The £34m star will not play for Arsenal again

Ever since Mikel Arteta became the manager of Arsenal there is not much to criticize him for.

Most importantly, you have the Gunners playing at the bottom of the table. They have finished second in the last three seasons and the hope is that they will end that curse. They are in a good position to win the Premier League right now.

However, while their recruitment as a whole has been deservedly praised, there have been some notable hiccups there. Arteta now has the help of Andrea Berta but the biggest recruitment mistake last summer was undoubtedly Noni Maduke.

He was below average and the questions raised when he arrived are still relevant.

Why Noni Madueke signed Berta so badly

Berta has been in charge of Arsenal's recruitment for over a year now but the jury is out on whether he did a good job last summer. This decision could be determined by whether the Gunners go over the line next weekend to win the title.

In Viktor Gyokeres, you have found a brutal goalscorer and while his overall game has been criticized, there is no denying his ability in front of goal.

The Gunners have recruited two other top players in Eberechi Eze, who is starting life in Arsenal colors and Madueke, who has never done so.

When it was first announced that Arsenal were spending £52m on the winger, there were huge protests. They haven't been well recruited at Chelsea in recent years so the fears were understandable.

Well, since we've arrived, it's safe to say any questions raised are fair to ask. He was never good enough.

Although he has been useful given Bukayo Saka's fitness issues, the England international has struggled to come close to Hale Ender's level.

At this point, Madueke has scored only two goals in 25 Premier League games. In all competitions, only seven of 41 are left. In fact, this player has played so much that he has not found the net in the last 13 games.

Fans are perhaps rightly calling for him to leave quickly this summer but that seems unlikely, no matter how bad you think this signing is.

That said, it's not Arteta's worst season.

Worse than Madueke: Arsenal must sell Arteta's worst signing

Madueke was poor, of course, but was he as bad as Fabio Vieira? Absolutely not.

Vieira moved to the Emirates Stadium back in the summer of 2022 for £34m. At the time, he was compared to Martin Odegaard and Bernardo Silva of Manchester City.

A left-footed striker with a diminutive form, he arrived from Porto after an impressive season at the age of 22. In his last year in Portugal he scored only six points but provided 16 assists.

Well, he never reached the dizzying heights expected of him as a young attacking midfielder.

Vieira scored a superb goal against Brentford to open his account in 2022/23 but that is almost as good as there is arguably a worse player than Madueke.

The latter scored seven goals, but Vieira only has four goals to his name as an Arsenal player. You can bet your mortgage on the fact that it won't add to that equation.

Why? The midfielder has been estranged from the club, having been loaned out several times to Porto last season where he scored five goals and registered five assists, before joining Germany's Hamburg in 2025/26.

In the Bundesliga, to his credit, the 25-year-old has had an “outstanding season” in the words of German football journalist The Athletic, Seb Stafford-Bloor, proving to be one of the signings of the campaign.

He ended his spell with seven goals and five assists, but that should not be enough to save his career in north London. Instead, Arsenal should use their profits to get a huge fee for his services.

The Gunners have been very poor at selling players but this is an opportunity to improve on that. Hamburg could sign him permanently but if they don't, there will be plenty of suitors for sure.

Vieira will regret how his time in London played out, as will Arteta. It was a colossal waste of £34m and they have little chance of getting that money back.

Expect him to move on quickly this summer and play for Arsenal again.