5 of the worst transfer campaigns in the Premier League era

#3 Arsenal (2011-12)

Arteta's signing was one of the few successes Arsenal had that season

Nobody except Arsene Wenger can explain the madness that came over the Gunners in the transfer market that season. The entire summer was dominated by the “will he, wont-he” transfer speculation surrounding then captain Cesc Fabregas.

The Spaniard did eventually move back to hometown club FC Barcelona for £30m. French enfant terrible Samir Nasri also left for Manchester City that season in a £25m deal.

All through the summer, fans were understandably upset about the lack of movement in the transfer window. When the league kicked off on August, only right-back Carl Jenkinson (£1m from Charlton Athletic) and winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£12m from Southampton) had been signed.

True to form, Wenger refused to panic and insisted on his satisfaction with the quality of the squad he had. Arsenal drew against Newcastle and lost 0-2 to Liverpool at the Emirates in the first 2 games.

The 8-2 mauling at Old Trafford at the hands of a rampant Manchester United forced Wenger’s hand and he dashed to the market in an attempt to rescue the Gunners’ season. Gervinho, Park Chu-Yung, Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos were brought in with predictably mixed results.

To show the utter stupidity of the “net spend” argument (the exclusive domain of Premier League fanboys on Twitter), Arsenal brought in about 11 players for £51.2m and sold players for £75m.

The Gunners went on to finish in 3rd place that season, one point above North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. However, at no point did the side look like title challengers.