Arsenals Swedes... and a couple of turnips.

With news we have made a massive breakthrough in our hunt for a striker what better time to bastardize a Sun headline and look back at our former Swedish stars?

Anders Limpar - 1990-1994
Our original Swedish star. Signed from Italian club Cremonese for around a million pounds. He replaced title winning Brian Marwood, and soon won the hearts of the Arsenal faithful. He played 32 league games in his first season, losing just once as Arsenal won the title. One of his most famous moments in an Arsenal shirt came at Old Trafford, where he scored the only goal but was also central in a bust up with McClair and Irwin that led to a 21 man brawl and 2 points deducted. He ended the season by scoring a hat-trick against Coventry as we celebrated the title.
A flair player, he excited the Highbury faithful in a time when Graham was going far more defensive. Perhaps his most memorable goal was from the centre circle as he delightfully chipped the Liverpool 'keeper Mike Hooper in a 4-0 win during his second season.
Injuries and the more pragmatic style Graham was heading into meant Limpar played less and less. He missed both cup final wins in 93 and was sold a couple of months prior to the 94 CWC victory.
Transfermarkt has him at 20 goals and 20 assists in 116 appearances before his move to Everton, where he won their hearts and an FA Cup in 1995.

Stefan Schwarz - 1994-1995
A stylish midfielder, he had excelled in the 94 World Cup as Sweden finished 3rd. An extra time second yellow ruled him out of the semi final.
Playing alongside Danish man John Jensen, the team was functional and rather boring - something that pained Schwarz. With Jensen missing a fair few games, Schwarz also had to partner a lot of up and coming youngsters such as Hillier, Selley and Morrow. Graham then got fired under a cloud for dodgy dealings involving Scandinavian players.
His finest moment in an Arsenal shirt came in the dying minutes of the CWC semi final second leg against Sampdoria. With Arsenal winning 3-2 in the first leg, they were 3-1 down in Italy when Schwarz fired a long range free kick into the net to take it to extra time and penalties.

Freddie Ljungberg - 1998-2007
Signed as a 21 year old, allegedly after Arsene Wenger watched one match on TV. It was a punt, but one which proved gloriously fruitful.
A debut goal against big rivals Manchester United was the beginning of a goal laden Arsenal career, but nothing will match his run-in form of 2001/02 season which ended with a double. 6 goals in 5 games in the run-in meant we could win the title at Old Trafford - where his shot was rebounded to Wiltord to score the title winner.
Just days prior he left John Terry sprawling on the Millennium Stadium pitch as he powered past and then delivered a stunning long range finish as Arsenal won the FA Cup 2-0. He had also scored in the previous years final, sadly ending in defeat.
Less prolific, Ljungberg still played a key role in the Invincible season and the run to the Champions League final in 2006.
Ljungberg played 325 times for Arsenal, scored 72 times and won 2 league titles and 3 FA Cups.

Rami Shaaban - 2002-2004
With David Seamans career heading towards a conclusion, Shaaban may have fancied his chances of replacing the legendary 'keeper. The highlight of Shaaban's spell with Arsenal was a NLD clean sheet in a 3-0 win, plus a couple of Champions League appearances. However, a broken leg at Christmas pretty much ended his Arsenal career and he never appeared again.

Sebastian Larsson - 2001-2007
Larsson joined as a 16 year old and spent the first 3 years in the academy.
Larsson debuted in the 2004/05 League Cup and played all games in the competition until the second leg of the next seasons semi final.
Arguably his most famous appearance was in the Premier League in February 2006. He replaced a disillusioned Sol Campbell at half time as Arsenal trailed West Ham 2-1 with Sol having a nightmare. Larsson went on to play in the next two league games, out of position at full back.
He moved to Birmingham not long after, where he was part of the team that beat us in the League Cup final.

Kristoffer Olsson - 2011-2014
Another one who joined our academy at 16, Olsson would only make one senior appearance - a league cup win over West Brom where he came off the bench to score one of the penalties in a shoot-out

Kim Kallstrom - 2014
An infamous loan signing, joining despite having a broken back! Kallstrom would only start once for us, with 3 sub appearances. His biggest contribution came after a 7 minute cameo in extra time of the FA Cup semi final against Wigan. He took our second penalty in the shoot-out which sent us to the final and ultimately ended our trophy drought.


Hopefully we will be talking about Gyokeres (if he actually signs) the way we talk about Ljungberg and Limpar - as title winners who gave us many moments of joy. Just hope they check his spine...