Arsenal may be going through a bad patch, but in the grand scheme of things, they are still a team transformed.
Just a few years ago, the North Londoners weren’t even in the Champions League, and a top-four finish in the Premier League looked entirely beyond them, but Mikel Arteta was given time and now a season is considered a failure if his team don’t win the whole thing.
However, this turnaround isn’t entirely down to the Spaniard either, as the club’s recruitment, led by Edu Gaspar, has been seriously impressive over the last few years, so news of his departure earlier this week came as a real shock.
It’s too early to say how the Gunners will cope without the Brazilian overseeing their transfer dealings, but for every good decision he made on the market, there were a fair few questionable ones, including the sale of a particular player in 2023 who just pocketed summer target Benjamin Sesko in the Champions League.
Arsenal's 2023 departures
Last summer saw a number of players leave the Emirates in search of more game time or new challenges elsewhere, so before we get to the player in question, let’s go over a couple of other sales in that window, starting with Granit Xhaka.
The Swiss international joined Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal for £35m back in May 2016, and to say he enjoyed an eventful stay in the capital would be a colossal understatement.
The former Borussia Mönchengladbach star was one of the leading figures at the club during the difficult transition from Wenger to Unai Emery, and it was under the management of the latter that he famously threw his shirt and captain’s armband to the ground in a game against Crystal Palace.
It looked for all intents and purposes that his Arsenal career was over at that point, but upon his appointment, Arteta convinced him to stay.
Over the next few years, his performances dramatically improved, to the point that fans sang his name in the season before his £21m departure to Bayer Leverkusen, where he won the Bundesliga undefeated last year.
Another big exit last summer, from a financial perspective at least, was Folarin Balogun, who, after an impressive loan stint with Stade Reims where he produced 25 goals and assists in 39 games, joined AS Monaco for a hefty fee of £34m.
The American international hasn’t been as successful as Xhaka since his move, but he’s not been bad either, and at the moment, he has a respectable record of 11 goals and eight assists in 40 appearances for Les Monégasques.
However, while the two players above went for sizable fees, the player in question, who starred against RB Leipzig this week, did not.
The Arsenal flop sold in 2023
Now, while there are a couple of players sold by Arsenal in 2023 who could arguably be classed as flops, such as Rob Holding, Matt Turner and Pablo Mari, the one we are talking about made even less of an impact on the team than they did: Auston Trusty.
Yes, the misjudged Edu signing in question is the twice-capped American centre-back, who joined the club in January 2021 from Stan Kroenke’s MLS side Colorado Rapids, for a fee of $1.8m – £1.4m – per Transfermarkt.
The 26-year-old would join up with the Gunners that summer but was immediately loaned out to Birmingham City for the 22/23 season, where he made 48 appearances.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast's Where Are They Now series.
He was then moved on again the following summer, only this time in a permanent £5m move to newly promoted Sheffield United, having never made a competitive appearance for Arteta’s side.
Unfortunately, the former Philadelphia Union star couldn’t stop the Blades from going straight back down to the Championship.
However, instead of going down with them, he was once again on the move in the summer, joining Scottish giants Celtic in a £6m deal.
Since moving to the green side of Glasgow, the 6 foot 3 wall has been in impressive form.
He’s made 11 appearances across all competitions, including four in the Champions League, where he put in a stellar performance against Bundesliga side RB Leipzig.
The Media-born defender was given the tough task of marshalling Slovenian marksman Sesko, who already has seven goals and three assists to his name this season, and he did so with aplomb.
In fact, Graham Falk of the Scotsman awarded the centre-back an 8/10 on the night, and it’s not hard to see why, as across his 95 minutes of action, he took 111 touches, maintained a passing accuracy of 97%, made three tackles, won 100% of his aerial duels and made the up-and-coming striker look incredibly mediocre.
Philadelphia Union
62
2
0
Colorado Rapids
61
1
1
Birmingham City
48
4
2
Sheffield United
37
1
0
Celtic
11
0
0
Total
219
8
3
Ultimately, it looked like Arsenal had done well to get a £5m fee for Trusty at the time, but given how well he is playing today, we can’t help wondering if Edu and Co were a bit too eager to sell the American defender when they did.
Not just Merino: 4/10 Arsenal ace is playing himself out of the team
The talented international has been poor for some time now.
ByJack Salveson Holmes