#3 Carlos Vela – moved to Real Sociedad in the summer of 2012
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4 years on Carlos Vela still brings a nostalgic memory to some of the Arsenal fans. A quick-footed winger who caught the eye of Arsene Wenger in the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championships. Such was the performance of the youngster in that tournament that a host of clubs lined up to avail his services at the time.
And the youngster chose to sign with Arsenal, given the club's track record of developing youngsters. However, Vela never did manage to settle into the London side and as a result was forced to go on loan to various other clubs in order to continue his progress. Issues of work-permit did hinder his appearances in the Premier League as well.
2008 though was the year when the Mexican donned Arsenal colours for the first time in the Premier League and over the course of the season made 29 appearances across all competitions. However, his tally of 6 goals and 3 assists were not good enough to put him in contention for the senior team at the time.
After a couple of another frustrating seasons, Vela finally moved to Real Sociedad where he has been well received by the fans. Since his first game for the club, the Mexican has made a total of 208 appearances for the club across all competitions. In that time period, he has contributed by scoring 66 goals and 39 assists.
This season itself he has already scored 4 and created 4 more in 14 appearances. In fact, his excellent form has resulted in the player being awarded two man-of-the-matches in his past 5 appearances which also has an average rating of 7.67.
