On This Day – 28th July
Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars both left Arsenal to join Barcelona on this day back in 2000 for a combined fee of £32 million.
The vast majority of the fee was for Overmars, who became the fourth most expensive player in the world after moving to Spain in a deal worth £25 million. Emmanuel Petit cost Barca £7 million, with Arsenal making a much bigger return on the players who they picked up for £5 million and £3.5 million respectively.
Luckily for Wenger, he already had a ready-made replacement for Overmars in Robert Pires, who joined the club after helping France to win the European Championships.
It was a little harder to replace Emmanuel Petit however, as a long-running saga dragged on with the signing of Brazilian Edu. He had a fake Portuguese passport and had to wait for a work permit and he finally made his debut in January 2001.
Emmanuel Petit would only spend a year in Spain before returning to English football in a move to Arsenal’s London rivals Chelsea. He was played out of position at Barca and had several injuries and decided that one year was enough time at the club.
Overmars lasted longer at Barcelona than his former Arsenal team mate, spending four years at the club before having to retire from the game because of a recurring knee injury.
It is fair to say that Arsenal did much better out of the move in hindsight. Noy only did the club pocket £32 million from the deal but they became more successful without the two players in the team.
They reached the FA Cup Final in the first season without Petit and Overmars and the following season they won the League and Cup Double. In 2002/03 they retained the FA Cup with Overmars’ replacement Robert Pires scoring the winning goal. The following season they went the whole league campaign unbeaten.
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