An update on former and on loan Arsenal players

It’s the January transfer window and that means rumors about players coming and going. The Gunners have seen a number of first team members move on during recent windows. With that in mind, it’s worth taking a look at how these former and on loan players are doing.

Danny Welbeck

After five injury plagued seasons in North London Welbeck signed for Premier League club Watford last August. Unfortunately, he suffered a torn hamstring in October during a 1-1 draw at Tottenham.

Thus far Welbeck has featured in five matches and has played a total of just 210 minutes. He recently returned to light training.

Carl Jenkinson

Jenkinson signed for his boyhood club Arsenal in 2011. Despite loan spells with West Ham and Birmingham City, the defender never got much playing time in North London.

Jenkinson moved on last summer when he signed a three-year deal with Championship club Nottingham Forest. Like Welbeck, Jenkinson has seen limited playing time with his new club due to injury. He has appeared in four games with a total of 264 minutes of playing time. Jenkinson is close to a return to action.

Alex Iwobi

Alex Iwobi was sold to Everton to help fund the Nicolas Pepe buy. Iwobi has featured 20 times for the Toffees and contributed two goals and one assist so far.

The Nigerian suffered a hamstring injury during Everton’s goalless draw with the Gunners last month at Goodison Park. He is expected back soon.

It’s been reported that Carlo Ancelotti is planning a squad overhaul. However, Iwobi appears to be in the new Everton manager’s plans.

David Ospina

Following the arrival of Bernd Leno in 2018, Ospina agreed to a one year loan deal with Napoli following an injury to the Italian side’s keeper Alex Meret. Ospina permanently signed for Napoli this past summer. The Colombian eventually lost the number one spot to Meret.

Ospina made 38 appearances last season, but just six so far this campaign. His recent blunder won’t help him.

Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

Nacho Monreal

In a move that still looks questionable, the Gunners sold left back Monreal to Real Sociedad before the close of last summer’s transfer window. Kieran Tierney was expected to see a bulk of the playing time and Monreal was deemed surplus to requirements. Unfortunately, Tierney has played a total of 63 minutes due to injuries that will keep him out until the spring.

Monreal plays regularly for the La Liga side and even scored on his debut versus Atletico Madrid in September.

Aaron Ramsey

Oh how Arsenal fans wish that Ramsey was still a part of the Gunners’ midfield. Instead the Welshman moved on to Serie A giants Juventus. He made his league debut for the Italian league leaders in a 2-1 victory over Verona on September 21^st. Ramsey immediately endeared himself to supporters by scoring his first goal for his new club in this match.

Ramsey has made 16 appearances and contributed 4 goals thus far for his new team.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Last September Mkhitaryan joined Roma on a season-long loan deal. He scored in his first appearance for the Italian side. Since then, however, the Armenian has struggled with injuries. This has limited him to just ten appearances in all competitions.

Mkhitaryan has one year left on his deal with Arsenal and Roma recently offered £8.5m for the player on a permanent deal. Arsenal turned it down. The speculation is that the Gunners are holding out for a better offer for Mkhitaryan.

Mohamed Elneny

Elneny was loaned out to Turkish side Besitkas last August. His deal includes an optional buyout clause. He has featured regularly for the Super Lig side with 17 appearances in all competitions.

Current rumors are linking the Egyptian with a move to AC Milan.

Laurent Koscielny

Koscielny’s contentious split from the Gunners caught many by surprise. After nine years with Arsenal, the team captain refused to travel to the USA with his teammates for a preseason tour. He then pushed the club for a move back to his native France. On August 6, 2019, Koscielny signed for Ligue 1 side Bordeaux. The deal was believed to be worth £4,600,000.

Koscielny has started 18 of Bordeaux’s Ligue 1 games this season and has made 21 appearances overall.

Jack Wilshere

Wilshere has to be one of the unluckiest footballers ever. After ten injury plagued years with Arsenal, he was allowed to leave in the summer of 2018. He signed for London rivals West Ham United on a three-year contract. He made his debut for the Hammers at Anfield in a 4–0 defeat to Liverpool.

An ankle injury, followed by surgery, limited Wilshere to just eight total appearances last season. It’s a new season and Wilshere sustained another setback. He’s been out since October with a groin injury and fans are starting to question his ability to stay on the pitch. Arsenal fans can relate to this as Wilshere’s injury list is as long as a novel.

Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images

Theo Walcott

Walcott signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Everton in January 2018. He contributed an assist in his club debut and scored a brace in his second match against Leicester.

In total, Walcott has scored nine goals in 72 appearances for the Toffees.

According to ESPN commentator and former player, Steve Nicol, Carlo Ancelotti may need to get rid of up to eight players if he wants to turn things around at Everton. Walcott was one of those mentioned as possibly on the way out.

Olivier Giroud

In another move that just didn’t seem right, Olivier Giroud was allowed to leave Arsenal in January 2018 to sign for Chelsea. Things went well for the Frenchman in the beginning. He made 18 appearances from January-May and scored six goals.

Last season he featured in 45 matches contributing 13 goals along with 10 assists.

Since Frank Lampard has taken over, Giroud has been on the outside looking in. He has only played seven times for the Blues and is looking elsewhere for more opportunity with Euro 2020 coming up. The latest transfer rumors according to Sky Italia is that Giroud is wanted by Inter Milan.

Santi Cazorla

Cazorla is one of the most popular players to ever wear the red and white. Sadly, his Arsenal career ended while the Spaniard was suffering the effects of a long-term injury. In 2016 he suffered a career-threatening injury to his Achilles tendon. Surgery was required and in total Cazorla went under the knife ten times. This led to the wound not healing correctly and becoming infected.

With his contract ending at the end of the 2017–18 season and Arsene Wenger moving on, it was announced that Cazorla would also be leaving Arsenal.

He was determined to play again and spent some time training with the youth side at Alaves. He then joined up with his former club Villareal to train and regain his fitness.

He played for the first time in 636 days when he came on as a substitute in a friendly match against Hércules. He was officially signed by Villareal in August 2018.

Miraculously, Cazorla played in 46 matches last season and scored seven goals. His performances for Villareal led to him being recalled by the Spanish national team. He played for Spain against the Faro Islands in June 2019. It was his first game for Spain since November 2015; a gap of 1302 days.

Cazorla has scored 7 goals so far this season in 18 appearances.