At the end of 2018, Arsenal were linked with 151 players. So how’d that pan out?

At the end of last year, we took a look at all the players Arsenal had been linked with since the last summer transfer window closed, a timeframe that spanned between September 1, 2017, and the end of December.

Since then, we’ve had two windows and a new manager arrive, but how many of those 151 players arrived at the club?

I think you know the answer…

Here’s the full list and the clubs the players were with when the links occurred:

Juan Cuadrado – Juventus
Christian Pulisic – Dortmund
Anthony Martial – Manchester United
Harold Moukoudi – Le Havre
Leon Goretzka – Schalke
Maximilian Philipp – Dortmund
Keinan Davis – Aston Villa
Idrissa Gueye – Everton
Karim Benzema – Real Madrid
Dries Mertens – Napoli
Julian Draxler – PSG
Kostas Manolas – Roma
Sergio Aguero – Manchester City
Charley Musonda – Chelsea
Dylan Asonganyi – MK Dons
Kepa Arrizabalaga – Athletic Bilbao
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Dortmund
Dusan Vlahovic – Fiorentina
Matt O’Riley – Fulham
Ferhat Cogalan – Valencia
Pietro Pellegri – Genoa
Oguzhan Ozyakup – Besiktas
Christopher Rocchia – Marseille
Rafinha – Bayern Munich
Raheem Sterling – Manchester City
Frenkie De Jong – Ajax
Alessio Da Cruz – Novara
Nabil Fekir – Lyon
Jann-Fiete Arp – Hamburg
Ryan Sessegnon – Fulham
Joao Mario – Inter Milan
Ezri Konsa – Charlton
Malcom – Bordeaux
Dimitri Oberlin – Basel
Daniel Sturridge – Liverpool
Richarlison – Watford
Andre Gomes – Barcelona
Bernard – Shakhtar Donetsk
Hassan Bande – Machelen
Jean-Michael Seri – Nice
Jonny Evans – West Brom
Jan Oblak – Atletico Madrid
Federico Martinez
Jakub Jankto – Udinese
Adrien Rabiot – PSG
Lucas Moura – PSG
Aleksandr Golovin – CSKA Moscow
Cenk Tosun – Besiktas
David Neres – Ajax
Angel Di Maria – PSG
Daniele Rugani – Juventus
Marco Asensio – Real Madrid
Denis Suarez – Barcelona
Thomas Muller – Bayern Munich
Paulo Dybala – Juventus
Maxime Lopez – Marseille
Thomas Lemar – Monaco
Mijat Gacinovic – Frankfurt
Han Kwang-song – Cagliari
Yann Karamoh – Caen
Danijel Subasic – Monaco
Blaise Matuidi – Juventus
Jose Gimenez – Atletico Madrid
Virgil van Dijk – Liverpool
Rafinha – Barcelona
Ross Barkley – Everton
William Carvalho – Sporting CP
Arda Turan – Barcelona
Andrija Zivkovic – Benfica
Tristan Nydam – Ipswich
Philippe Coutinho – Liverpool
Jorginho – Napoli
Kieran Tierney – Celtic
Moussa Dembele – Celtic
Nikola Maksimovic – Napoli
Riyad Mahrez – Leicester
Hirving Lozano – PSV
Marc-Andre ter Stegen – Barcelona
Jose Arnaiz – Barcelona B
Marco Reus – Dortmund
Luan – Gremio
Berkay Ozcan – Stuttgart
Alan Guimaraes – Palmeiras
Yuri Alberto – Santos
Andre Silva – AC Milan
Arturo Vidal – Bayern Munich
Lenny Pintor – Stade Brest 39
Lautaro Martinez – Velez
Ruben Vinagre – Monaco
Amine Harit – Schalke
David Brooks – Sheffield United
Alvaro Odriozola – Real Sociedad
Kerem Demirbay – Hoffenheim
Wilfried Zaha – Crystal Palace
Abel Ruiz – Barcelona B
Miguel Almira – Atlanta United
Dean Henderson – Manchester United
Reece Oxford – West Ham
Sander Berge – Genk
Dani Ceballos – Real Madrid
Batista Mendy – Nantes
Fabian Ruiz – Real Betis
Cristiano Piccini – Sporting CP
Danilo Pereira – Porto
Amine Gouiri – Lyon
Yusuf Yazici – Trabzonspor
Ademola Lookman – Everton
Abdulkadir Omur – Trabzonspor
Godfred Donsah – Bologna
Aleix Vidal – Barcelona
Iker San Vicente – Osasuna
Luke Shaw – Manchester United
Marcus Tavernier – Middlesbrough
Marouane Fellaini – Manchester United
Joao Carvalho – Wolves
Gorka Guruzeta – Athletic Bilbao
Emmanuel Gyamfi
Ibrahim Sulley
Emil Forsberg – RB Leipzig
Yacine Brahimi – Porto
Steven N’Zonzi – Sevilla
Morgan Gibbs-White
Ducan Bobby – Liverpool
Pontus Dahlberg
Adrian Semper – Dinamo Zagreb
Kevin Strootman – Roma
Keylor Navas – Real Madrid
Dayot Upamecano – RB Leipzig
Filip Benkovic – Dinamo Zagreb
Callum O’Hare – Aston Villa
Max Meyer – Schalke
Stefan De Vrij – Lazio
Yannick Carrasco – Atletico Madrid
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Manchester United
Mehdi Benatia – Juventus
Dennis Jastrzembski – Hertha Berlin
Leon Bailey – Bayer Leverkusen
Abdou Diallo – Mainz
James Tarkowski – Burnley
Houssem Aouar – Lyon
Vincent Kompany – Manchester City
David Luiz – Chelsea
Nadiem Amiri – Hoffenheim
Ohis Felix Uduokhai – Wolfsburg
Maxi Romero – PSV
Samu Castillejo – Villareal
Silvan Widmer – Udinese
Segrio Romero – Manchester United
Goncalo Guedes – PSG
Marquinhos Cipriano – Sao Paulo
Timo Werner – RB Leipzig

From that list, you can see that only two players went on to join Arsenal – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

What is even more notable is how many of the players Arsenal signed in 2018 who didn’t make it on to that list at all.

These include:

  • Lucas Torreira
  • Bernd Leno
  • Sokratis
  • Matteo Guendouzi
  • Stephan Lichtsteiner

Of course, Arsenal have been linked with far more than 151 players, that’s just the number after we stopped recording them.