When the summer transfer window concluded at the beginning of last September, Arsenal were commended for the sheer amount of work they had done during Andrea Berta’s first market at the helm.
They had ticked the necessary box of signing a centre forward in the shape of Viktor Gyokeres. They had added a right winger to play second fiddle in the form of Noni Madueke and had added a maverick playmaker in Eberechi Eze.
Thomas Partey and Jorginho had been replaced by an elite midfielder in Martin Zubimendi while there was even time to improve the defence with Cristian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie arriving.
However, with the club’s title challenge rather going up in smoke right now, much of that recruitment last summer is being called into question.
Despite being the Gunners’ top scorer, Gyokeres did not even start their biggest game of the season last weekend against Manchester City. Zubimendi looks dead on his feet and Madueke has not proven to be an adequate addition on the flanks.
Of all of those arrivals, the latter certainly looks like one of, if not the worst of the lot.
Why Madueke has become a problem for Arsenal
Last summer, Arsenal simply had to bolster their forward line and although a left winger looked like a priority, they ultimately ended up handing a pay rise to Leandro Trossard to keep him at the club.
Whatever you make of that, it’s a story for another day. On the right, they signed Madueke from Chelsea for a whopping £52m.
Now, on paper, Arsenal needed more cover for Saka. Last season he spent a lengthy period of time on the treatment table with a nasty hamstring injury. That meant Ethan Nwaneri at the tender age of 17 had to pick up the pieces.
The Hale Ender dazzled and starred en route to scoring nine goals across all competitions. He was being hailed as the best thing since sliced bread. However, then the summer transfer window happened.
Arsenal viewed and perhaps still view Nwaneri as an attacking midfielder and with that in mind, they moved to acquire back up for Saka.
Online protests occurred when rumours of Madueke’s move first materialised. Not another ex-Chelsea player they cried. Yet, in the opening months of his Emirates Stadium career, he looked like a handy addition.
At one stage, former England defender Paul Parker remarked that Madueke had actually been “better than Saka”. Perhaps a stretch too far but the winger’s ability to manipulate the ball and burst past a player was seriously eye-catching.
Then, however, came the lack of end product. With Arsenal’s hopes of winning the Premier League falling by the wayside, the summer arrival’s productivity has been called into question.
Saka has not played since the Carabao Cup final, meaning Madueke has had a chance to impress but he has been way off the pace, notably hooked at half-time against City on Sunday after failing to have a shot, make a key pass or complete a cross.
It sums up his recent performances. Indeed, the England international has not scored a goal since the win over Mansfield in the FA Cup at the beginning of March. He is now without a goal involvement in nine straight games. His last Premier League strike came all the way back on the 12th February during the 1-1 draw with Brentford.
Arsenal need a drastic improvement from Madueke, but he’s not the only wide player whose future at the club will be called into question this summer.
Arsenal’s original Saka is unlikely to ever play for Arsenal again
To put it bluntly, Arsenal’s wide players have delivered some truly unacceptable numbers this season. You can include Saka in that too.
Trossard is without a goal in his last 20 matches for the Gunners while Gabriel Martinelli has only scored once in the league throughout the entire season. It rather begs the question: why did Arsenal loan out the aforementioned Nwaneri? Quite.
Yet, long before the days of Nwaneri and even before Saka burst onto the scene, there was a certain Reiss Nelson. Remember him? Well, some might say he’d probably be making a bigger impact than Madueke on proceedings right now.
The fact of the matter is he is not. Where is Nelson now? Remarkably, he’s still on Arsenal’s books and his contract does not expire for another year.
Despite that, it would be a huge surprise if we saw him in Arsenal colours ever again. That’s because his loan spell with Brentford has been nothing short of a disaster, even more of a disaster than Madueke’s move to the Emirates.