10 Players Who Did Nothing At Arsenal (But Excelled For Their Country)

4. Andrey Arshavin

Perhaps it€™s a bit unfair to state that Andrey Arshavin did nothing at Arsenal - after all, he treated the Gunners support to some nice collectors€™ items to stick in their scrapbook. Who could forget that remarkable four-goal salvo at Anfield or that late winner against Barcelona in the Champions League? For the money they paid, however, those moments were few and far between as the sulky Russian failed to live up to expectations having arrived in north London riding the crest of a wave, with half of Europe€™s elite clubs vying for his signature following a wonderful showing at Euro 2008. Although he debuted for the national side in 2002 as an 18 year old, he had to wait six years to taste his first slice of international football following omissions from the squads of the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. The diminutive forward certainly took his chance with aplomb, however, proving to be the catalyst as Russia surprised everybody by dumping out in-form Holland to reach the semi-finals of the competition. It speaks volumes about just how good Arshavin€™s performance against the Dutch was, considering that he was ruled out of the first two games of the tournament due to suspension and was largely ineffective in the semi-final against the Spanish, that people still speak about Euro 2008 as €˜his€™ tournament. Arshavin would go on to captain the side to a second-place finish in their World Cup qualifying group but they ultimately lost to Slovenia in the play-offs. By Euro 2012, Arshavin€™s status within the Russian squad had slipped somewhat but he still started all three of their games as they eliminated from Group A. Unsurprisingly due to his decreasing standard of performances, the former Arsenal flop was omitted by Fabio Capello for the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. Still, with 75 caps and 17 goals to his name, his Russian career can certainly be called a success.