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:
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.