Andrey Arshavin

Andrey returned to Zenit Saint Petersburg on a permanent basis in 2013 after spending the remainder of the 2011/12 season there on loan.

The forward joined Arsenal in 2009 following a successful 10-year spell with the Russian giants and went straight into Arsene Wenger’s first-team squad, scoring his first Gunners goal in the 4-0 win against Blackburn Rovers.

A month later Andrey scored four goals in Arsenal’s 4-4 draw with Liverpool, becoming the first Gunner to score four goals in a game since Julio Baptista in 2007.

The Russian was named Player of the Month for April and May, captaining them to a 3-0 win against Portsmouth, and also came second in the Player of the Season poll, despite only playing in fewer than a quarter of Arsenal’s matches all season.

Andrey followed up his debut season with impressive campaigns in 2009/10 and 2010/11, and scored a historic goal in the Gunners’ first ever win against Barcelona.

The forward was out of favour in 2012/13 but still made a big contribution when he set up Thierry Henry for the winning goal against Sunderland, his final involvement before rejoining his boyhood club on loan.

Andrey scored three goals in 11 games for Zenit but when he returned to Arsenal he struggled for game time, behind Gervinho, Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla.

The Russian racked up his 100th Premier League appearance for the Gunners but it was soon announced that he would leave when his contract ran out at the end of the season, and he went back to Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2013.