Mikel Arteta has got plenty right in the transfer market since he took as Arsenal manager.
The likes of Declan Rice, Viktor Gyokeres and Riccardo Calafiori – to name a few – have proven to be top level signings who have improved the team massively.
On the other end of the scale, though, there are signings who haven’t quite made the grade or lived up to expectations.
Arteta is not solely responsible for that, of course.
But when it comes to £15m signing of Christian Norgaard last summer, you have to say it’s been one of the most bizarre signings of Arteta’s era.
Name a WORSE signing in the MIkel Arteta era than Christian Norgaard. We’ll wait…
Christian Norgaard’s signing was a complete waste of time for Arsenal
There were question marks raised at the time when Arsenal spent north of £15m to bring Norgaard in last summer.
Still, fans went with it and in reality, the Danish midfielder was an experienced head with Premier League experience and no need to adjust to the rigours of Premier League life.
However, it simply hasn’t worked. At all.
Norgaard made less than 10 appearances in both the league and in Europe and was used so sparingly in the end, that Arteta often went with players playing out of position instead of picking Norgaard.
Indeed, we saw towards the end of the season how Myles Lewis-Skelly suddenly got shunted into midfield. Yes, he performed well and in the end it was a masterstroke by Arteta, but Norgaard being nowhere near showed just what the coaching staff think.
Yes, he will be a professional behind the scenes and you never hear a bad word said about him.
But with suggestions Arsenal are now already ready to sell Norgaard, just a year on from paying £15m and putting him on good money, you do question this signing in its entirety.
As of now, he’s easily in the conversation as Arteta’s worst signing and the fact the club are moving him on already just proves it.
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