Vinicius Junior next? Every player Arsenal have signed from Real Madrid RANKED | OneFootball

Arsenal‘s interest in Vinicius Junior shows no sign of going away, and the Brazilian winger would be one of the biggest signings in the club’s history if he arrived.

The Gunners don’t have a particularly extensive history of buying from Real Madrid, but they’ve enjoyed mixed fortunes when they have.

Here’s our ranking of every player Arsenal have signed directly from the Spanish giants.

5. Davor Suker

In absolute terms, Suker should be at least a couple of places higher in this ranking. What a player.

But this is a ranking of Arsenal signings, and unfortunately at Highbury he looked nothing like the player who hoovered up silverware at Real Madrid and tore the 1998 World Cup a new one.

A £3.5million fee wasn’t mega money, but back in 1999 it wasn’t nothing either. He wasn’t an unmitigated disaster – eight goals in 22 Premier League appearances was a respectable enough return – but nor was he a great success.

Suker was unable to fill the boots of Nicolas Anelka, who moved in the opposite direction that summer. Fortunately for Arsenal, Thierry Henry, who arrived the very next day, proved more than capable of doing so.

4. Dani Ceballos (loan)

Ol’ Danny Onions was symptomatic of the early years of Mikel Arteta’s reign.

Good, with lots of promise, but ultimately not good enough. The footballing equivalent of an airport sandwich. Entirely serviceable in the moment, yet instantly forgettable.

It was only after injections of real quality, and moving on from relatively mediocre footballers like Ceballos, that Arteta’s project really took flight.

He felt like your classic Spanish midfielder in that he was technically proficient and able to keep possession ticking along, but just lacked the class of the Premier League imports that left fans purring. Yer Santi Cazorlas, yer Thiago Alcantaras, yer David Silvas and yer Juan Matas.

Ceballos deserves credit for a solid performance in Arsenal’s 2020 FA Cup final victory over Chelsea, but two loans never converted into a permanent deal tells its own story. Five full seasons back at Madrid as a forgettable fringe player sums him up, really.

3. Julio Baptista (loan)

‘La Bestia’ was one of those wonderfully confounding footballers who could look like an elite-level world-beater one moment and your mate from five-a-side who can’t trap a ball to save his life the next – often within the same passage of play.

Lots of fun for any disinterested neutrals, but enough to have Arsenal fans tearing their hair out.

It feels like sacrilege to stick such an obviously limited player above two quality Champions League winners, but football is ultimately about moments and memories. And there was something undeniably alluring about Baptista. Suker and Ceballos didn’t score four goals away at Anfield, did they?

Baptista would’ve sat rock bottom of this list if Arsenal had wasted £20million on his signature. But ultimately it was a low-risk loan that came at little cost.

2. Mesut Ozil

The man who made Arsenal fans dream and yer da moan in equal measure.

For a while, Ozil looked every inch the transformational signing Arsenal had craved. The excitement surrounding his arrival from Real Madrid was unlike anything the Emirates had experienced for years, and at first he actually looked like living up to the hype.

Arsenal pulled off a genuine coup to sign him, and for several years he repaid that faith with a bounty of assists, moments of brilliance and two FA Cup winners’ medals during a period when silverware was otherwise in short supply.

The relationship eventually broke down under Arteta as football left the classic No.10 behind, but for a while there were few players more enjoyable to watch in the Premier League.

1. Martin Odegaard

Captained Arsenal to their first league title in 22 years.

We don’t need any more justification than that, do we?