26 years ago today, Arsenal famously signed Latvian defender Igors Stepanovs after a prank gone wrong.
Arsenal were looking to sign a low cost CB following injuries to both Tony Adams and Matthew Upson.
According to former midfielders Ray Parlour and Jermaine Pennant, Stepanovs arrived on a trial period. The Arsenal players noticed that Martin Keown was incredibly protective of his starting spot and grew anxious whenever a new defender trialed.
During the trial, it was clear to see Stepanovs was not at the level but Parlour, Dennis Bergkamp and others started overpraising him for every basic action just to mess with Keown.
Unfortunately, the prank worked on the wrong person, as manager Arsène Wenger believed all the praise he was hearing was genuine and therefore signed Stepanovs on a 4 year deal.
Stepanovs’ first team opportunities vanished after a brutal 6-1 defeat to Manchester United in 2001.
🚨 Newcastle United to sanction sale of Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal for £75m. #AFC started lower, #NUFC wanted higher but compromise in process of being sealed to grant 28yo Brazil int’l midfielder desired move. Lyon entitled to 20% of profit @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/e1rrfvZTMS
My parents would do a bit where my mom would tuck me in and my dad would come in as the "tuck-in inspector" and find my mom's job to be subpar. He'd step out in the hallway and fire her and she'd scream, begging and pleading for her job, even offering sexual favors sometimes.
An underrated part of our title is how we maintained consistency, despite no consistency in lineup.
PL games missed with injury:
Kai - 24
Merino - 15
Ødegaard - 13
Jesus - 13
Calafiori - 10
White - 9
Timber - 8
Mosquera - 7
Saliba - 6
Gabriel - 6
Saka - 6
Noni - 6
Hincapié - 5
🚨 Arsenal won the Premier League & are getting £177.4M
🔴Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga & are pocketing €83.4M
🛑Inter Milan won Serie A & are pocketing €70M
🛑Paris Saint-Germain won Ligue 1 & are pocketing just €30M
🛑Barcelona won La Liga &…….see below