Wenger is not a fan of the January transfer window but that has not stopped him making some shocking winter signings during his 21 years at Arsenal. 

With the window opening in a week’s time, Express Sport has showcased the Frenchman’s 11 worst January purchases. 

Here is the list in all its glory in reverse order. 

11. Andrey Arshavin

Arshavin just creeps onto the list in last place because he wasn’t terrible for the Gunners. Who can forget the four goals at Anfield or the winner against Barcelona? 

But he came as a then club-record signing from Zenit St Petersburg in 2009 and failed to live up to his billing. Wenger persisted to stick him on the left wing and eventually his Gunners career petered out, re-joining Zenit on-loan in 2012 before a permanent return a year later. 

10. Sol Campbell

Campbell is the only Invincible on this list and will go down as a true Arsenal legend. But it was his second time at the club which has earned him a place in this unwanted 11. 

With Arsenal in the middle of a defensive crisis in 2011, Wenger chose not to dip into the transfer market and instead re-signed 35-year-old Campbell until the end of the season. He became a regular in the side and alongside Mikael Silvestre formed a, ahem, formidable partnership.

9. Mohamed Elneny

Elneny is the only current Arsenal player who makes the cut, signing from Basel in early 2016 for just £5million. He has never been a regular in the Premier League starting XI and I’m not even sure he knows what his role is when he plays. 

The Egyptian doesn’t provide goals and is hardly a barrier in front of the defence. He hasn’t featured in the league this season since October. 

8. Thomas Eisfeld

When Eisfeld joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in 2012 for a fee of less than half a million, Wenger described him as having “the attitude and technical ability to be a valuable addition to the squad.”

Two appearances and two-and-half years later, the German was sitting on the bench for Fulham in the Championship. One of his Gunners appearances was as a substitute in the memorable 7-5 League Cup win at Reading.

7. Mart Poom

The goalkeeper initially signed on loan in August 2005 but the move was made permanent the following January. He didn’t make a single appearance that season but still collected a Champions League runners up medal for being part of the 25-man squad for the competition.

Poom made his debut in a League Cup clash against Everton the following October and didn’t play again until the final day of the season. He joined Watford in the summer to end the strangest period in the Estonian’s 15-year career in England.

6. Guillaume Warmuz

Another goalkeeper and another strange signing. After a 10-year career with Lens, making 351 league appearances, Warmuz signed for Arsenal in January 2003 until the end of the season.

The Frenchman failed to make a single appearance and left when his contract expired, replacing Jens Lehmann at Borussia Dortmund who moved in the opposite direction. That was one move that did work out quite well...

5. Samuel Galindo 

Attacking midfielder Galindo was not a household name by any means. A promising 17-year-old from Bolivia arrived in early 2010 and made his full international debut in the same year.

But after seven loans away from Arsenal, many of which were unsuccessful, he was let go in 2015 after failing to make it into a first-team squad. Galindo, 25, now plays for Bolivian side The Strongest and his only other international appearance came in 2011. 

4. Kaba Diawara

Signed for £2.5million in 1999, which was quite a lot by Wenger’s standards, Diawara was a striker who just couldn’t do what strikers are meant to do; score goals. 

He made fifteen appearances that season without hitting the back of the net and Arsenal somehow made a profit on him in the summer, with Marseille stumping up £3million. He had two further spells in England on loan at Blackburn and West Ham, with his only goal coming in a League Cup tie for Rovers in 2000.

3. Wellington Silva

When your club signs a 17-year-old Brazilian, fans hope he will turn out to be the next best thing. But Gooners never got to see Wellington, as he failed to gain a work permit for several years and went out on loan to Spain on five separate occasions. 

When he was finally eligible to play in England, Arsenal shipped him out on loan again, this time to Bolton in 2015 who were relegated to League One that season. He never got near an Arsenal match day squad and is now back playing in Brazil. 

2. Ryo Miyaichi

Japanese winger Ryo was relatively unknown when he signed in January 2011 but a successful loan spell at Feyenoord for the rest of the season showed Arsenal fans what he was capable. He had pace as quick as Theo Walcott and an eye for goal to boot. 

He even had a spell out on loan in the Premier League with Bolton in 2012, who seem to like second-rate Arsenal wingers, and he impressed under Owen Coyle. But a loan to Wigan was less fruitful and he was sent back to Holland for spells with FC Twente and Jong Twente before having his Arsenal contract terminated in the summer of 2015.

Seven appearances for Arsenal, just one in the Premier League, meant a whole load of potential went unfulfilled. He now plays for FC St. Pauli in the second tier of German football and hasn’t played at all this season. 

1. Kim Kallstrom 

In at No 1 is Swedish midfielder Kallstrom, signed on loan from Spartak Moscow in January 2014. Arsenal had a shortage of players in the middle of the park due to a mini injury crisis and fans were praying Wenger came up with the goods on deadline day.

His answer was Kallstrom, who fans later found out had a BROKEN BACK when he signed and could not make his Gunners debut until March 25. Arsenal knew about the fractured vertebrae after it was picked up during his medical but Wenger still sanctioned the deal.

He made just four appearances before returning to Russia at the end of the season, one of which was as an extra-time substitute in the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan, where he scored a penalty in the shootout win. 

Definitely not one of Arsene Wenger’s finest pieces of business.