24 June: The unluckiest day to move to or from Arsenal

by Tony Attwood

Day by Day: the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order. 

Day by Day: the stories a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year

Arsenal in June  all the anniversaries day by day 

The Arsenal videos: club by club

24 June is one of those days where few if any of the transfers arranged have turned out to be positive for player or club.  This even extends to players with birthdays on this day!  And transfers….

On 24 June 1949 Bryn Jones transferred to Norwich as player-coach.  He remained there for just two years before returning to north London as a newsagent.

On this day in 1962: Brian Sparrow born in Bethnal Green.  He played for Arsenal twice and went on loan to Wimbledon, Millwall, and Gillingham before settling with Crystal Palace.  

Arturo Lupoli was born on this day in 1987. He started out with Parma and as an under 21 scored an unbelievable 45 goals in 22 games. In 2004 he moved to Arsenal as a scholar, with Parma getting £200,000 compensation.  However, he never managed to settle and at the last count had played for 18 different clubs the last being Borgo San Donnino in Italy.  Their stadium has a capacity of 2400.

On 24 June 1999 Stefan Malz signed from 1860 Munich for £650,000.  He went on to play six times in the league in the next two years, before moving on to 1. FC Kaiserslautern.  

Then two years to the day after signing from Munich, Stefan Malz was transferred to Kaiserslautern for £580,000.  After finishing his playing career at FSV Oggersheim he went into management from 2005 to 2008 but seemingly not since.

Moving on, on 24 June 2014: Arsenal sold their rights in Carlos Vela (secured under a buy-back option) to Real Sociedad for around £12m.  He had played 29 times for Arsenal and had had five different loan deals before the transfer was agreed in 2012.  This move ended the saga.  In 2018/19 he played for Los Angeles having also played 72 times for Mexico.

Finally on 24 June 2015 Arsenal bought Vlad Dragomir from Poli Timișoara.  He did not make it at Arsenal and in 2019/20 he was playing for Perugia.  He now plays for the Cypriot First Division club Pafos.

Not a good day to sign for Arsenal.

Henry Norris at the Arsenal:  There is a full index to the series here.

Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever

Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.

100 Years: 100 Years in the First Division

Arsenal today: Untold Arsenal 

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