Last night’s Capital One Cup game against Sheffield Wednesday went badly on the pitch, but it provided something of a landmark.
The debuts for Alex Iwobi, Glen Kamara, Ismael Bennacer and Krystian Bielik took the number of players Arsene Wenger has selected for the club to over 200 (it’s now 203) since his arrival in 1996.
So, in the interests of nothing much in particular, but just for the record, here’s the full list of players who played for Arsenal under Arsene Wenger.
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Note: This list has been updated to include all 222 players who featured during Wenger’s tenure.
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal Players
David Seaman
Lee Dixon
Tony Adams
Steve Bould
Nigel Winterburn
Martin Keown
Patrick Vieira
Paul Merson
David Platt
John Hartson
Ian Wright
Ray Parlour
Dennis Bergkamp
Remi Garde
Steve Morrow
John Lukic
Andy Linighan
Paul Shaw
Gavin McGowan
Scott Marshall
Stephen Hughes
Matthew Rose
Lee Harper
Ian Selley
Nicolas Anelka
Gilles Grimandi
Marc Overmars
Emmanuel Petit
Luis Boa Morte
Chris Wreh
Jason Crowe
Paolo Vernazza
Alex Manninger
Alberto Mendez
Jehad Muntasser
Matthew Upson
Isaiah Rankin
Kaba Diawara
Nelson Vivas
Freddie Ljungberg
Omer Riza
David Grondin
Fabian Caballero
Michael Black
Nwanko Kanu
Oleg Luznhy
Silvinho
Thierry Henry
Davor Suker
Stefan Malz
Ashley Cole
Tommy Black
Rhys Weston
Jermaine Pennant
Graham Barrett
Julian Gray
Brian McGovern
Lauren
Robert Pires
Sylvain Wiltord
Lee Canoville
Stuart Taylor
Moritz Volz
Igors Stepanovs
Tomas Danilevicius
Edu
Sol Campbell
Giovani van Bronkhorst
Francis Jeffers
Junichi Inamoto
Richard Wright
John Halls
Carlin Itonga
Rohan Rickets
Stathis Tavlaridis
Jeremie Aliadiere
Sebastian Svard
Juan
Gilberto Silva
Kolo Toure
Pascal Cygan
Ryan Garry
Rami Shaaban
David Bentley
Justin Hoyte
Jens Lehmann
Graham Stack
John Spicer
Jerome Thomas
Quincy Owusu-Abeyie
Gael Clichy
Cesc Fabregas
Ryan Smith
Frankie Simek
Olafur-Ingi Skulason
Michal Papadopolous
Jose Antonio Reyes
Robin van Persie
Mathieu Flamini
Seb Larsson
Danny Karbassiyoon
Johan Djourou
Manuel Almunia
Arturo Lupoli
Philippe Senderos
Patrick Cregg
Emmanuel Eboue
Alex Hleb
Alex Song
Fabrice Muamba
Anthony Stokes
Nicklas Bendtner
Kerrea Gilbert
Abou Diaby
Emmanuel Adebayor
Tomas Rosicky
Theo Walcott
Julio Baptista
William Gallas
Matthew Connolly
Denilson
Mark Randall
Armand Traore
Mart Poom
Bacary Sagna
Eduardo
Lassana Diarra
Lukasz Fabiaski
Fran Merida
Nacer Barazite
Kieran Gibbs
Henri Lansbury
Aaron Ramsey
Samir Nasri
Carlos Vela
Jack Wilshere
Francis Coquelin
Gavin Hoyte
Jay Simpson
Mikael Silvestre
Amaury Bischoff
Rui Fonte
Paul Rodgers
Andrei Arshavin
Vito Mannone
Thomas Vermaelen
Gilles Sunu
Wojciech Szczesny
Sanchez Watt
Craig Eastmond
Kyle Bartley
Thomas Cruise
Marouane Chamakh
Laurent Koscielny
Sebastian Squillaci
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas
Ignasi Miquel
Conor Henderson
Emmanuel Frimpong
Gervinho
Carl Jenkinson
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Mikel Arteta
Yossi Benayoun
Per Mertesacker
Andre Santos
Chuks Aneke
Ryo Miyaichi
Oguzhan Ozyakup
Chu Young Park
Daniel Boateng
Nico Yennaris
Santi Cazorla
Olivier Giroud
Lukas Podolski
Martin Angha
Serge Gnabry
Damian Martinez
Thomas Eisfeld
Jernande Meade
Nacho Monreal
Yaya Sanogo
Mesut Ozil
Chuba Akpom
Kriss Olsson
Hector Bellerin
Isaac Hayden
Gedion Zelalem
Kim Kallstrom
Joel Campbell
Calum Chambers
Mathieu Debuchy
Alexis Sanchez
Danny Welbeck
David Ospina
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
Stefan O’Connor
Gabriel
Petr Cech
Glen Kamara
Alex Iwobi
Ismael Bennacer
Krystian Bielik
Jeff Reine-Adelaide
Mohamed Elneny
Rob Holding
Granit Xhaka
Shkodran Mustafi
Lucas Perez
Chris Willock
Alexandre Lacazette
Sead Kolasinac
Reiss Nelson
Josh Dasilva
Joe Willock
Marcus McGuane
Eddie Nketiah
Ben Sheaf
Matt Macey
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Konstantinos Mavropanos
Correct as of: 08.02.2024
Hooray!!!
Sami ajayi isn’t there, didn’t he play against Southampton in the league cup last season?
I think that although Semi Ajayi was pencilled in to play, he got injured and didn’t (or could have been on the bench).
He half played? Semi
Actually he didn’t.
I always hoped he’d score a hatrick in the FA cup final and it would be known forever as the Semi Final.
its not like Wenger to sell on a guy with so much puntential.
If he’d stayed with us now we’d be fielding a Coq with a Semi.
I’d like some light shed on ‘Juan’ immediately.
I remember him playing a fa cup game against gillingham at Highbury probably late90s
I would similarily like some light shed on this Chu Young Park character
He was the most bizarre signing. Still baffles me to this day
The signing wasn’t baffling – as we needed a striker and an infusion of new players – Wenger always likes a punt and this was potentially an overmars – i.e. great youth who had been written off.
But then it was the usage of him that baffled and how long he stayed on the books without ever being given a chance –
he must have been shockingly bad in training – or maybe he was sold to sell shirts to koreans.
* bought to sell shirts to koreans
Sold to buy shirts from Koreans?
I’m convinced the only reason we signed him was as revenge against Lille for reneging on a promise to sell us Hazard. They had Park lined up and we stole him from under their noses at the last minute. It was at the same time speculation was rife we would sign Hazard so I’m guessing they either hiked up Hazard’s price or refused to budge/negotiate and we took revenge by taking Chu.
I remember chanting “One Juan. We’ve only got One Juan…” in the North Bank at that Gillingham game. Which , as I’ve just looked up on Wikipedia, was in 2002.
That was my first ever Arsenal game.
Played two cup games for us before injury ruined his Arsenal career. Has played in Brazil ever since.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Maldonado_Jaimez
Juan has made a good career for himself here n Brasil playing for many of the top teams and being an important part of their starting 11.
He wore the number 57 shirt and had one of the finest songs of all time – “Juan 57; there’s only Juan 57; Juan fifty seeeeven etc and so on”
HOLY CRAP – what a legend…
Think he was left back
TGSTEL
Merida, Lansbury, Vela, Barazite, Nordveit (unlisted)… I remember those guys being massive on early Football Manager. Quite sorry things gone other way for them as they didn’t made the cut as Wilshere, Ramsey, and (nearly) Coquelin.
Don’t think Nordtveit ever played, which makes it 0 Norwegians in this 20 years.
Remember Nordtveit was due a Capital One Cup start but got injured. Then he decided not to renew his contract because Wenger kept faith in Squillaci as his fourth choice central defender.
Now he plays Champions League football for Gladbach.
He’s signed with West Ham this summer.
Steve Morrow? Really? Fair play
Paulie Shaw
All these players but theres only one TGSTEL.
Lauren was a bad ass he only had one name
His full names: Lauren Etame Meyer
Really, i thought it was Ralph
Pretty sure Kanu’s first name is spelt wrong here. Probably worth omitting either way…
Nwankwo KANU #25
Lassana diara? when?
For about 6 months before he spat his dummy about not playing enough.
couldnt get past the flamster and denilison. flamster played out of his skin that yr and earned a move to his boyhood club milan. las went to portsmouth and earned move to madrid, denilson was smuggled back to brazil using the illegal international cocaine smuggling network.
Sol Campbelll
extra l
I assume everyone thinks Henry or Dennis are the best of the lot. I’m curious who people think is the worst player or the biggest disappointment.
Ca$ley Cole still grinds my gears after all these years. Kahlstrom and Park just make me scratch my head in a bewildered fashion.
Kallstrom was just a short term fix in an injury crisis to add numbers (despite being injured himself at the time) so I can understand that.
I loved watching Kallstrom. He was so obviously enjoying his football, and he wasn’t shit. He just didn’t get healed quickly enough to get many games.
It is hard to say who is the worst as some would have only had one or two appearances in league Cup matches. In terms of first team players Igor Stepanovs must be up (down) there amongst our worst players.. I think he was in one of the sides that took a hammering at Utd. Sorry Igor.
I think it was in the Tuesday Club podcast where by it was said that Ray Parlour told one of them that Igor Stepanovs owes his career to Dennis Bergkamp who was very much unknown as being a funny man behind the scenes. The story is that Bergkamp was bigging up Stepanovs to piss off Martin Keown, was was easy to wind up, exclaiming how great every touch he made was in the trial, irritating Keown. Monday came and Wenger had signed him on a 3 year contract due to the club taking Bergkamp’s wind up praise as genuine and… Read more »
i don’t so much mind shit players (god bless you pascal cygan) as i do ones with attitude issues, so for that reason i would nominate gallas as the worst player ive ever seen in an arsenal shirt. i actually think TGSTEL outgrew his brat reputation and was, dare i say it, not that bad as a last resort squad option for lesser games or a time soaker substituion. but gallas came to us as a premier league winner and supposed leader but turned out to be an absoloute sack of shit before departing to a more appropriate home. honorable… Read more »
Davour suker – was excited when he joined us (played as if he had a 40 aday habit)
Diaby – always injured but one of my fav players
Stepenovs , wreh and bischoff were bad of the top of my head
Wreh scored a couple of important goals in the run in to the 98 Double.
Plus he was George Weah’s cousin.
Apparently.
im forever grateful for his effort. i didnt hate him or anything, just expected him to be as good as george weah which to be fair is like expecting sanogo to play like pele
Good question! Looking at the list there are many awesome players, and a huge number of average players. But not really that many really poor I would say.
Kallstrom scored a cool, calm penalty for us in that FA game.. so I am happy that we signed him.. looked good when he played.. played within his limits and didn’t go overboard.. might have been worthy if he was a decade younger though.. 🙂
One of the biggest disappointments for me was Anelka, He had such an enormous level of pure talent and leaving the way he did was criminal.
Well, a young Kallstrom would be an excellent backup for the Coq. He played at Lyon for years and had an excellent long range shot. A very solid holding MF. Park … that just leads people to think you have lice.
Which player was the worst is too subjective a question.
How about:
Which player’s name appearing on a team sheet against Barcelona made you say “We are truly fucked”?
Boy those early Emirates years were rougher than I thought.
Tom Cruise is a Gooner!
Crumbs there were a few scumbags in the mix – cashly, van pencilhead and na$ri – ugh
Anelka, Adebayor
I think that’s the same number of players Brenden Rogers bought while at Liverpool.
Far less of ours were shit though.
Can’t imagine we used to watch this squad and actually expected them to win a trophy! Tough times indeed.
M.Almunia
J. Hoyte, W. Gallas, J. Djourou, G. Clichy
M. Flamini, Denilson
E. Eboue, C.Fabregas, T.Rosicky
E. Adebayor.
It’s a testament to the Boss that we were able to compete and keep a CL spot. Slimmest of pickings back then.
Almunia may not have been the best keeper around but he can’t have benefitted from that Press campaign aimed at our keepers for years on end. Justin Hoyte always tried hard. Never disliked him. Gallas should have been better but turned out to be weak. Always liked Djourou. Always liked Clichy (not now though). Flamini was superb alongside Fabregas for a season. Denilson tried and tried and tried and tried and, well, it never happened Eboue brought the fans around eventually. Fabregas was brilliant til the DNA started to call, but was saying “we” when he mentioned Arsenal even a… Read more »
As a young(er) gunner a few of these were surprising. Matthew Upson and boa morte? Also who was this “diaby” fellow. Never heard of him
don’t look back in Angha! there are also good names on the list, although it’s a bit Hayden seek finding them
Can we also look at how much net money he made with player purchase and sales?
Feel free to work that out!
Come on blogs, don’t be lazy….
…and a partridge in a pear tree!
kerrea Gilbert……. I’ve always suspected kieran Gibbs
Between Jehad Muntasser and Thierry Henry here’s a great chasm of technical ability almost as large as Jose Mourinho’s ego.
Yann M’vilaa?
Pascal Cygan must be up there with the worst. I always had a soft spot for Edu. Oh, Edu, how I miss thee.
In hindsight, Cygan was actually a fairly decent player who made important contributions to big seasons – just surrounded by players so much better. The difference between him and Silvestre, Squillaci etc is vast
i don think cygan was that bad, he wasnt good enough thats for sure and suited for the english style of football
What the hell is an Andre Santos….saying that I remember him equalizing against Chelsea and me declaring my love for the huggable Brazilian
David Dipshit Bentley. I had briefly forgotten bout him..
We’ve all tried to forget him!
The worst player on this list is Mikael Sylvester. A player who on his day could play a one-two move with an opposing striker ( Barca vs. Arsenal @ Camp Nou).
Jehad Muntasser, his Arsenal career lasted 1 min. That is a future jackpot answer on Pointless.
Any one willing to have a go at ranking all of them in order of quality?
1, Dennis Bergkamp
2, Thierry Henry
3, Alexis
4, Francis Jeffers
5, Sorry, what was the question again?
Gilles SuSsuno
Chu young Park surely the pick of the bunch. Absolute steal by Arsene.
I can hear it coming in the Aliadiere tonight
Frankie Simek. Off the Sopranos.
Did Glen Helder not make an appearance under Wenger?
Amaury Bischoff. . .hmm
Forgot Higgs Boson chief
How many double players? Ones that have left and come back. I can think of Henry, Sol and Flamini. Was there anymore?
Lehman….but i don’t think he actually played a game.
Yes he did, came on and gave away a dangerous free-kick (if I´m not mistaking). He played two or three games that season. That was a proper keeper, by the way.
Crazy persona, marvelous hair, world class saves and mind blowing mistakes!
I still have a great memory of him yelling at a ball boy for giving him the ball to fast when we were winning a game 🙂 Oh Jens, how I miss you!
He did play. And that day infront of him was Squillaci and Djourou. True Story.
Mikael Silvestre was a strange one. I’d see his name on the team sheet but when I watched the game there was no sign of him, just a sort of fuzzy-empty space like a censorship blur that used to move around our end of the pitch. Opposition players and the ball would pass right through it without the slightest hindrance.
I liked Nelson Vivas.
Ah, nostalgia. There’s nothing like it…
Guess am really old..knowing almost all the names makes me feel so so OLD!!
A few thoughts … players who didn’t have quality, don’t deserve to be bashed. They are what they are, and its the club who made the decision to sign them with the ability they had. As long as they tried to do what they could with whatever talent they had, and put in a shift, I have no issues with them. The only ones who should get a bad name would be those who had a bad attitude, and had a go at the club. So the ones who deserve the bashing would be – 1) Ca$hley Cole 2) David… Read more »
There’s only one Juan
I am Craig Eastmond.
Macey??
Look again!
Only 4 are of Nigerian decent.
@arseblog, please, update the list. Antonio Reyes is now late
Mavropanos is missing