Man Utd transfer news LIVE: Sofyan Amrabat completes MEDICAL, Greenwood ‘set for Deadline Day move’, Reguilon DONE

Arsenal fans hail MAN UTD for club’s success

Arsenal fans are claiming they have Manchester United to thank for their current success as a team.

That’s due to being on the wrong end of an 8-2 defeat to Sir Alex Ferguson’s United 12 years ago in August 2011.

That might sound a bit strange, given that it was Arsenal’s largest margin of defeat since 1927 – and their worst in modern history.

But in a roundabout way, it has gotten them to where they are today.

The traumatising loss saw them undergo a late flurry in the transfer window, where they brought in Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park Chu Young.

While Arteta and Mertesacker were successes on the field, it has been their impact since retiring that has bore most fruit for Arsenal, with Mertesacker taking over as the club’s academy boss and Arteta becoming first team manager.

One fan pointed out the interesting quirk on Twitter and said: “It’s funny how the most embarrassing defeat in our history led to us panic buying Arteta and Mertesacker, who now manage the club and academy and have turned the club’s fortunes around.”