With Sead Kolašinac performing so well after joining the Gunners for free over the summer, we’re looking at the best and worst of some of Arsène Wenger’s other free transfers.

Kolašinac has three goals and three assists for Arsenal so far, for a total of six goal contributions in 11 appearances. At this stage it looks like he could be a rare success story for the free agents Wenger has brought in, but there’s at least one free signing that Sead has a way to go to match:

Sol Campbell

There’s no contest for me right now when ranking the best free transfers in Wenger’s history with the Gunners.

Sol Campbell won the Premier League twice (once as an invincible), the FA Cup three times (although he didn’t play the final in 2003) and best of all: He joined from Tottenham.

It’s hard to get much better than that for a centre-back that didn’t cost you a penny.

Of course, Sol was surrounded by some of the best players Arsenal have had in recent times, but he helped lay the foundations for the attacking players to go forward and impress.

Marouane Chamakh

Chamakh provides a tale of caution for those getting too excited about Kolašinac, as he started impressively before completely going off the boil. Many people have probably forgotten by now, but after joining Arsenal for free, Marouane had 10 goals and six assists by the end of November.

It was an incredible start, and one which wasn’t reflected in the remainder of his career with the Gunners.

He managed one goal and two assists from the start of December until the end of the season, and only scored one league goal in the following two campaigns, before leaving the same way he arrived, on a free transfer.

Yaya Sanogo

When Sanogo arrived in North London, there was a fair bit of excitement about the youth prospect.

In 62 games for France’s youth teams, Yaya scored 39 goals, and Wenger seemed like the perfect man to help him push the striker’s game to the next level.

However, four years and one competitive goal later, Sanogo’s struggles with injury left him with only 20 appearances under his belt.

He was another who ended up leaving on a free, joining Toulouse.

The 24-year-old scored on his first start with his new club, so hopefully better times are ahead and his new manager believes he can go on to be one of the best forwards of his generation.

Mathieu Flamini

When Flamini moved to the Gunners first time around, he was a free agent, but as he was only 20 years old, Arsenal still had to pay Marseille compensation.

Nonetheless, this didn’t stop coach Jose Anigo from losing it with the Frenchman, saying (via BBC Sport): “He’s a traitor – this is a beautiful treason. He used me and cheated me. He didn’t sign for us only because of the money.

“His argument that he wanted a first-team slot doesn’t hold up, unless of course he plans to keep (Patrick) Vieira out of the Arsenal team.”

Unfortunately for Anigo, Flamini did end up playing plenty of games for the Arsenal first team, appearing 153 times in four seasons during his first spell.

Then his contract expired, and he left for AC Milan, before rejoining Arsenal again on another free transfer.

Mathieu wasn’t the most popular figure second time around, but did have one particularly memorable night at White Hart Lane, scoring a brace to knock Spurs out of the competition.

Eventually, he too left on a free, for Crystal Palace.