Arsenal accused of making ‘transfer mistake of the decade’

Arsenal have been accused of making the ‘transfer mistake of the decade’ for selling Mika Biereth to SK Sturm Graz in July 2024.

The Gunners signed Biereth from Fulham in 2021 but the 22-year-old did not make a single appearance in his three-year stint at the Emirates.

Biereth was instead shipped out on loan to Dutch club RKC Waalwijk, Scottish side Motherwell and then Austrian team Sturm Graz.

Arsenal decided to sell Biereth to Sturm Graz permanently last year – but after he hit form – AS Monaco took a punt on him in January, completing a €15m (£12.4m) deal for the Denmark youth international.

Since moving to Monaco, Biereth has massively impressed, registering 10 goals across his opening 10 matches for the Ligue 1 club in all competitions, which has remarkably included three hat-tricks.

Monaco teased Arsenal over their call to offload Biereth last month and the Gunners have now been accused of making the worst transfer decision of the last 10 years by former Manchester United defender Paul Parker.

‘I think it was a crazy decision by Arsenal to sell Mika Biereth,’ the football pundit told SpilXperten. ‘They got almost no money for him.

‘Of course, we don’t know how he would have developed if he had stayed instead of going to Sturm Graz, but based on how he is playing at Monaco right now, it seems like the mistake of the decade not to keep him.

‘I’ve actually watched quite a few of Monaco’s games, and I’ve also seen all his goals. He is a really good finisher, and that is exactly what Arsenal is lacking.

‘Right now, they have a lot of injuries, but even with a fully fit squad, I believe Biereth would have been their best striker.

‘They have a bunch of useless strikers, and now they’ve tried using Mikel Merino up front. That’s a bit of an admission of failure if you ask me.

‘I’ve actually known about Biereth for quite a while because he was talked about a lot when he played at Fulham.

‘It’s obvious that Biereth made the right decision because it has turned him into one of Europe’s most dangerous strikers, but I also think he must have been frustrated that he never got his breakthrough at Arsenal.

‘The fans had high expectations for him, and they were also disappointed when he was sold. Some might say that Ligue 1 is a much worse league than the Premier League, but that doesn’t mean you can just go to France and score goals for fun like he has.

‘He is a player I’m excited to follow because I expect that soon, he will be one of the most sought-after strikers in the world. Every club can use a player like him, and the big clubs are always hungry for goal scorers.

‘He is going to be very expensive, and that means it will also be a costly mistake for Arsenal to have let him go.’