Arsenal fans are both envious and suspicious whenever Manchester City or Liverpool sell someone not in their first-team plans for big money, because their club are abysmal at doing so.
Indeed, Liverpool have received a combined £90m for Neco Williams, Danny Ings, Dominic Solanke, Danny Ward, Mamadou Sakho and Jordan Ibe and are on the verge of getting £25m plus £5m for Sepp van den Berg, a fee the Gunners can’t get for England international Eddie Nketiah.
Some of Arsenal’s sales over the years have been good, some have been bad and others downright ugly. Here are five examples of each. Fees are taken by Transfermarkt. Some are not in line with reports.
The good
Emile Smith Rowe: Sold for £26.9m with £18.6m market value
As much as it pained Arsenal supporters to wave goodbye to Smith Rowe, everyone knew deep down that it was for the best. Edu Gaspar getting around £30m from Fulham was a rare masterstroke from the club’s director of football.
The 24-year-old barely played for Arsenal in 2022/23 and 2023/24, is injury-prone and only had two years left on his contract. Yes, it was painful, but this was a job well done.
Folarin Balogun: Sold for £25.4m with £25.4m market value
After a superb year on loan at Stade Reims, Mikel Arteta decided against integrating Balogun into his squad, instead cashing in for his market value. The United States striker has been underwhelming for AS Monaco since joining last summer.
Auston Trusty: Sold for £4.9m with £8.4m market value
Trusty’s 23/24 campaign for Sheffield United proved he is not a Premier League player yet. He will probably blossom into one because he was sold by Arsenal and that would be so Arsenal.
Joe Willock: Sold for £24.9m with £13.5m market value
Like with Balogun, Arsenal decided it was best to sell Willock when his stock was high. His outrageous scoring form for Newcastle United was enough for the Magpies to splash the cash and while he is a solid player (when fit), the Gunners will look back positively at getting £25m for their youth graduate.
Alex Iwobi: Sold for £25.7m with £21.2m market value
Many people could not believe Everton were willing to pay over £25m for Iwobi in August 2019. Sure, he is a tidy player but lacked conviction in an Arsenal shirt, promising fans there would be ‘no more sidefoot ting’ after one too many pass-backs to opposition goalkeepers. The ‘sidefoot tings’ continued and Iwobi was rightly sold for a very nice fee.
The bad
Albert Sambi Lokonga: Loaned (£10.1m buy option) with £12.7m market value
Now we are getting into the juicier stuff, starting with young Belgian midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga, who joined Arsenal from Anderlecht at the age of 21 in the 2021 summer transfer window. He had already captained his former side and joined with huge expectations.
It didn’t work out for Lokonga, who started the 21/22 campaign in the Arsenal midfield and played a lot in the first half of that season. However, when the run-in came, Arteta did not trust him.
The following season was miserable for the midfielder but a year on loan at Luton Town followed and suddenly Lokonga’s stock was high again. Arsenal should have got a decent fee for him this summer but instead settled for another loan, this time to Sevilla, who can make it permanent for around £10m next summer.
Kieran Tierney: Loaned for £1.1m with £21.2m market value
One of Arteta’s most consistent and important performers in his first 18 months as manager, Tierney’s time at the Emirates has been riddled with injuries, which is the reason Arsenal are unable to get rid. Again, there will be sad feelings when Tierney departs but there won’t be a Gunners fan disputing it.
The Scottish left-back spent last term on loan at Real Sociedad and his future at Arsenal is massively uncertain. Unsurprisingly, he is injured right now, which is absolutely not helping.
Matteo Guendouzi: Sold for £9.3m with £21.2m market value
The curious case of Matteo Guendouzi is a big ‘what could have been?’ for the Gunners. Arteta ditched him after the young midfielder grabbed Brighton’s Neal Maupay by the throat and the club’s desire to cut him loose hindered their ability to get a decent fee for him.
Had a Premier League club been interested, Arsenal might have got more. Instead, it was Marseille who got him for under £10m when he was worth at least double that.
Lucas Torreira: Sold for £5m with £16.9m market value
Arsenal had a superb midfielder on their hands for about eight months in Torreira. He was a revelation in the first half of 18/19. His performances would dip, which made him surplus to requirements. After loan stints at Atletico Madrid and Fiorentina, Arsenal sold the Uruguayan to Galatasaray for £11.9m less than his market value.
Torreira is now an important player for the Turkish champions.
Emiliano Martinez: Sold for £14.7m with £6.7m market value
We mentioned the Maupay and Guendouzi debacle, and that is not the only important thing that happened that day at the Amex. Perhaps the most significant butterfly effect moment in football history also took place when Maupay injured Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who was replaced for the rest of 19/20 by Martinez. Many believe his incredible form in those months ultimately led to Lionel Messi becoming a World Cup winner.
Anyhow, Martinez established himself as a top goalkeeper but Arteta still preferred Leno and decided to sell the Argentine to Aston Villa for – in fairness – over double his market value. Sometimes Transfermarkt can be wrong and hindsight tells us that Martinez was worth a lot more than the £15m Arsenal received, let alone his apparent £7m value. He is now one of the best goalkeepers in the world and arguably the greatest s**thouses, funnily enough, along with Maupay.
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The downright ugly
Nicolas Pepe: Released with £15.2m market value
From regretful Arsenal sales to shambolic ones, we kick off this section with the man who was Arsenal’s record signing for four years. Pepe joined Unai Emery’s Arsenal for £72m and had a decent debut season at the club, though ‘decent’ was never enough for a player who cost so much money.
During the darkest of days under Arteta, Pepe contributed with plenty of goals and assists but that price tag forever held him back. He eventually fell out of favour and could barely get a kick with Bukayo Saka and Smith Rowe running the show.
With Pepe out of Arteta’s plans, Arsenal were scrambling to sell the Ivorian but ended up agreeing to a mutual termination of his contract. He moved to Trabzonspor for nothing in a summer that Premier League flops were moving to Saudi Arabia for big money. Chelsea got bailed out when it came to Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy but the Gunners couldn’t even get £5m for Pepe.
Bernd Leno: Sold for £3m with £7.6m market value
As touched on already, Arteta made the decision to keep Leno as his first-choice goalkeeper over Martinez. This wasn’t the best decision the Spanish manager has ever made but we don’t know what went on behind closed doors.
With Leno warming the bench following Aaron Ramsdale’s arrival, Arsenal got a pathetic £3m for him, who stayed in London when he joined Fulham. The Cottagers pulled their neighbour’s pants down with this one. He has been brilliant for them.
Konstantinos Mavropanos: Sold for £2.7m with £12.7m market value
Mavropanos couldn’t get a sniff in the Arsenal team so was loaned out to Stuttgart in July 2020. The Greek centre-back spent two years with the German club, who were able to make the transfer permanent for peanuts after they avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth in 21/22.
Mavropanos’ rapidly progressed at Stuttgart and Arsenal were made to rue that £2.7m agreement when shipping the defender out on loan. The Bundesliga side – now a Champions League outfit – made a big profit on Mavropanos when they sold him to West Ham a year after permanently joining. The Hammers paid around £16m for him, which is what Arsenal should have got when they sold him.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Released with £12.7m market value
Arsenal went through a worrying phase of releasing players from their silly contracts. Mesut Ozil was the most notable of the lot but there have been a few, including Aubameyang.
In fairness to Edu, he was desperately trying to flog someone completely banished from Arteta’s team. It was a tricky job. Still, the whole thing was a shambles and Aubameyang was still a top striker, even if his timekeeping wasn’t in line with his football ability.
Barcelona took him off Arsenal’s hands for free and Aubameyang scored 13 in 24 before joining Chelsea for around £10m, which was only a fraction less than his Transfermarkt valuation at the time. His Chelsea career was miserable but 30 goals in 51 appearances for Marseille last season proved Auba still has plenty to offer; and that was two years after Arteta binned him off for b*gger all.
Kieran Gibbs: Sold for £6.3m with £8.4m market value
‘Arsenal reject £10m West Brom bid for left-back Kieran Gibbs’ – July 22, 2017.
‘Kieran Gibbs has completed £7m move to West Brom’ – August 29, 2017.
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