Football transfer news

When Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal in October 1996, it didn’t take the Frenchman long to demonstrate his excellent knowledge of the European transfer market.

In his first full season, the north London club won the double having brought in the likes of Patrick Vieira, Nicolas Anelka, Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars just to name a few.

His ability to identify talent that may not have necessarily been fulfilling their potential at the time, coupled with David Dein’s negotiation skills, saw Arsenal challenge Manchester United for the Premier League crown – winning it three times in seven seasons.

However, for all the stars Wenger brought to the club, there were plenty who didn’t make the grade. Here, 90min remembers ten of the more ‘obscure’ signings who never made it in north London and takes a look at where they ended up.

Bischoff was a French-born former Portugal Under-21 international signed by Arsenal from Werder Bremen in the summer of 2008.

He made just four appearances for the north London club and, having left on a free transfer to join Academica Coimbra just a year later, the now 33-year-old currently plays for Bahlinger SC in the German fourth tier.

Skulason arrived in north London from Icelandic club Fylkir in 2001 but was sent back to his former club on loan twice before he eventually signed for Brentford.

He appeared just once for Arsene Wenger’s side, so his entire Arsenal career amounted to just 35 minutes of game time. Having spent spells in Turkey, Sweden and Belgium, he is now back at Fylkir, aged 37.

At the time, Miyaichi was hailed as a Japanese wonderkid but with hindsight, we can all agree that he wasn’t even close to being good enough to make it at Arsenal.

He was part of the Gunners’ FA Cup winning squad in 2014 and appeared four times in the competition for Wigan when they won it the year before.

Now with FC St. Pauli in the German second tier, he is yet to make an appearance this season due to injury.

Lupoli showed signs of potential but sadly it was never fulfilled. In his nine appearances for Arsenal he managed three goals and became a bit of a journeyman after leaving.

Currently, the 33-year-old centre forward plays for Montegiorgio in the Italian fourth tier – he’s a long way from the heights he once threatened to reach.

The Highbury club paid in excess of £1m to bring Malz to the club from 1860 Munich in 1999. Signed at the age of 27, within two years he returned to Germany having made very little impact in London.

Despite being a left back, he managed two goals in his 14 appearances but given he only played six times in the Premier League, you could be forgiven for thinking he was a bit of a flop.

French goalkeeper Warmuz had a good career in his homeland, turning out for Lens on no fewer than 407 occasions. He also had spells at Monaco and Borussia Dortmund.

From an Arsenal perspective, however, this was a completely pointless signing.

Warmuz played for the Gunners a grand total of zero times. Now retired, the 50-year-old’s last role in football was as a manager at FC Montceau Bourgogne.

Park made just seven first-team appearances for Arsenal, scoring his only goal for the club in the League Cup.

Having joined for just shy of £6m from Monaco, it’s safe to say Arsenal certainly didn’t get their money’s worth on the field from the Korean.

Big Latvian defender Stepanovs played 100 times for his country during his career.

Although he leads the way here when it comes to first-team appearances for Arsenal with 31, he is one of a number of sub-standard centre backs Wenger brought to the club and was often poked fun at.

At 45, Stepanovs is now coaching in the Maldives.

Asano joined Arsenal from the Japanese side Sanfrecce Hiroshima in a deal worth £3.6m.

He was sold to Partizan Belgrade in 2019 for just shy of £1m and didn’t make a single appearance for the Gunners. It didn’t work out for him in London, but so far this season he’s scored ten goals in 18 league appearances.

Botelho signed for the Gunners in a deal worth £1.08m but is another who never made a single appearance in Arsenal colours.

After a number of loan spells in Spain, the left back returned to his native Brazil and has been without a club since 2019 despite being just 31.

Let’

Following a week in which:

– Liverpool lost at Anfield AGAIN.

– Southampton were beaten 9-0 AGAIN.

– Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot AGAIN .

– The Golden Globes nominees melted every cinephile’s head AGAIN.

We at 90min have collated the best quotes from said Golden Globe nominees to rank the 15 best teams in Europe.

“14 year ago I released a moviefilm which was great success in US & A, but Kazakhstan become a laughing stocks around world.” (Borat’s Subsequent Move Film)

Look, we could pretend that Ajax have made the Definitive European Power Rankings this week because of the fact that they’re top of the Eredivisie, or that they’ve won their last six games, but that’s not why they’ve made the cut.

They’ve made the cut because they went full Football Manager 2021 this week and forgot to add Sebastien Haller to their Europa League squad.

Which is hilarious.

That commitment to comedy deserves some recognition.

Bravo, Ajax. Bravo.

“A hot f***ing mess.” (Promising Young Woman)

Barcelona are pretty close to being bankrupt, their best player (Lionel Messi) is planning to sue some of the club’s officials, and said best player is also dying to leave the club.

BUT, somehow, Barcelona aren’t actually that bad at the moment. They’ve won their last five games in a row actually.

All of this leads us to say that Barça are a hot f**king mess.

“Lift your head and fight for yourself.” (Pieces of a Woman)

AC Milan heads could’ve very easily dropped after their slight dip in form recently – especially considering Milan were never really supposed to be this good to begin with.

However, they didn’t drop their heads. Instead, they kept them held high and bounced back with an important with over Bologna. Nice one.

“No use hiding from the piper, he has to be paid.” (Promising Young Woman)

Look, dropping Inter down nine places after one defeat is harsh. We know it’s harsh. Don’t worry.

That’s just what we’re all about at DEPR headquarters. We’re all about calling out teams when they lose.

That’s what we do.

So, Inter you lost to Juventus. That’s not good.

Ashley Young’s performance was also not good. Not good at all.

Sort it out.

“I’m such a f***ing perfectionist.” (Promising Young Woman)

Yes, this is your weekly reminder that Sporting CP are STILL unbeaten in Liga NOS.

They’ve now won 13 of their 16 league games this season, and beat their fiercest rivals Benfica this past week.

Perfectionists.

“It is possible to change the world whether you are a homely middle aged first lady, or a Broadway star!” (The Prom)

Wolfsburg are proof that it is possible to challenge for the Bundesliga title if you are a mid-table team that’s owned by a massive car company.

Die Wolfes have won their last four games in all competitions, and with Wout Weghorst banging in the goals at a ridiculous rate, that purple patch could continue in the weeks to come.

“One of the things I love most about this life is that there’s no final goodbye.” (Nomadland)

Somewhat surprisingly, PSG fans won’t have to give Neymar a final goodbye this summer as the Brazilian forward is set to sign a contract extension at the club.

Is this due to his love for the club? Probably not…no…

Is this due to Barcelona and Real Madrid being completely skint? Probably…yes…

Still, you take the W PSG fans. Take that W.

“This isn’t the Great Beyond. It’s the Great Before.” (Soul)

*Whisper it* Lazio are actually in the Serie A title race despite everyone thinking that they were done as Scudetto challengers after they bottled the title last season.

“You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours. All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.” (Mank)

Usually you can’t ascertain whether or not a signing is a great one in the space of an hour and a half.

However on Wednesday night, Jesse Lingard proved – in just an hour and a half – that he is a fantastic signing for West Ham with his brace in a win at Villa Park. Great stuff.

“I’m due. Heck, I’m overdue.” (Soul)

Sensing that a league title triumph was perhaps a bit overdue (they haven’t won one in the last decade), Rangers have decided to go out and win one this season.

They’re now a quite ridiculous 23 points clear of Celtic in the SPFL and have only conceded *checks notes* seven goals all season.

“That, my friend, is the magic of the movies.” (Mank)

About three weeks ago Juventus went to San Siro and were ripped limb from limb by Inter.

On Wednesday night, Juventus went to San Siro and beat that same Inter team 2-1 in the Coppa Italia.

That doesn’t make any sense, but that, my friend, is the magic of football.

“Good day so far?” (Palm Springs)

Being a Bayern Munich fan must be nice.

You wake up everyday knowing that your football team won a treble last season and will probably win another treble this season.

That must be nice.

“You see, the situation is very simple.” (The Father)

The situation in the Premier League title race is very simple: Manchester City are going to come out on top because they’re the only team that look remotely capable of stringing consecutive wins together.

“There’s a golden age coming.” (Mank)

With Barcelona nearly bankrupt and Real Madrid nearly completely hopeless, Atletico Madrid have a real opportunity to win a boatload of domestic trophies in the next few years.

And, judging by the fact they’re ten points clear at the top of La Liga (with a game in hand), it looks like they’re ready to take that opportunity.

“Very nice!” (Borat’s Subsequent Move Film)

Obviously there’s a few teams that are better than Man Utd on this list.

Man City are literally ahead of them in the Premier League table, Bayern are literally the European champions etc.

But none of those teams won 9-0 in midweek, did they?

No, no they didn’t.

Manchester United did win 9-0 – that’s why they’re top of the Definitive European Power Rankings this week.

Let’

UEFA have held discussions regarding the reformatting of the Champions League, with one proposal seeing the competition expanded to include 36 teams – six of which could be from the Premier League.

The suggestion was made during Thursday’s February shareholders’ call, with any amendments to the current format looking to be brought into effect from 2024.

Should Europe’s premier competition be expanded to include 36 teams, the traditional four-team groups would be replaced with one singular group. Each side would play ten group games each – with fixtures based on seeding – before being placed from first to 36th in the final league table.

The top eight teams would emerge automatically to the round of 16, while the final eight places in the first knockout round would be decided via a play-off system between the teams that finish from ninth to 24th.

No final decision has yet been made on the proposal, however, should the 36-team competition be given the green light, as many as six Premier League teams could take part in the Champions League.

The top four sides in the Premier League would qualify for the competition as normal, while another two places could be earned by sides finishing outside of the top four.

These positions would be decided using the UEFA co-efficient – a metric currently used to determine seedings which takes into account historical performances in the competition – though no side finishing lower than seventh in the league would be considered.

For example, should Liverpool and Chelsea finish fifth and sixth in the Premier League respectively, the league’s top four teams would automatically qualify. But the heavyweight duo could also make the cut by virtue of their UEFA co-efficient (ie. if they’ve performed well enough in recent editions of the competitions).

England’s entries into European tournaments would be capped at seven, meaning if the aforementioned scenario did come to pass, only one side from the Premier League would be allowed entry into the Europa League.

That make any sense whatsoever? Nah, didn’t think so. Oh well, we tried.

Let’

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes was tenuously linked to the AFC Wimbledon job following the sacking of Glyn Hodges.

The rumour re-sparked the comparisons between men’s and women’s football and got the world (certain sections of Twitter) questioning whether a woman could ever be trusted to take the reins of a male side.

Hayes responded by talking about the wider debate of coach diversity in football, stating that it should not be seen as a ‘step down’ to be managing in the women’s game and gushing about the calibre of player she has at her disposal. This was not a disrespectful dig at Wimbledon – she just loves her current position and no offer could persuade her to ditch her project at Chelsea.

??? ????? ?? ??????. ? pic.twitter.com/P6hRJxRyiv

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) February 4, 2021

The 44-year-old’s point was proven on Wednesday evening as her side turned in an electric performance against West Ham to book their place in the Continental Cup final for a second successive season.

“The whole point about [Wimbledon] not being able to afford me, has nothing to do with money, but everything to do with the fact I’m in the best job in the world and no amount of money is going to tempt me away,” Hayes said at full time (via the Telegraph).

Hayes was merely spelling it out for those who did not watch her side dismantle West Ham in the Continental Cup semi final – because her team had very much made her point for her.

The Blues had cantered into a 4-0 lead inside 27 minutes thanks to a Pernille Harder brace, a long range Sophie Ingle effort and a close range finish from Beth England following a signature Fran Kirby cross.

A first Chelsea hat-trick for @PernilleMHarder tonight! ??#CFCW #ContiCup pic.twitter.com/XGB6Bwg7C0

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) February 3, 2021

Kirby – the WSL’s form player – was then on the scoresheet herself in the second half, before Harder sealed her hat-trick with a moment of individual class.

Being able to tempt a player of Harder’s quality to Kingsmeadow is a testament to the calibre of club that Hayes has gradually built Chelsea into. From an average WSL side, to one of the best in the country, to the envy of Europe.

The Denmark international turned in her best performance yet in a Chelsea shirt, evidence of why Hayes would be crazy to walk away from the west Londoners right now. She has forged this side into potential quadruple winners and is able to coach, work with and watch the very best players at the top of their game on a daily basis.

Not wanting the Wimbledon job is not a disservice to Wimbledon – it’s a credit to the talent in the Chelsea squad and the dynasty that Hayes has built.

Let’

Arsenal have been unsuccessful in their appeal against the red card David Luiz received at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday night.

The Brazilian was dismissed in first-half stoppage time after he was adjudged to have fouled Willian Jose, subsequently denying a goalscoring opportunity. Wolves drew level from the resulting penalty and went on to win the game 2-1 thanks to a wonder-strike from Joao Moutinho.

Arsenal appealed the red card after reviewing the footage and Mikel Arteta, speaking to the press on Thursday morning, said he was ‘very hopeful’ of the decision being overturned.

However, the club have revealed their appeal was denied and they will be without the 33-year-old for their trip to Aston Villa at the weekend.

Their statement reads: “The Football Association have confirmed to us that the red card given to David Luiz on Tuesday against Wolverhampton Wanderers will stand.

“We have worked really hard to overturn David Luiz’s red card. We presented our case to the FA but are disappointed that our appeal has been unsuccessful.

The Football Association have confirmed to us that the red card given to David Luiz on Tuesday against Wolves will stand.

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 4, 2021

“We accept the FA’s decision and continue our preparations for Saturday’s match against Aston Villa.’

On the same night, Southampton’s Jan Bednarek was dismissed in a similar incident involving Anthony Martial during his side’s 9-0 loss, but the FA have overturned the Polish defender’s red card and he will now be available for their trip to Newcastle.

Ralph Hasenhuttl is currently without a number of first-team players through injury and will no doubt be pleased.

#SaintsFC’s @janbednarek_ will be available for the trip to #NUFC, after the club was successful in its appeal against the red card he received at #MUFC.

— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) February 4, 2021

The independent panel tasked with reviewing the incident found that the 24-year-old was wrongfully dismissed and, as such, his suspension was removed.

Let’