglers in the latter years of Arsene Wenger’s reign.
Mustafi was far from the only issue at the Emirates at that time, but they might’ve avoided their slide into mediocrity had they signed a quality centre-back in his place.
The fact that he suffered back-to-back relegations with Schalke and Levante since his contract with Arsenal was terminated, and has since retired at the age of 32, tells you something.
16. Lucas Perez
Perez didn’t stick around nearly long enough at the Emirates to draw the ire that built up for Mustafi over time, but the fact that he barely made any kind of impact after signing from Deportivo La Coruna while costing £17million is arguably worse.
The Spanish striker actually boasted a better-than-you-remember one-in-three strike rate for the Gunners, but only one of his seven goals came in the Premier League, with Wenger only entrusting him to start eight league matches.
It didn’t take long for him to be sold at a considerable loss to West Ham, where he didn’t fare much better.
But there’s been a heartwarming coda to Perez’s career, having returned to his beloved Depor to help the fallen giants fight their way back up the Spanish football pyramid.
The 35-year-old fired them to promotion to the Segunda Division and this season he’ll be joined by Hale End’s very own Charlie Patino.
15. Denis Suarez
The Spanish midfielder had been talked up as a player with a lot of potential, having honed his skills in Barcelona and Manchester City’s academies, but his career in La Liga has turned out to be pretty ordinary.
One of the most forgettable players to represent Arsenal in the Premier League era, Suarez made six appearances – all off the bench – during his loan from Barcelona in the latter half of the 2018-19 campaign.
They totalled 95 minutes in total and he failed to register any goals or assists.
14. Gabriel Paulista
You know how Arsenal have got this really good Brazilian defender called Gabriel?
Well, a few years back they had this pretty rubbish Brazilian defender called Gabriel. This one spent two not-great years at The Emirates after joining from Villarreal before returning to Spain to join Valencia.
He was originally signed for £11million, but Arsenal reportedly recouped most of that. On balance, they did worse business in the mid-2010s.
13. Sebastien Squillaci
Talking pure ability, Squillaci probably deserves to be a few places lower. The Frenchman, signed from Sevilla in 2010, was quite frankly a bombscare.
But he only cost £4million, was rarely relied upon as a regular starter, and safely returned to the fringes following the arrival of the considerably better Per Mertesacker.
In the grand scheme of Arsenal’s most disastrous signings, Squillaci is little more than a footnote.
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12. Julio Baptista
The stocky Brazilian, nicknamed The Beast, was an entertaining addition to Arsenal’s squad – on loan from Real Madrid during the 2006-07 campaign – but it’s safe to say that neutrals probably enjoyed watching him more than Arsenal fans.
He scored 10 goals in 35 appearances for the Gunners, but more than half of those came in the League Cup. Seventeen years later we’re still left scratching our heads at how he managed to score four goals away at Anfield.
11. Davor Suker
The inverse of Squillaci, Suker deserves to be a fair few places higher on this list if we’re only talking ability. Nobody capable of that chip against Denmark at Euro ’96 ought to be considered average.
Yet talking purely in terms of his impact at Arsenal, we can’t place him any higher than midtable.
The Croatian cult hero joined the Gunners after his star showing at France ’98, moving from Real Madrid after Nicolas Anelka went in the other direction.
Ten goals in 15 starts is a pretty stellar record from his one and only season at Highbury.
The problem was that those starts were few and far between – just eight in the Premier League – having found himself behind Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Kanu in Arsene Wenger’s pecking order. The other problem was that he was altogether less effective as an impact substitute, scoring just once in 24 appearances off the bench.
10. Dani Ceballos
Ceballos’ two seasons borrowed from Real Madrid were… alright?
Not amazing. Not terrible. Just alright. Few will look at Arsenal’s rise over the past three seasons and wished his loan had been made permanent.
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9. Manuel Almunia
“We are pleased to have signed Almunia, who will provide good support to our squad,” said Arsene Wenger after the Spanish ‘keeper was signed for a small fee in the summer of 2004.
“We have watched him for a while, and he proved last season during his time on loan at Albacete that he can perform effectively at the highest level.”
Almunia had his infamous moments of calamity, but he also showed enough about himself to usurp and eventually succeed Jens Lehmann as a regular starter between the sticks.
There’s a case to be made that he was probably never quite good enough to spend three successive seasons starting regularly for the Gunners, but that finger can be pointed at the recruitment team more generally. Having originally signed him as a backup, Arsenal arguably got more than they bargained for.
8. Thomas Partey
Partey has been part of an exceptional Arsenal team and was particularly effective in his early years. Let’s leave it at that.
7. Nacho Monreal
One of those players who arrived at another club from overseas but just seemed to instantly get it.
The Premier League has been blessed with considerably more technically gifted Spaniards over the years, but Monreal just seemed to squeeze every drop out of his talent.
Loved for good reason.
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6. Jose Antonio Reyes
“It’s not easy to find a player who can fit into this team and we searched everywhere before settling on Jose,” Wenger said after signing the Spanish winger from Sevilla, midway through the Invincibles’ unforgettable 2003-04 campaign.
“We have been watching him for a long time, at least 40 times for Sevilla. We have done our homework, it’s not an impulsive decision. He has the talent – that’s obvious – now the rest is down to him.”
Reyes arguably quite never maximised his outrageous talent and after two and a half seasons he returned to Spain, originally joining Real Madrid in a loan arrangement that saw Baptista go in the other direction.
But the former Spain international, who tragically passed away from a car crash in 2019, was capable of pure magic and his time in North London will forever be associated with a beautiful time for the club.
5. Mesut Ozil
We make the bold assertion that no player on this list – not even the man at No.1, nor the current skipper – ever quite hit the same heights for Arsenal as Ozil.
The German playmaker’s arrival from Real Madrid in the summer of 2012 was met with massive enthusiasm from the fanbase, and for a time he lived up to that messianic hype.
From Dennis Bergkamp to Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal have been blessed with an abundance of wizards that have been pure joys to watch – and on his day Ozil was up there with any of them.
The problem was that those days were increasingly few and far between as time went on, which his lackadaisical style almost looked out of place come the Mikel Arteta revolution. We’d be having an altogether different conversation had he left two or three years earlier.
4. Alexis Sanchez
The Chilean arguably peaked during his time at Arsenal.
He was among the most fearsome forwards in the Premier League in his first few years at The Emirates, but playing at a World Cup followed by back-to-back Copa America in three successive summers seemed to take its toll on his legs.
Unlike Ozil, Arsenal cashed in at the right time. Manchester United fans will attest to that. The only downside was receiving Henrikh Mkhitaryan in return.
3. Martin Odegaard
The captain and a key cog of Arsenal’s best side since the Invincibles, you could certainly make a case for Odegaard being top of this list already.
The £30million fee paid to Real Madrid already looks like peanuts, such is his influence for Arteta’s title-chasing side.
He’s been an exceptional signing for the Gunners, but he’s yet to lift any major silverware with the club. We have a feeling that the best is yet to come.
2. Lauren
A move from Mallorca to Roma falling through back in the year 2000 proved to be a lovely bit of serendipity for Arsenal.
The Cameroonian left-back played over 200 times for the club between 2000 and 2007, in which time he won three FA Cups and two Premier League titles, including as a near ever-present starter in the 2003-04 Invincibles season.
All that for £7million? Bargain.
1. Santi Cazorla
We make no apologies for being fully paid-up members of the Santi Cazorla fan club here at Planet Football.
Injuries might’ve robbed us of what might’ve been with Cazorla, and he never got a chance to play in a team as good as Lauren or Odegaard, but God what a player. What a man.