As the end of the season draws closer, upon early reflection it's safe to say the eight permanent signings Arsenal have made over the course of both transfer windows have played their part one way or another.
Whether it's Gabriel Jesus, Jorginho and Oleksandr Zinchenko raising the standard to leave Mikel Arteta's side with a chance of being crowned Premier League champions, Leandro Trossard proving to be a useful squad addition or Jakub Kiwior eventually stepping in for the injured William Saliba, overall the Gunners' business is looking rather impressive.
But as the quintet arrived at the Emirates Stadium along with Matt Turner, Marquinhos and Fabio Vieira, many others - including the 29-man strong loan army - moved on to pastures new as the north London outfit were able to recoup around £19m in player sales as Arteta and sporting director Edu continued the overhaul of the first-team squad.
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Of the 17 players to leave Arsenal permanently at some point this season, 11 have been academy products who had never made a senior appearance for the club. Defender Jonathan Dinzeyi remains without a club following his release, goalkeeper Remy Mitchell has featured for Swansea Under-21s and Luigi Gaspar, son of Edu, is now with Watford.
Jordi Osei-Tutu has been a regular for VFL Bochum in the Bundesliga, James Olayinka and Zak Swanson have featured for Cheltenham and Portsmouth respectively, injuries have disrupted Daniel Ballard's time at Sunderland and Harry Clarke has helped Ipswich Town seal promotion to the Championship.
Joel Lopez returned to Spain to join third-tier side Cultural Leonesa and has made 22 appearances. Jordan McEneff celebrated winning the Irish Cup with Derry City in late 2022 as he scored a penalty in a 4-0 win over Shelbourne - whom he spent time with on loan earlier in the year.
Despite initial fears that the Gunners could be made to regret Omari Hutchinson's departure. The wonderkid has suffered from Chelsea splashing the cash in January to sign Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke as he seems even further away from a first-team breakthrough.
Below, is how the six senior players that left Arsenal permanently this season have fared.
Alexandre Lacazette
The Frenchman's five-year stay at Arsenal came to an end in the summer as he re-joined Lyon on a free transfer and is enjoying a career renaissance. He netted four goals in an incredible comeback win over Montpellier at the weekend, taking him to 24 in Ligue 1 overall.
Whilst six of those strikes have come via the penalty spot, it can't be argued that Alexandre Lacazette has certainly rediscovered his scoring touch and he is battling Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe for the Golden Boot award. Quite a transformation for the former Gunners striker.
Konstantinos Mavropanos
It was no surprise to see Konstantinos Mavropanos seal a permanent transfer to Stuttgart last summer following an impressive loan spell in the 2021/22 season which earned Arsenal a £2.5m windfall.
He has featured in 26 Bundesliga games, scoring twice and claiming an assist in a credible 2-2 draw away at reigning champions Bayern Munich before the World Cup. However, his side are once again embroiled in a relegation battle as with three games remaining they are two points from safety.
Matteo Guendouzi
Matteo Guendouzi does seem to have matured having captained Marseille at times this season and his form over the past couple of years was recognised with a call-up to the France World Cup squad, so leaving Arsenal on a permanent basis has worked out well for all parties.
However, the decision from the Gunners to let him leave for £9m was vindicated during Marseille's Champions League decider against Tottenham earlier in the month as he was largely ineffective when he had the ball at his feet and cheaply conceded possession which led to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scoring the winner that ultimately cost the Ligue 1 side a place in Europe after Christmas.
Having said, that Guendouzi could be back in English football in the near future. Previously tipped for a reunion with Unai Emery at Aston Villa, fresh reports claim he is on the radar of West Ham United as a potential Declan Rice replacement. In the case of any transfer, Arsenal will pocket a percentage of the transfer fee as according to The Athletic, they inserted a sell-on clause upon his departure.
Bernd Leno
Having lost his place to Aaron Ramsdale after three Premier League games last season, it was always likely that Bernd Leno would leave in the summer and he joined Fulham in a deal, as per Sky Sports, that saw Arsenal receive £3m up front and with a further £5m on the way if certain bonuses are met.
One of those bonuses has been met already with the west London outfit avoiding relegation from the Premier League which in turn saw his former club bank £2m.
To the goalkeeper's credit, he has been decent for the Cottagers and he's getting the game time he wanted. But he did anger some Gunners supporters for failing to save Erling Haaland's penalty in the last minute against Manchester City and the move across London failed to earn him a place in the Germany World Cup squad.
Lucas Torreira
It's been reported that Arsenal recouped around £5m from Galatasaray for Lucas Torreira in the summer which is a significant loss considering they paid a fee in the region of £27m to sign the defensive midfielder after the 2018 World Cup where he impressed for Uruguay.
Speaking about the move, as per Football Italia, the 27-year-old said: "I chose Turkey because I had to play with consistency to go to the World Cup. The project convinced me, for a player like me it is very important to play consistently. In the summer there was a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. I had many options, I wanted to stay in Italy after my great season at Fiorentina. But as we all know, in football everything can change at any time."
A regular in the Galatasaray team this season, the transfer has worked in Torreira's favour as he was named in the Uruguay squad at the World Cup, although he didn't make a single appearance in Qatar as his nation crashed out at the group stage.
Hector Bellerin
Hector Bellerin was the final Arsenal first-team departure during the summer transfer window after agreeing to terminate his contract before sealing a return to Barcelona on deadline day. His debut vs Cadiz went smoothly as he claimed a 'pre-assist' for Robert Lewandowski and kept a clean sheet.
However, things have taken a turn for the worst ever since as a muscle injury kept him sidelined for a few weeks, upon his return to action, he was humiliated by former Liverpool star Sadio Mane en route to Barcelona being eliminated from the Champions League at the group phase and sealed a move to Sporting CP in January but missed out on a reunion against the Gunners in the Europa League because of injury.
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