How Arsenal’s seven summer signings have fared so far this season

Arsenal recovered well after their shocking start to the season and are well in the hunt for a top-four spot with most of the season gone, and their summer signings have played an important role in that comeback.

After a pair of disappointing seasons, Mikel Arteta spent £149million before the start of the 2021-22 campaign in an attempt to secure Champions League football for the first time since 2016, and is well on his way to doing so with the youngest squad in the league.

And we’ve assessed how each of Arsenal’s summer signings has fared in their first few months at the club.

Tavares was first through the door this summer, signing from Benfica for a £7.2million fee, and had an impressive run of games when Kieran Tierney was out injured.

The 22-year-old took the Emirates by storm with his committed displays for a while, but a disastrous performance in a 4-0 defeat meant he lost his place, and he has been consistent ever since, even getting substituted in the first half away at Nottingham forest after getting run ragged.

Nevertheless, he remains a good prospect for the future, with his running power and ability with both feet proving to be reliable assets going forward and in defence.

“One of the biggest qualities he has is that he is not fazed at all when he is playing,” Arteta said of the Portugal Under-21 international in October 2021. “That’s something that we really liked about Nuno when we were looking at him.

“Credit must go to Edu and the scouting department when they were doing the process, because that is something that we discussed a lot: we want a certain character to play for Arsenal.

“We want them to be able to deal with pressure, to be able to perform straight away when you are needed and to go from not