Arsene Wenger left a massive legacy at Arsenal upon his departure at the end of the 2017/18 campaign and looking back, it was similar to when Sir Alex Ferguson retired as Manchester United manager, with whoever came in next having an almost impossible task.
Unai Emery was the man tasked with the responsibility to continue the wonderful work done by Wenger over the previous 20 years, however, he made a few woeful signings and couldn’t quite adjust to the Premier League, despite enjoying success at Paris Saint-Germain.
The likes of Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno and Nicolas Pepe were brought in during his first year in charge as he splashed the cash in the transfer market, yet it was all to no avail as the club failed to win anything during his 18-month tenure.
He also lured defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos to the club from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2018, and although he had impressed in Germany, playing nearly 200 times for the Bundesliga club, he couldn’t replicate this in England.
How much did Sokratis Papastathopoulos cost Arsenal?
The Greek centre-back did enjoy a solid debut campaign at the Gunners after his £17.7m move from Germany, playing in 40 matches across all competitions as the north Londoners reached the Europa League final, although they lost to Chelsea.
His second season wasn’t quite as consistent, having a drop-off in performance to play only 29 matches, and he clearly wasn’t the same once Emery was sacked in December 2019. Indeed, journalist James Benge remarked of one "woeful" error which rather summed up his time in the capital.
Mikel Arteta took charge, and it was evident that the former Dortmund defender wasn’t part of his future plans, making only 11 appearances during the remainder of 2019/20 once the Spaniard took over.
He did come off the bench in the FA Cup final during their win against Chelsea in 2020 and claimed a medal, but his time at the club appeared to be coming to an end.
Sokratis failed to even make one senior appearance during the first half of the following term before leaving on a free transfer in January 2021 to join Olympiacos.
During his 133-week spell in London, he rinsed the club for a grand total of £30.7m, combining his transfer fee plus the £13m he earned in wages across his contract, which was £100k-per-week.
This represented a colossal waste of money for Stan Kroenke and co, especially as he failed to contribute during his final 18 months at the club.
Hopefully moves like this will become less common under Arteta over the coming years.