Arsenal have become an entirely different beast under Mikel Arteta, with the Spanish coach turning the North London club into one that has become a true title challenger in recent seasons.
The Gunners were finally able to claim a seemingly elusive Premier League title in the 2025/26 season, comprised of a squad with some of the best transfers the club has made in a long time.
Declan Rice, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, and so many others were crucial members of that title-winning campaign, and all were recruited under the current Arsenal manager.
But not all Mikel Arteta signings have gone to plan. Here are the five worst players who have been signed since Arteta joined the club, ranked.
5. Nuno Tavares
Nuno Tavares might not have been a hopeless player himself, but the deal to bring him from Benfica to the Emirates for £8 million was more disappointing because of how poorly it reflected on Arsenal’s recruitment process. The left-back was a marauding wing-back profile, whose primary skills were his ability to influence the game in the final third.
Defensively, Tavares lacked discipline and concentration. In possession, he was extremely limited in his passing ability and press evasion. This made him a terrible fit for what Arteta wanted in this role, and this was shown in the fact that the Spaniard signed the exact opposite style of left-back in Oleksandr Zinchenko the following year.
4. Fabio Vieira
When Fábio Vieira arrived from Porto in 2022 for a combined fee of just under £35 million, there was genuine excitement surrounding what he could bring in terms of creativity to Arsenal’s midfield, with hope that he would develop into one of the most exciting attacking midfielders in the squad at some point down the line.
Despite occasional flashes of quality, he rarely looked capable of influencing games consistently and never fully earned Arteta’s trust in the biggest moments.
For a player signed for a sizeable fee during an important stage of Arsenal’s rebuild, far more was expected from his spell at the club, although he could fetch a decent fee for Arsenal this summer.
3. Alex Runarsson
Few Arsenal signings under Arteta felt as confusing from the very beginning as Alex Runarsson. Brought in to replace Emiliano Martinez as the club’s backup goalkeeper, the Iceland international looked out of his depth almost immediately after arriving in North London from Dijon in France.
A series of shaky performances—most notably against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup—quickly destroyed confidence in his ability, both internally and amongst Arsenal fans. After some unsuccessful loan spells, Runarsson parted ways with the Gunners in 2024.
2. Cedric Soares
Although initially arriving as short-term cover, Cedric Soares, also known simply as Cedric, somehow remained part of Arsenal’s squad for far longer than many supporters expected.
The Portuguese defender was never a disastrous player per se, but handing him a long-term contract increasingly looked like a mistake as Arsenal evolved into a side competing for Premier League titles. His 64 appearances for the club across four seasons highlighted Arsenal’s depth issues that seemed to haunt the London team.
1. Willian
There was immediate scepticism when Arsenal signed Willian from Chelsea in 2020, and unfortunately for the club, those concerns proved to be entirely justified.
His only league goal for Arsenal came against West Brom, and while he was only a free agent signing and did impress on his debut with two assists against Fulham, there were much, much better signings that Arsenal could have made in his place.
