It would be fair to say that during his almost five years as Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has been rather effective in the transfer market.
Now, there have certainly been a few misses along the way, such as Fabio Vieira, Willian and Runar Alex Runarsson, but with clear hits like Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes, his record is a positive one.
However, the same thing cannot be said of his predecessor, Unai Emery, as for every William Saliba, he signed the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Lucas Torreira and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
That said, there was another addition the Spaniard made to the team, a defender who wasn’t woeful but cost an enormous sum of money and earned more than the club’s current defensive stalwarts, Saliba and Gabriel.
Saliba and Gabriel's incredible partnership
So, while Saliba completed his £27m move to the Emirates a full year before Gabriel joined the club from LOSC Lille for the same price, it was the latter who first established himself as a key member of the side, thanks to Arteta’s decision to send the Frenchman on two more loan spells back to France.
However, once the Bondy-born gem finally made his debut for the North Londoners in the first game of the 22/23 Premier League season, it was clear that there was something special about his partnership with the Brazilian to his left.
That season saw the pair play crucial roles in the Gunners’ surprise title bid, and only once the former Saint-Étienne ace was out injured did things start to fall apart for Arteta’s young and inexperienced side.
Fortunately, last season saw the pair remain fit for the vast majority of the campaign, and with new signing Declan Rice ahead of them, they created the best defence in the entire league, conceding just 29 goals across all 38 games, which was also enough to see them both named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
This year has been a little more challenging for the pair, as injuries to those around them and unnecessary suspensions, including for Saliba, have seen their previously rock-solid partnership falter ever so slightly.
However, with the likes of Rice and Riccardo Calafiroi back in the team, the duo have looked back to their best in the last week against Sporting CP and Nottingham Forest, conceding only once against the former from a corner.
In all, due to their incredible displays over the last two and a bit seasons, it’s clear that both defenders more than justify their wages, which stand at £100k-per-week for Gabriel and £190k-per-week for Saliba.
However, the same could not have been said about a defender who left the club over three years ago after costing a fortune in wages and fees.
The Emery flop who cost Arsenal millions
The player in question is the one and only David Luiz, who joined Arsenal from cross-city rivals Chelsea in the summer of 2019 for a fee of around £8m.
Now, the first thing to say is that during his two years at the club, the Brazilian international was not a disaster on the pitch, and while he certainly wasn’t brilliant either, he wasn’t on the same level as a Shkodran Mustafi or even Sokratis, notably making series of individual errors that cost the club plenty of goals.
“Why are you buying rejects from Chelsea who are over 30? And then giving them big deals and you can’t get rid of them? That’s a mistake before it’s happened. That’s just stupid.” – Jamie Carragher on Luiz and Willian.
However, the issue with his signing is how much it all cost compared to what he brought to the table, as an article from The Athletic revealed a year after he joined that he cost the club an additional £6m in fees for his agent and ‘intermediaries’ and on top of that was being paid £10m a year, which breaks down to an astounding weekly wage of £192k – more than Saliba and Gabriel.
So, when you add up his two years of wages, with the transfer fee and other fees on top of that, the former Chelsea star cost Arsenal a whopping £34m, which can hardly be described as value for money, especially as his 73 appearances, four goals and one assist helped the club to two eighth-placed finishes in the league.
When broken down, that comes to £465k-per-appearance, £8.5m-per-goal, £34m-per-assist and £6.8m-per-goal-involvement.
Transfer Fee
£8m
Wages
£20m
Agent Fees
£6m
Total
£34m
Appearances
73
Cost per Appearance
£465k
Goals
4
Cost per Goal
£8.5m
Assists
1
Cost per Assist
£34m
Goal Involvements
5
Cost per Goal Involvements
£6.8m
Ultimately, while Luiz wasn’t the worst signing by Emery for his performances on the pitch, he certainly is for the outrageous amount of money involved in his deal.
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