Three Arsenal players the fans wish it had worked out for

Fans always call for managers to sign players from all corners of the globe based upon their own personal viewings, media driven agendas, social media influence and, I’m almost certain, due to the fact said player scored a worldie in the last minute on FIFA 15.

Arsene Wenger has brought a lot of talent to north London during his tenure – some welcomed more positively than others – however, the success has ranged from Pascal Cygan to Alexis Sanchez.

We’ve all had our favourites, the players we’ve willed to succeed in the mighty red colours of Arsenal. Sadly, football doesn’t work like that!

So, which three are us Gooners most gutted about? The ones who flattered to deceive?

Richard WRIGHT– With David Seaman moving rapidly towards his 38^th birthday and Alex Manninger’s promising Arsenal career in tatters, Arsene Wenger shopped locally to source Seaman’s replacement in 2001. In the 2000-01 season, Ipswich Town managed to finish 5^th in the Premier League and then 24-year-old Wright had been one of their most impressive performers. He caught Arsene Wenger’s eye with a series of stunning stops as the Gunners narrowly beat Town 1-0 at Highbury in February 2001.

In the summer of 2001, Wright was considered a long-term candidate to take the gloves from Seaman internationally. Arsenal gave him the chance to do so at club level, too. Wright started well enough with a penalty save in a crucial Champions League tie with Panathinaikos. But he endured a difficult time thereafter, conceding three soft goals to Blackburn Rovers in a 3-3 draw at Highbury later that month, before punching one into his own net as the Gunners were sunk 4-2 by Charlton in N5 in November.

Wright’s confidence never really recovered as Seaman eased back to fitness. Wright did play up to and including the semi-final in Arsenal’s victorious F.A. Cup run, but the writing was on the wall when Seaman was reinstalled for the final against Chelsea. Like many goalkeepers at lower level Premier League clubs, Wright’s athleticism served him well, but he didn’t have the concentration for the top level. Goalkeepers for the league’s lesser lights are called into action regularly and it is easier to maintain one’s engagement with a game. Wright also did not have the mentality to recover from his mistakes, a crucial quality for a top level goalkeeper. He was sold to Everton after a solitary season at Highbury.

Francis JEFFERS– Jeffers followed a remarkably similar trajectory to that of Richard Wright. After a particularly profligate performance in the 2001 F.A. Cup Final, an inflamed Thierry Henry insisted that Arsenal needed a “fox in the box.” Somebody to apply the finishing gloss to Arsenal’s brush strokes. Wenger bent to his striker’s will and purchased 20-year-old Francis Jeffers, whose star was rapidly rising at Everton. “I have bought him for tough away games such as Newcastle and Southampton,” Wenger reasoned.

Many fans supported Henry’s assertion that Ian Wright’s predatory skills had never been replaced and saw Jeffers as the man to sate their desire. He began well with an equaliser against Bolton Wanderers at Highbury in September. After Robert Pires set him up with a tap in, the Highbury crowd sang, “feed the fox and he will score.” Unfortunately, Jeffers’ ankles were in bad shape. He managed 10 appearances and two goals in his first season.

He improved in 2002-03, with six goals in 29 appearances, mostly in the F.A. Cup. Wenger rarely uses a ‘penalty box’ striker of this ilk unless they can contribute to Arsenal’s build up play and even leaving aside his fitness woes, Jeffers just didn’t fit. The plaintive cry for a ‘fox in the box’ had proved overly simplistic and Jeffers rejoined Everton in 2003. Much like Wright, his career drifted increasingly into obscurity thereafter.

William GALLAS– Salvaged from the wreckage of the Ashley Cole saga, the capture of William Gallas cushioned the blow of losing a big player to a major rival. Eventually, that would become a familiar feeling for Arsenal fans, but tempting Gallas from Chelsea made losing an academy product to a hated, richer rival less of a defeat. However, suspicions lingered that Gallas had simply made his position untenable at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal represented his only way out.

The Frenchman even haggled over his shirt number in the final minutes of the deal, refusing the vacant number 3 shirt in favour of the number 10. It seemed like an oddly fussy consideration in the circumstances. Gallas started well enough but his Arsenal career fell into ignominy. He sulked about having to play at left-back and mishandled a last minute penalty at St. Andrews that destroyed the Gunners’ title challenge. He was eventually stripped of the captaincy in late 2008.

Gallas might have been a better fit in a more mature, mentally resolute team like the Invincibles. That was a team that matched Gallas’ fierce desire to win and contained characters not adverse to confrontation. The ex-Chelsea man came into a much younger, more fragile squad and he found it hard to don the velvet glove required to guide the Gunners’ glass menagerie of talents. Wenger probably never really had a concrete plan for Gallas, but simply clutched at a good player he thought he could get to ease the fallout of the Cole acrimony.