Arsene Wenger made things official before the 2015-2016 season finale that the Gunners would be losing 3 influential players, as Arsenal.com reported,
“Mikel Arteta is the captain of the club and has been a great leader,” said Wenger. “Tomas Rosicky has been with us for 10 years and I think everybody loves him as well. Mathieu Flamini has been an extremely strong leader on the pitch and off the pitch. We lose three big personalities.
Arteta was limited to only 14 appearances due to injuries this campaign while Flamini was a part of 24 games and banged in both goals when the Gunners knocked Spurs out of the Capital One Cup so he left his mark in his final season. Unfortunately, that is not something we can say about Tomas Rosicky whose influence on Arsenal’s game in 2015-16 was sadly confined to just one substitute appearance against Burnley in the FA Cup as the popular midfielder’s season was ravaged by injury.
All three will end their collaboration with Arsenal on the 1st of July so let’s take a look at how they influenced the club and what their options are in terms of future engagements.
Tomas Rosicky (35) – he will be remembered as one of the most talented players Arsenal ever had. Sadly his talent was so often frustratingly kept on the treatment table as the Czech Republic international suffered through a string of serious injuries in many seasons. He scored some truly special goals and when he first arrived was one of the first names on the team sheet for a number of seasons. Rosicky played 246 games for the Gunners, scored 28 goals and provided 22 assists. The popularity of the man showed when most of the players wore Rosicky shirts following the 4-0 win over Aston Villa on the weekend as the former Czech national team captain is retiring.
Mikel Arteta (34) – currently Arsenal’s captain, Arteta is a class act and really fitted in once he came to Arsenal from Everton and recently honestly admitted he was no longer good enough to carry on playing for the Gunners. The Spaniard signed with the Gunners in 2011 and since then he made 150 appearances in which he scored 16 goals and provided 10 assists. As much as we would have loved seeing a bit more of Arteta this season, the newcomers look to be up to the task of replacing him. Coquelin and Elneny have the right abilities to fill in the gap left by Arteta on the pitch. The bad news is that picking a new captain will be difficult. Whether Arteta plays on remains to be seen but he was very emotional at the conclusion of the Villa game as he said goodbye to the Arsenal faithful.
Mathieu Flamini (32) – even though he could still play for 2-3 more years, Flamini recently revealed that he is keen on dedicating the next couple of years of his life to a very successfully business which involves Biochemicals. His research finally came up with promising results earlier this year so football might be left aside. Flamini’s career at the Emirates came in 2 spells with a time at AC Milan in the middle, but there’s no doubt he helped the team whenever he had the chance. The Frenchman played 246 games for Arsenal in which he scored 13 times and provided 10 assists.
All three men will be missed and it remains to be seen how they will be replaced in the first team squad either from within the club or by new signings. Losing all that midfield experience in one off-season will need to be addressed you would think?