Ten years ago this month, Arsene Wenger had built a free-flowing Arsenal team that were top of the Premier League. Mesut Ozil was flourishing, Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertersacker were both rocks in defence whilst Aaron Ramsey was having the season of his life.
However, an injury on Boxing Day 2013 to the Welshman, sidelining him for three months, left Arsenal in a hole and needing reinforcements in January to compete with challenges from Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Arsenal left it until deadline day in the summer of 2013 to pull off the record signing of Ozil which appeased fans, but most knew they needed more to have any chance of silverware.
Come January, Diego Costa, Mario Mandzukic and Fernando Llorente were all linked to the club to help lift the load off Olivier Giroud. Julian Draxler was an answer to their midfield injury crisis and a long-term target from Schalke.
But what ended up happening still baffles supporters to this day…
Embed from Getty ImagesSwedish veteran Kim Kallstrom, 31, signed on loan from Spartak Moscow, a midfielder who’d played at four international tournaments and made over 200 appearances for Lyon. Not bad?
However, Kallstrom signed with an injury which, in his own words was sustained, “training on a beach and I fell on a small rock.”
Wenger was asked about this days later and revealed: “It was 5pm on deadline day, so it was either have no one or Kallstrom.”
Arsenal had a nine-year trophy drought hanging over them and pressure from fans to deliver a new star they desperately needed. All things considered, this was a disastrous move for the club.
Arsenal were exceeding expectations challenging for the title that season with a squad so thin that Mathieu Flamini played 36 games after joining on a free transfer. Then in attack, Theo Walcott battled injuries, Lukas Podolski was struggling for consistency and Yaya Sanogo could not score as much as he tried.
The opportunity was there, 10 years on from going undefeated for an entire season, one of the greatest achievements in English football. Arsenal could restore glory to North London if they just backed the manager in the transfer market. Unfortunately this was just one of many seasons the Gunners neglected the windows and paid for it during the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesBy the time Kallstrom made his debut, one of four appearances where only one was as a starter, Arsenal were fourth after losing three in seven including humiliating 5-1 and 6-0 defeats away to rivals Liverpool and Chelsea.
Sure, there are other reasons why Wenger’s team once again fell away in a title race but that January window and unfortunately, the Kallstrom deal, is a key factor in that.
The Gunners had a prime opportunity to win their first Premier League title since 2004 and adding valuable reinforcements to the squad in January would have set them on the way to doing that. Yet Kallstrom’s arrival proved to be an unnecessary one that continued the turn of fans against the club that followed for years to come.
The Swede did have one bright moment in red and white, when he scored in their FA Cup semi-final shoot-out win over Wigan on their way to ending the trophy drought, as Ramsey returned to be the hero against Hull City in the final.
But that season will forever be remembered by Arsenal fans as one where title hopes and dreams of the ‘big one’ were thrown away by a poor January window. Ten years later, that wait is still going on.
