Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal signings ranked as Gunners manager agrees new contract

· Football365

Mikel Arteta’s spend as Arsenal boss has reached £1billion. We’ve ranked all 42 signings, including those purchased this summer.

Mikel Arteta reached the £1billion mark as Arsenal manager after the club signed Piero Hincapie, Ezri Konsa, Bruno Guimaraes, Christos Tzolis and Illan Meslier in the 2026 summer transfer window.

Arsenal and Arteta do, at least, now have something to show for their outlay having been crowned Premier League champions last season.

That first title triumph came after a summer expenditure of around £250m in 2025, with the additions of Martin Zubimendi and Viktor Gyokeres proving crucial in getting the Gunners over the line.

Including the five summer arrivals, Arteta has brought in 42 players in total, and we have ranked them all from worst to best…

42) Willian (free)

A genuine disaster from start to finish. At least Willian was nice enough to have his contract mutually terminated after a year, helping the club avoid another needlessly expensive pay-off.

41) Alex Runarsson (£1.5m)

No offence to the young man, but Runarsson might be the worst goalkeeper in Arsenal’s history.

40) Raheem Sterling (loan)

In the Premier League 100 club by the age of 27, Sterling is a legend but he was a different player to the winger we saw at Manchester City when he rocked up at the Emirates.

He was unable to stake a claim during Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli’s time injured and was unsurprisingly not signed permanently.

39) Neto (loan)

Edu Gaspar’s parting gift was Sterling and a back-up goalkeeper unable to play in the Carabao Cup. Great job, buddy.

38) Fabio Vieira (£33m)

This is a rare big-money misstep from Arteta. Vieira was too lightweight for the Premier League and was sold to Hamburg for only £7m in the summer.

37) Marquinhos (£2.5m)

Just a really pointless signing, this.

36) Auston Trusty (£1m)

Reason for signing: American.

35) Sambi Lokonga (£15m)

Sambi was a midfielder with a lot of promise, joining Arsenal as a teenager with experience captaining Anderlecht. But, yeah, it didn’t work out. He joined Hamburg for a six-figure fee in 2025.

34) Mathew Ryan (loan)

Not signed to boost the club’s fandom in Australia, Ryan played three times for the Gunners.

33) Matt Turner (£5m)

Another American, but actually signed for football reasons. Turner joined Arsenal as USA No. 1 and was a more unreliable back-up to Aaron Ramsdale than expected.

32) Illan Meslier (free)

For nothing, we really don’t mind it, but he isn’t even Arsenal’s cup goalkeeper. The minutes are only coming if David Raya or Kepa Arrizabalaga get injured.

31) Kepa Arrizabalaga (£5m)

Kepa isn’t a bad second-choice goalkeeper, but his latest Carabao Cup final disaster was a disaster.

30) Pablo Mari (£4.5m + £6m loan fee)

Reason for signing: left-footed.

29) Cedric Soares (free)

Cedric is a top professional but the fact he was without a club for six months after leaving Arsenal is probably a sign that he should not have been getting minutes for a Premier League and Champions League-chasing team.

28) Noni Madueke (£48m)

The jury is out on Madueke after costing so much money and being another Chelsea signing. Still, he clearly has talent and potential, and not only does Arteta rate him highly, so does England head coach Thomas Tuchel.

27) Nuno Tavares (£7m)

A true enigma of the beautiful game, Tavares can go from looking like a world-beater one game to scoring an own goal and getting sent off the next.

26) Christian Norgaard (£10m)

Norgaard’s game time in his only year at Arsenal was concerning, but he apparently played a vital role behind the scenes, helping the Gunners win the Premier League through his words of wisdom.

25) Eberechi Eze (£60m)

Only seems to perform against Tottenham, which is fun, but not enough.

24) Jakub Kiwior (£18m)

Kiwior was a handy squad player and deserved his move to Porto, where he is a regular starter competing for a starting spot with Jan Bednarek rather than William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.

23) Christos Tzolis (£34.12m)

It remains to be seen whether or not Tzolis can cut the mustard in the Premier League. He has looked brilliant at the Emirates but seems to struggle away from home.

22) Ezri Konsa (£51m)

Again, the jury is out on Konsa at Arsenal; but we all know he is an excellent defender.

21) Piero Hincapie (£34.5m)

The fact Hincapie is as low as 21st here speaks volumes about Arsenal’s transfer dealings under Arteta. Spending £34.5million this summer to make it a permanent arrangement was a no-brainer.

20) Takehiro Tomiyasu (£15m)

Tomiyasu is a solid full-back, excellent with both feet and good in the air, but those injuries, man…

19) Cristian Mosquera (£13m)

For £13m, Mosquera is an absolute bargain. He is only 22 years old and has proven himself as an excellent right-back and centre-back.

18) Mikel Merino (£29m)

Turns out he is a decent striker.

17) Oleksandr Zinchenko (£32m)

Zinchenko is another injury-prone Arteta signing. His and Gabriel Jesus’ additions shifted things dramatically – for the better – at Arsenal, making them title contenders overnight by bringing their winning mentality from Manchester City in the 2022 summer transfer window.

His defensive frailties quickly emerged as Arsenal’s Achilles’ heel and in the blink of an eye, Zinchenko was surplus to requirements

16) Gabriel Jesus (£45m)

Jesus was crucial, as already said, when he joined the club from future title rivals City.

Like Zinchenko, his first season was impressive but Jesus never returned to his best after his first knee injury.

15) Thomas Partey (£45m)

The injuries theme continues. Consistency was an issue for Partey as well.

14) Bruno Guimaraes (£75m)

Bruno is probably just on the cusp of being a world-class midfielder, though that term is extremely subjective. We don’t see any downside to this transfer, even if he is 29 in November.

13) Viktor Gyokeres (£55m)

Widely regarded as the final piece of the puzzle, Gyokeres came in and made a significant impact, providing something different to any other striker Arsenal have had under Arteta.

Gyokeres is an out-and-out No.9 and that is clearly what Arsenal needed to win the Premier League, but…

After looking like he was improving every week last season, he seems to be getting worse every time he plays now.

12) Aaron Ramsdale (£24m)

So many Arsenal fans were furious when Arteta signed Ramsdale, who had just experienced his second successive relegation from the Premier League. What a lot of fans chose to ignore was that he was named player of the year at both Sheffield United and Bournemouth in those campaigns.

He quickly proved everyone wrong and became a key player and fan favourite at the Emirates. However, he was surprisingly replaced by David Raya for the 2023/24 season. That especially hurt considering he played such a crucial part in getting the Gunners back into the Champions League, only to make one appearance in the competition in a dead rubber against PSV.

He was sold to Southampton in the 2024 summer window before spending last season on loan at Newcastle United.

11) Martin Zubimendi (£60m)

Actually the true final piece of the puzzle, Zubimendi’s form tailed off towards the end of last season, but his impact in his first year at Arsenal must not be overstated by a few tired performances.

Regardless, he is comfortably an upgrade on Partey and showed as much from day one.

10) Riccardo Calafiori (£38m)

Calafiori is brilliant but his injury record is concerning.

9) Kai Havertz (£65m)

The jury will forever be out on Havertz, though he has silenced plenty of doubters with a decent 39 goals and 18 assists in 118 matches, as of September 23, 2026.

Arteta took a big risk signing Havertz from Chelsea and initially viewed the German as an attacking midfielder before swiftly ending that experiment and lumping him up top, where he has done just fine.

Not signing a new striker in the 2025 January window looked bad when the window closed but looked catastrophically dumb when Havertz tore his hamstring a week later.

8) Jorginho (£10m)

Arsenal fans were furious when Jorginho was brought to the club from Chelsea. He was instantly deemed an aging, unwanted Chelsea player and the Gunners were viewed as doing their rivals another favour. It turns out the Blues were the club handing out a favour.

Jorginho was a fantastic addition, not only with his calming presence on the pitch but his leadership in the dressing room and on the touchline when ‘warming up’. The Italian was like a secret member of Arteta’s coaching team at times and is bound to reunite with the Spaniard legitimately in that capacity in the future.

7) Jurrien Timber (£34m)

Timber missed 99 per cent of his debut season at the club with an ACL injury but has slotted in seamlessly since, playing left-back, right-back and centre-back. He is a fantastic player and £34m is great business.

6) Benjamin White (£50m)

A fan favourite at the Emirates, White was a centre-back in his first season before being moved to right-back, where he established himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League.

Consistency is a very under-valued attribute and White had it in abundance before a lengthy knee injury. He has looked a lot better recently.

5) Leandro Trossard (£22m)

After missing out on top target Mykhaylo Mudryk, Arteta turned his attention to a much cheaper – and better – option in Brighton winger Trossard.

The Belgian has scored some huge goals in three years at Arsenal, most recently the only goal in a seriously important win at West Ham, before being waved off to Turkey for £15million.

4) David Raya (£27m + £3m loan fee)

The Raya v Ramsdale debate was relentless and annoying, yet it was a very reasonable argument. Ramsdale had been brilliant in the Arsenal goal for two seasons and was replaced out of the blue by Raya, who joined on an initial £3m loan in 2023 and was signed permanently for £27m in 2024.

A lot of people thought it was harsh of Arteta to dump Ramsdale but the Spaniard has been vindicated. Raya is now arguably the best goalkeeper in the Premier League.

3) Martin Odegaard (£30m + £1.5m loan fee)

Another robbery at only £30m, there’s no doubting how successful the Arsenal captain Odegaard has been in north London.

2) Gabriel Magalhaes (£27m)

There is a strong case for Gabriel being top here, such is the strength of the podium players. He is another whose game has improved significantly under Arteta. The Brazilian has grown in confidence on the ball and is one of the most commanding centre-backs in Europe; not to mention his goal threat from set-pieces.

What a bargain.

1) Declan Rice (£105m)

Arsenal’s club-record signing, thus Arteta’s most expensive signing, Rice has been a fantastic addition and a rare £70m+ success in the Premier League.

The fact his transfer fee is rarely mentioned tells you everything you need to know. He can do everything – including scoring world-class free-kicks.

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