The 10 players who left Arsenal last summer and how they’re faring with next step | OneFootball

Arsenal are in pole position in the Premier League title race this season, something that any player would want to be a part of, but are any of the players who left them in the summer on course for success too or are they missing out?

It was a busy summer transfer window for Arsenal as they looked to make the modifications needed to go from runners-up in the Premier League to potential champions. In came the likes of Martin Zubimendi, Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze, while out went several players.

But how have those who left been faring for their new clubs? Only focusing on those who made 10 or more competitive appearances for Arsenal, here’s how they’ve been doing.

Jorginho

Arsenal agreed to release Jorginho early so he could join Flamengo in time for the Club World Cup, where the midfielder played four times until his new side were eliminated in the round of 16.

Jorginho ended 2025 as a Brazilian Serie A winner and Copa Libertadores champion as Flamengo displayed their dominance in South America.

With the Brazilian football schedule running across the calendar year, their 2026 campaign has recently got underway. Jorginho has already racked up more than 30 appearances in his Flamengo career and scored five goals.

Kieran Tierney

After seeing out one last season with Arsenal after a loan spell with Real Sociedad, Tierney secured his return to former club Celtic via a pre-contract agreement.

Tierney is already two appearances away from matching the most he played in a season for Arsenal – the 38 he achieved in his second season back in 2020-21.

Regularly starting on the left-hand side, the full-back has also scored three goals, his best return since the penultimate season of his original Celtic spell, and provided nine assists.

But it’s been a turbulent season for the club on the whole and they find themselves in the unfamiliar territory of third in the Scottish Premiership as things stand.

Takehiro Tomiyasu

Due to persistent injury issues, Arsenal terminated Tomiyasu’s contract in July and it took him until December to sign for a new club, Ajax, on a deal for the second half of the 2025-26 season.

The Japan international made his debut for the Dutch giants on February 1 as a substitute for the last 10 minutes of a 2-2 draw with Excelsior.

It was his first action since his final appearance for Arsenal in October 2024.

Thomas Partey

Arsenal released Partey at the end of his contract after five years with the club. Villarreal took the former Atletico Madrid midfielder back to LaLiga, acknowledging the fact that he had been charged with five counts of rape and one of sexual assault but vowing to ‘await the outcome of the judicial process’. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and faces a trial later this year.

The 32-year-old made his Villarreal debut as a late substitute on the opening day of the new LaLiga season. From that and 20 appearances since, he has no goals or assists.

Completing 90 minutes three times so far in the league, Partey has also featured in the Champions League, including back in north London as a substitute against Tottenham, but Villarreal were eliminated after the end of the league phase without a win to their name.

“I think there’s a world of difference between the Thomas we knew at Arsenal and this one,” Villarreal boss Marcelino said towards the end of January. “A world of difference.”

Nuno Tavares

After spending last season on loan at Lazio and playing 30 times – twice more than he ever did for the Gunners – Tavares signed a permanent contract with the Serie A side.

However, all eight of his assists in Serie A last season came before November 2024, after which injury issues interrupted his progress.

With that in mind, Lazio have recently been looking at the prospect of offloading Tavares, who hasn’t made any assists from 11 league appearances since his permanent move and has largely seen Luca Pellegrini preferred to him at left-back recently.

Arsenal will be keeping an eye on the situation, since they have a significant sell-on clause for Tavares.

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Albert Sambi Lokonga

Arsenal finally found a buyer for Sambi Lokonga in the shape of Hamburg, who took him to the Bundesliga after his experience on loan in LaLiga with Sevilla.

Hamburg are already the club Sambi Lokonga has scored the most goals for in his career, as he’s notched four in 16 games so far.

The midfielder has started 13 of those Bundesliga appearances, but didn’t play any part in Hamburg’s German Cup campaign, which ended at the round of 16.

Oleksandr Zinchenko

Having fallen down the pecking order at the Emirates Stadium, Zinchenko secured a last-ditch escape on loan to Nottingham Forest on deadline day.

However, the left-back’s time at the City Ground didn’t go to plan. His loan was terminated in February to facilitate a permanent transfer to Ajax, where he recently made his debut as a substitute.

Zinchenko made 10 appearances in total for Forest, which could have been more if it wasn’t for a couple of injuries. He never managed to get a goal or assist during his loan spell.

Jakub Kiwior

Kiwior featured in fewer than half of Arsenal’s Premier League games last season, so was allowed to join Porto on loan with an obligation to buy after the addition of Piero Hincapie pushed him further down the pecking order.

His debut in the Primeira Liga in mid-September against Nacional was the start of a streak of 15 consecutive league appearances lasting the full 90 minutes, which only recently ended when he was benched for their first game of February.

Most of Kiwior’s appearances have been at centre-back, but he has played at left-back a few times more recently. Ex-Chelsea defender Thiago Silva joined Porto in December, which has added competition at centre-back.

But Kiwior has posted some positive metrics, such as only being dribbled past twice in the league all season, and will be hoping his recent step away from starting duties is only brief, with Porto having reason to believe the buying clause for the Poland international was very much worthwhile.

Fabio Vieira

Vieira made the same move as Sambi Lokonga by joining Hamburg, but in his case, the agreement was for a season-long loan.

It was regarded as a major coup for the Bundesliga newcomers, who have since used him either as a central midfielder or right winger.

Vieira has two goals – including one against Bayern Munich – and four assists to his name from 15 league games, 12 of which have been starts.

He had a bumpy start, though, being sent off twice within his first five league appearances.

Reiss Nelson

A loan spell last season with Fulham didn’t give Nelson what he needed, so he would have been hoping for better fortunes when staying in west London for his next loan with Brentford.

But Nelson is yet to start a league game for Brentford after having a bout of illness in September and suffering a knock in December.

The winger has found a bit more space away from the league, starting one game apiece in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup. In the latter, he got a goal and assist against Grimsby Town in the fourth round in October.