Since Mikel Arteta became Arsenal manager, there has been less criticism of him.
Crucially, he keeps the Gunners playing at the back of the table. They have finished second in each of the past three seasons and are expected to finally end that curse. They are currently in pole position to win the Premier League.
But while their recruitment as a whole has rightly drawn praise, there have been some notable failures. Arteta is currently getting help from Andrea Berta, but Noni Madouk was arguably his biggest mistake in signing last summer.
He is so far below par that the questions that arose when he first arrived are still relevant.
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Berta has been in charge of recruitment at Arsenal for over a year, but the jury is still out on whether he did a good job last summer. That decision could depend on whether the Gunners can cross the line for the title next weekend.
A ruthless goalscorer has emerged in Victor Gokeres, and while his overall play has been criticized, you can’t criticize his ability in front of goal.
The Gunners have brought in two more forwards in Eberechi Eze, who is starting to come back to life at Arsenal Colorus, and Maduke, who certainly hasn’t come back to life.
When it was first announced that Arsenal had spent £52m on the winger, there was a huge outcry. The concerns were understandable, as Chelsea haven’t been particularly successful in recruiting in recent years.
Well, it’s safe to say that every question that has been raised since its arrival is right to be raised. He simply wasn’t good enough.
Although he is useful given Bukayo Saka’s fitness issues, the England international has struggled to approach the Hale Ender’s output levels.
Maduke has scored just two goals in 25 Premier League games this season. In all competitions, he has made just 7 out of 41 matches. In fact, the wideman has been so poor lately that he hasn’t found the back of the net in the last 13 games.
Perhaps fans are right to ask him to leave immediately this summer, but no matter how bad they think this contract is, that seems unlikely.
That said, it’s not the worst of the Arteta era.
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Madueke was poor, of course, but was he as poor as Fabio Vieira? Certainly not.
Vieira moved to the Emirates Stadium in the summer of 2022 for a fee of £34 million. At the time, he was also compared to Martin Odegaard and Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva.
The diminutive left-footed creator joined from Porto after an excellent season at just 22 years old. In his final year in Portugal, he only scored six goals, but provided a whopping 16 assists.
Well, he never reached the dizzying heights expected of a young attacking midfielder.
Vieira scored a fantastic goal against Brentford to open the 2022/23 season, but that’s as good as it gets for a player who was arguably on a worse contract than Madueke.
The latter has scored seven goals at home, while Vieira has only scored four goals as an Arsenal player. You can bet your mortgage on the fact that he won’t add to that amount.
Fabio Vieira Seasonal | ||
|---|---|---|
season | game | Contribution to goal |
2021/22 (Porto) | 34 | twenty four |
2022/23 (Arsenal) | 33 | 8 |
2023/24 (Arsenal) | 17 | 5 |
2024/25 (Porto – Loan) | 40 | 11 |
2025/26 (Hamburg – Loon) | 31 | 12 |
why? Now, the midfielder has been left out of the team, spending multiple loan spells with Porto last season, scoring five goals and providing five assists before joining German side Hamburg for the 2025-26 season.
To his credit, in the Bundesliga, the 25-year-old has had, in the words of The Athletic’s German football correspondent Seb Stafford-Bloer, “a great season” and has proven to be one of the signings of the campaign.
He finished his time there with seven goals and five assists, but that shouldn’t be enough to salvage his career in north London. Rather, Arsenal should use that to their advantage and secure a hefty fee for his services.
The Gunners have always been particularly bad at selling players, but this was an opportunity to improve on that. There is a chance that Hamburg will sign him on a permanent basis, but if they don’t, there will no doubt be a number of suitors.
Vieira, like Arteta, will regret his time in London. That would be a huge waste of £34m, with little hope of recouping that fee.
He is expected to take the next step immediately without playing for Arsenal again this summer.
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