Arsenal hit gold on “world-class” Emery signing whose value has soared 225%

Arsenal today are practically unrecognizable from the team Unai Emery left Mikel Arteta in December 2019.

The Aston Villa manager was tasked with leading the Gunners into a post-Arsene Wenger world in the summer of 2018, and while he got some things right, he got more things wrong.

The team was poor in attack, even worse in defence and looked like they were sleep-walking into a bottom-half finish in the Premier League when he was eventually given the sack.

However, for all the dreadful performances and confusing decisions he made in North London, the Spaniard was responsible for a few great signings, including one whose valuation has exploded since.

Emery’s smart signings

Before we get to the player in question, let’s look at a couple of other intelligent acquisitions made by Emery, starting with one who’s no longer at the club but made a good account of himself during his time at the Emirates: Bernd Leno.

The German goal-keeper joined the Gunners in June 2018 for a fee of around £19m, and while he wasn’t necessarily a household name at the time, he quickly proved his worth for the North Londoners, with his brilliant shot-stopping.

Over the following three seasons, the former Bayer Leverkusen ace made 117 appearances for the Gunners, in which he kept an impressive 34 clean sheets for a team that were far less solid at the back.

However, the 32-year-old was limited to just eight appearances in the 21/22 campaign due to the arrival of Aaron Ramsdale and was eventually sold to Fulham in August 2022 for around £8m, where he has been an unequivocal success and has already amassed 91 appearances, in which he’s kept 20 clean sheets.

Another of Emery’s brilliant signings during his time at the Emirates came in the summer of 2019, when the club splashed £6m on an unknown teenager from Brazil named Gabriel Martinelli.

The now 23-year-old has struggled at points during his time with the Gunners, notably last season, as a drop in output from the campaign prior led to questions over his place in the team, questions which some may still hold today.

However, the fact he’s racked up an impressive tally of 45 goals and 27 assists in 192 appearances for the club, 135 of which have been starts, makes it impossible to describe his transfer as anything other than a roaring success, especially when you take into account the minuscule transfer fee he initially cost the club.

With that said, there was another teenager signed in the same summer, and it would be fair to say he’s been an even bigger success than the Brazilian, as evidenced by his enormous valuation.

Emery’s best signing at Arsenal

With it now somewhat narrowed down, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the player in question is none other than centre-back extraordinaire William Saliba.

The French international joined Arsenal in a £27m deal from Ligue 1 side Saint-Étienne in July 2019, although he wouldn’t play for Emery. In fact, he wouldn’t play a competitive game for the Gunners until the 22/23 season.

This was because he was sent back to Saint-Étienne on loan for the 19/20 season, and then Arteta opted to send him on loan to OGC Nice and Marseille for the subsequent seasons, leading some to question whether the Bondy-born ace even had a future in North London at all.

Fortunately, the club took no notice of such speculation and finally incorporated him into the team for the 22/23 season, and lo and behold, the highly-rated defender picked up the Man of the Match award on his first start for the club on the opening day of the Premier League season, away to Crystal Palace.

From that point onwards, the 6 foot 4 “monster,” as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has been indispensable for the Gunners.

In fact, the only time he’s been out of the team has been when he picked up an unfortunate back injury against Sporting CP in March 2023, which is often pinpointed as the moment the club’s surprise title challenge fell apart that season, highlighting just how crucial he is.

In all, the “world-class” defender, as dubbed by Fabrizio Romano, has made 101 appearances for Arsenal, in which he’s scored five goals, provided two assists and been named in the PFA Team of the Year in 2023 and 2024, validating U23 scout Antonio Mango’s assertion that he’s “one of the best in the world.”

Unsurprisingly, such a rise has seen his valuation skyrocket, and according to the CIES Football Observatory, he’s now worth a whopping €106m, which converts to around £88m, which represents a massive increase of around 225% from the price he initially cost Arsenal in 2019.

Ultimately, while Emery got a lot of things wrong during his year and a bit in North London, signing Saliba was not one of them, and fans should still be thankful he pulled the trigger on that transfer when he did, as they now have one of the very best defenders in the world in their team.