Since taking the Arsenal job, when the club were at their lowest point in a generation, Mikel Arteta has made some seismic changes.
Some of the most significant have come in the transfer market, as the Spaniard spent a massive sum of money building a squad capable of challenging for major honours domestically and on the continent.
In doing so, the former captain has signed an enormous number of players over the years, and while some haven’t exactly panned out, like Willian, Pablo Mari and Nuno Tavares, others, like Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Magalhaes and David Raya, certainly have.
In fact, it would be fair to say that one of Arteta’s acquisitions is now comfortably the club’s best signing since Mesut Özil joined the team over a decade ago.
Özil's Arsenal career
It’s a moment that no Arsenal fan who was around at the time will forget, Özil being announced on transfer deadline day 2013, in what was a club-record £42.4m deal at the time.
The German international was leaving Real Madrid to come to the Emirates, and saying that fans were excited about it would be a colossal understatement.
It didn’t take long for the mercurial midfielder to make good on his transfer fee either, as on his debut, away to Sunderland, he provided a brilliant assist for Olivier Giroud.
Throughout his stint in North London, the World Cup winner made 254 appearances for the club, scoring 44 goals, providing 75 assists, and playing a significant role in three FA Cup triumphs.
Unfortunately, after signing his bumper £350k-per-week deal in 2018, things started to go wrong, and he began to face criticism for his perceived lack of work rate, which worsened when Arteta took charge.
However, while things ended poorly, and he eventually left for nothing to join Fenerbahçe in January 2021, it cannot be forgotten that in his pomp, Özil was an incredible footballer to watch and, had the club built around him, he may have led them to league glory.
There have been some great signings made in the years since he left, but one potentially era-defining acquisition under Arteta could be fairly described as the club’s best since the German.
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Arsenal's best signing since Ozil
As we mentioned above, Arteta has made his fair share of impressive signings since taking the job at Arsenal, but in terms of needle-moving purchases, the spotlight falls on one player: Declan Rice.
The former West Ham United captain moved to the Emirates for a club-record fee of £105m in the summer of 2023, and while there was a mountain of pressure on him, he’s since surpassed every expectation people had of him.
In fact, the fans often sing about signing him for half-price, and while that is somewhat tongue in cheek, there is likely an increasing portion of the support that is genuinely starting to believe it.
Appearances
94
Minutes
7640′
Goals
14
Assists
18
Goal Involvements per Match
0.34
Minutes per Goal Involvement
238.75′
For example, since moving to North London, the “world-class” midfielder, as dubbed by journalist Tom Marshall-Bailey, has made 94 appearances, in which he’s scored 14 goals and provided 18 assists, despite moving between the six and eight positions.
We saw just how devastatingly effective the Englishman can be last night when he scored two stunning free-kicks against Real Madrid to give his side an incredible opportunity to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time since the 08/09 season.
On top of his impressive level of output, the 26-year-old also has some sensational underlying numbers.
For example, FBref places him in the top 4% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries and carries into the penalty area, the top 6% for assists, the top 7% for goals plus assists, the top 8% for shot-creating action from dead-ball passes and more, all per 90.
Ultimately, while Arsenal would have expected Rice to perform to a high level considering his price tag, we are not sure they nor anyone else expected him to be this good, and that’s why he’s their best signing since Ozil.
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