A review of some of Arsenal’s standout figures from the 2024/25 season.
The sun through the storm: Who shone this season
for the Gunners?
Arsenal's starting eleven against PSG in Paris. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
As May comes to a close, it is another year of 'what ifs' for Arsenal. There is a familiar sinking as the team have gone trophyless for the fifth season in a row, finishing in second spot in the Premier League for the third year on the trot and bowing out of semi-finals in the **Carabao Cup**and the Champions League. And let us not mention the **FA Cup**exit against THAT **Man United**outfit.
But there is something of a half full outlook on the campaign. For all the injuries, annoyance at Mikel Arteta, and frugal spending, the side was not a million miles away from trophies, registering some strong results in big matches. The ceiling has not risen but the floor of this squad has heightened.
Among it all, a few players have made the most of a season of struggles. The ultimate objective at the start of the season should be titles, but here are three that can be content with their efforts in the pursuit of success.
Stallion of the battalion: Declan Rice
Contention for the club’s 'Player of the Season’ at Arsenal rightly can cause debate again this year. Thomas Partey put his best foot forward in the final year of his contract. Both **Bukayo Saka**and Gabriel Magalhaes stood out at opposite ends of the pitch until injuries cut short their minutes.
However, the strongest case of the lot might belong to their record £105 million man: Declan Rice.
The 26-year-old started his first season with the Gunners much more strongly than he did this time around. And he is not the artistic, small space genius that some supporters would want to see all the time in a more advanced role. But when Saka was absent and two-time 'Player of the Season' **Martin Odegaard**operated far below his typical level, it was Rice who rose above all others as a talisman.
The ailing attack has placed even more emphasis on the gains that the team could make from set-pieces. Their big Brazilian in the box is one of the best aerial threats in the game but he, and others, profited from expert dead ball deliveries from the right foot of Rice throughout the season.
His endless, energetic running earned him the nickname of 'The Horse' from Oleksandr Zinchenko. While he deputized for Partey in the six at the start of the 2023/24 campaign, he has shown he has a knack for runs into the penalty area and sweet, swivelled finishes as more of a box-to-box presence.
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Above all, his exemplary character continued to lead by example through a difficult year. Nowhere more so did he do that than against Real Madrid with a pair of stellar free kicks— the first of which pulled rank from the orders on the bench. It is a moment that immortalises him in **Arsenal**history.
The warrior: Jurrien Timber
Declan Rice was the outstanding name of the summer window in 2023, but the best pound-for-pound signing might have been Jurrien Timber. The Dutchman delivered displays of promise in preseason to pay back his £34 million fee, but fans would have to sit tight for nearly a year to see him in full flight.
It has been worth the wait. He started the season as a left back who was inverting into the middle of the field and then featured on the right of the back four when **Ben White**went under the knife for knee surgery in November, also filling in as a central defender against Aston Villa in January.
Versatility is a quality that strengthens a squad but that would not be enough to be a mainstay in this defence. Unusually in this era at the Emirates Stadium, he was walking into the tightest rearguard in the Premier League. Thanks to an accomplished all-round game, he has ensured standards stay high.
His tigerish tackles have made him more of a lockdown 1 v 1 defender than White, winning the war against Vinicius Junior and Bradley Barcola. When he is on the ball, he prefers to use his poise on the inside of the pitch, but his quality is characteristic of what one would expect of a Dutch defender.
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All of this is even more exceptional in the circumstances for the 23-year-old. He had spent almost all of last season out of action due to an ACL injury, and there were doubts about how he would return from such a lengthy layoff on the sidelines. A man of faith, he has dug deep spiritually to drag himself through this season, and he now has a well deserved rest to recover from ankle surgery this summer.
The breakout star: Myles Lewis-Skelly
As one **Hale End**academy graduate has gained superstardom in N5, another one is making his mark.
It has been a meteoric rise for Myles Lewis-Skelly, whose story is even sharper in its peaks and troughs than the tale of his fellow graduate: Ethan Nwaneri. Lewis-Skelly made his debut in the trenches of a deep defensive display at **Man City**as **Arsenal**were down to ten men, picking up a yellow card before he had even entered the pitch. That was a good forecast of what was to come.
Lewis-Skelly is a midfielder by trade, but minutes have been available to him in the problem position of a left back. It is a job that he had never specialised in before making the jump to the men's game, but he has taken to the role seamlessly, signalling his maturity at the tender age of 18 years old.
A physically robust figure, he has an unerring confidence on the ball that is clear to see as he inverts into the midfield. In his Champions League debut against Monaco, he barrelled through the centre of the park, picking out a through ball for Gabriel Jesus on the way to the opening goal. That is the type of self-belief, and audacity that gets fans off of their seat and he has treated it aplenty to fans in 2025.
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Risk always underlies the reward that he brings to the team. A red card against **West Ham United**and a punishing Parisian press are among the biggest examples of where things have gone awry. But much more often, this teenager is tormenting opponents at the highest level, and as Erling Haaland will testify, an air of arrogance is something that sets apart the top players. The sky seems to be the limit.
Signing of the summer: Mikel Merino
A season review would never be complete without an assessment of the new signings for the squad.
It is telling that this category comes last in the list. After coming up short to **Man City**for the second time in a row, fans of the Gunners gleefully looked to the window last summer as their opportunity to add the missing pieces in their push for silverware. But those transfers never realised their ambition.
Raheem Sterling seemed like a desperate bid to bolster the options in the final third, and fans have seldom seen the player who was a powerhouse for most of the last ten years. The costliest addition, Riccardo Calafiori, conjured up some moments of magic, but he has been vulnerable as a left back and frequently failed to be fit. Almost by default, the best of the bunch has been Mikel Merino.
The spell in north London has not been a complete success for the midfielder. At 28, and as a man who experienced English football for a year at Newcastle United, he would have wanted to hit the ground running as an apt replacement for Granit Xhaka in the middle of the park. But the criticisms of the Swiss' slow turning circle that hounded him for so long have also rung true for the Spaniard.
Instead, in the same way as Kai Havertz, he has shifted successfully to the role of a striker. An almost season-ending hamstring injury for the German grew fears in the fanbase around their attack. But he calmed the nerves by bagging a brace off the bench against Leicester City and has not looked back.
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The pinnacle would be the **Champions League**quarter final as **Arsenal**knocked out Los Blancos with a goal from Merino in the first leg and two assists in Madrid. He will not quench the thirst for a striker, nor is he an elite midfielder, but he has shown his aerial ability and is an asset to the squad.