Emmanuel Frimpong. Chu-young Park. Marouane Chamakh. Gervinho. Those happy few. That band of brothers.
They may not go down in history as Arsenal greats, or even as Arsenal adequates, but few will forget the glorious times when the extent of Arsene Wenger’s transfer ambitions were these Ligue 1 trundlers.
Certainly Frimpong himself, now plying his trade at FC Ufa in the Russian Premier League, looks back on those times with fondness.
And in an Instagram post that will either rile or amuse Arsenal fans Frimpong shared a shot of “Arsenals veery [sic] own invincibles”.
Where are they now?
Emmanuel Frimpong
The Ghanaian midfielder made just 16 appearances in an Arsenal shirt as he was carted out on loan to Premier League strugglers and the Championship. He lasted just six months at Barnsley before his time in England came to an end.
Now as widely known for his Instagram presence as his football Frimpong returned to prominence during the summer, when he was sent off for reacting to racist gestures from the crowd in a match for FC Ufa.
Marouane Chamakh
After an electric first half of the 2010/11season the Moroccan striker’s form fell off a cliff. Robin van Persie’s return left Chamakh playing second fiddle and he could not adapt to the demands of a substitute role.
His final two seasons saw just one league goal for the 31-year-old, who threatened a brief renaissance when he moved to Crystal Palace in 2013. 54 games have brought 10 goals but injuries have restricted Chamakh’s opportunities over the past two seasons and he is without a game this campaign.
Chu-young Park
The Arsenal no.9 was a bizarre deadline day signing from Monaco on deadline day in 2011 and managed just eight minutes of Premier League football during three years as an Arsenal player.
The South Korean international moved to Saudi Arabian side Al-Shabab on the expiration of his contract in October 2014, lasting just six months before a return to his homeland with FC Seoul.
Gervinho
The Ivorian winger arrived at the Emirates a Ligue 1 title winner, but departed two years later a man broken down by a series of disappointing displays. If any moment defines the clearly talented Gervinho’s time at Arsenal it would be the occasion he contrived to miss an open goal in a League Cup defeat to Bradford.
Since moving to Roma he has regained some of his confidence, though he found himself slipping down the pecking order in his second season and was allegedly just a private island away from a move to the Middle East. He is back to his best this season though and has a record of seven goals in 13 games for the Gialorossi.