Those ‘Wenger Out’ banners were still a regular sight on the Emirates terraces in early 2015. But, with the benefit of hindsight, those disillusioned Arsenal fans probably didn’t realise how much worse things could really get.
The Gunners would finish third in the Premier League that season, five places, 19 points and 17 goals better off than they were during a miserable 2019/20.
Just to highlight the Marianas Trench-sized chasm between the Arsenal side of five years ago and the one that slipped to 12th in the table after a goalless draw at newly-promoted Leeds United on Sunday, it is worth remembering what Wenger said when Real Madrid play-maker Isco was linked with a January move to north London in 2015.
“No, we are not on [Isco’s] case,” the legendary Frenchman insisted, via Goal.
“We have plenty of creative players. We are more short on the defensive side of our game, not on the offensive side.”
Wenger had a point.
With Alexis Sanchez, Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and the mercurial Santi Cazorla to choose from, Arsenal certainly weren’t short of inventive, indsutrious attackers capable of changing a game with a flash of inspiration.
This is without mentioning a certain seldom-seen German, of course.
A glance at his £350,000-a-week contract will tell you that Mesut Ozil is still, believe it or not, an Arsenal player. But there appears to be no escape from his own personal prison.
And if you’re a fan of irony (or Tottenham, for that matter), you will get a kick out of this.
According to Defensa Central, Mikel Arteta has asked the Arsenal board, with just a month until the January transfer window opens, to lure Isco away from Real Madrid and into the grateful arms of the Gunners.
Isco, like Ozil is a superstar out of sorts and crying out for a fresh start.
He is also something of a shadow of the man who produced six goals and 13 assists for the then-Champions League holders in 2014/15; when Wenger turned him down.
But while Wenger could boast a treasure trove of attacking riches, Arteta doesn’t have two match-winning play-makers to rub together.
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