Arsenal are a club on the rise, and while they might not necessarily win the Premier League this season, they are very much in the title race.
There are several factors behind the Gunners' resurgence over the last few years, but one of the most important has been their effectiveness in the transfer market.
While the jury is certainly still out on Kai Havertz, the majority of Mikel Arteta's recent signings have come good, including Declan Rice, the club's most expensive transfer ever.
However, it wasn't always this good for the north Londoners, as they have endured some dreadful transfer failures in the past and while former winger Gervinho might spring to mind for many of you, there is one player who is undoubtedly the club's worst signing ever.
Gervinho's time at Arsenal
The Gunners announced the £11m signing of Ivorian international Gervinho in July 2011, and at the time, as with most signings, there was some genuine excitement among the fans.
After all, here was a tricky forward who had just played an instrumental role in helping LOSC Lille win the league and cup double in France by scoring 18 goals and providing 11 assists in 50 appearances.
However, for whatever reason, his form fell off a cliff in England, and in his first season with Arsenal, he scored four goals and provided seven assists in 37 appearances, and in his second season he managed seven goals and five assists in 26 appearances.
Unsurprisingly, the misfiring forward wasn't given a third season to try and turn things around, as he was sold to AS Roma for £8m in August 2013, with Arsène Wenger later explaining, "I made that decision [to sell Gervinho] because he looked to play with a lack of confidence, especially at the Emirates."
Now, for as poor as Gervinho was during his time in the red and white of Arsenal, there was another uber-talented Ivorian winger who would join the club for a lot more money and end up being much more of a disappointment, Nicolas Pepe.
Arsenal's record-breaker
Arsenal signed the then highly-rated Pepe from Ligue 1 side Lille for a club record fee of £72m, and while there were some raised eyebrows at the time, there was an equal amount of excitement due to his performance in France the season prior, with talent scout Jacek Kulig claiming he "destroyed Ligue 1."
In his 38 league appearances for Les Dogues, the Ivorian international scored 22 goals and provided 11 assists, meaning he averaged a goal involvement every 1.15 games, and some of his highlights were genuinely spectacular to watch.
However, unfortunately for the Arsenal faithful, they never really got to see any of those highlights in real life.
As he failed to adjust to life in the Premier League, his price tag – and wages – soon became the only topic of conversation related to him.
In his first two seasons at the club, he was on a weekly wage of £100k, before then getting £140k-per-week in his third season.
Three weeks into his fourth season as an Arsenal player, he went on loan to Nice, where he took a 25% pay cut, the Gunners paid 25% – £35k a week – and the French side paid the other 50%.
Once he returned to north London, he was back on his full £140k-a-week wage for the six weeks before his contract was terminated, and he finally joined Turkish side Trabzonspor for free.
£72m
£100k
£140k
£35k
£21m
£93m
£3.4m
£1.9m
In total, his wage packet for the four years he was an Arsenal player ultimately came to around £21m, which, combined with his £72m transfer fee, means he cost the Gunners a grand total of £93m for a return of just 27 goals and 21 assists in 112 appearances.
Essentially, the club paid £3.4m per goal or £1.9m per goal involvement – talk about value for money.
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Ultimately, while there were the odd glimpses of brilliance here and there, the fact that he cost the club such an astronomical amount of money and did very little to leave a lasting impression, he has to be considered the worst transfer in Arsenal history.