Arsenal 2024-25 season ratings - every player ranked: From relentless Declan Rice to underwhelming Martin Odegaard

Poor Takehiro Tomiyasu has been absolutely decimated by injuries, restricting the once promising defender to only a single six-minute appearance off the bench against Southampton in October. Arsenal would do well to find a buyer for their forgotten man considering this fitness record.

In years to come, one-appearance wonder Neto will prove a great answer on pub quizzes. Arsenal signed the Bournemouth goalkeeper on loan after he had already been Carabao Cup-tied, meaning his only outing for the Gunners came in a Champions League dead rubber with Girona.

Upon signing for Arsenal on loan at the end of summer transfer deadline day, Raheem Sterling warned the world we were about to see the best of him. We are therefore giving him a numerical rating based on the amount of goals he scored for the Gunners.

Even more shockingly is that Sterling's performances weren't even unforgettable, rather memorable for how ineffective they were. Goodness knows what his next step is upon returning from loan to Chelsea.

Jorginho will go down as a bit of an Arsenal cult hero for the leadership and composure he brought to the team during their 2022-23 and 2023-24 title fights, not to mention his move across London riled up Chelsea fans. His final year at the Emirates Stadium, however, was a bit more disappointing, largely hampered by injuries and declining physicality, meaning he was scarcely risked to play in Arteta's blood-and-thunder system.

He is now set to head back to his native Brazil with Flamengo.

Few stars have underwhelmed across the whole of Europe this season as much as Martin Odegaard. An early-season injury to the Arsenal captain saw Arteta's side lose their swagger and style, but even upon his return to the line up they remained stale.

If Odegaard was able to play at even 75 percent of the level of his 2023-24 campaign, the Gunners may have been competitive on all fronts. The Norwegian was only able to boost his stats after conceding the Premier League title, too, and all in all this was a year to forget for the skipper.

It was a surprise for many that Kieran Tierney even made it into the final year of his Arsenal contract, especially since he spent last season on loan at Real Sociedad and out of Arteta's plans. Nevertheless, he proved an adequate bench option when called upon and signed off with a goal on his farewell appearance, all the while retaining his spot as a favourite among travelling fans.

Now set to return to boyhood club Celtic, whom Arsenal paid £25m to sign the left-back from in 2019.

Once upon a time, Oleksandr Zinchenko was the key to everything Arsenal did as one of Europe's most fearsome attacks. Nowadays, he can barely get pity minutes off the bench as a substitute.

The Ukrainian's plummet down the pecking order, likely due to his defensive lapses, has been strange to observe, especially considering he was only injured for a brief period at the start of the season. Zinchenko clocked just 789 minutes in 23 games across all competitions, which would have been unimaginable just over a year ago when he was a nailed-on starter.

There was a brief period of the season where the Gabriel Jesus who first wowed Arsenal fans with his dynamism and creativity seemed to have reappeared. With Arteta in search of another striker option, the Brazilian No.9 pieced together a run of six goals in four games over the Christmas period, only for his season to come to a brutal end with an ACL injury.

Jesus was tipped to be among the players to look for a new challenge this summer, but this setback means he will be on the Gunners' books again next season while he continues his recovery.

Ben White didn't necessarily do much wrong this season, he's just been the victim of some unfortunate circumstances and lost his place as one of Arteta's most reliable players. The right-back spot was fiercely contested with Jurrien Timber even before White underwent knee surgery and missed 21 games, and when he returned to fitness seemed to take a while to build up that sharpness again.

A full pre-season should get him back to the requisite physical level. Brighter days and seasons are surely ahead for a man who is also back in England contention.

As was the case with White, Arsenal summer signing Riccardo Calafiori didn't do too much wrong during his first season in north London. In terms of minutes-to-impact ratio, he was probably one of their better players. But the Italian's inability to stay fit became a jarringly consistent story over the campaign, allowing other players on the fringes of Arteta's squad to stake their claim for spots in the long term.

Given the Spaniard sent Calafiori pictures of his family to ask what they mean to him as part of last summer's sales pitch, you'd assume the defender will get more opportunities to impress in the future.

In isolation, this was not a bad season for Leandro Trossard, even if it was by his standards a down one. He played every single Premier League match and still contributed 10 goals and assists apiece across all competitions, technically making him one of Arsenal's most reliable stars.

The issue was Arteta required a bit more from players of Trossard's calibre and experience if they were to end their trophy drought. They needed some unexpected levels of output just to keep afloat, and the experienced Belgian couldn't quite provide that.

Like Trossard, this was a par-for-the-course season for Gabriel Martinelli, only you'd be forgiven for demanding a little more given the Brazilian is still developing, but yet to iron the noticeable kinks out of his game. Save for a hamstring injury in February, the winger was fit for the entire season and more often than not available at a time where Arsenal simply needed bodies.

In years to come, Gunners fans will remember Martinelli's 2024-25 campaign for his clinching goal at Santiago Bernabeu as they dumped Real Madrid out of the Champions League, and that counts for something.

The injury crisis at the Emirates meant Arteta simply needed warm bodies ready and waiting to come in and do a job. Thomas Partey, once one of the least dependable members of the squad in terms of fitness, managed to play 52 games and nearly 4,000 minutes across four competitions this term.

The range of those performances did vary wildly though, and there is still uncertainty over his future with his contract set to expire next month.

Arsenal, much like Manchester United and Barcelona, are part of an elite group of clubs who consistently produce leading talent ready for first-team action even at a young age. This season, Ethan Nwaneri was one of two major breakout stars in N5, and after a couple of years skirting around the edges of the senior side has now been able to make an impact.

He is one of only three players - the others being Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen - to have scored at least five goals for a Premier League team in a season before turning 18, and is already locking down a trademark shot, cutting in from the right and letting fly with his wand of a left foot. Arteta is going to have some headache fitting Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka into the same team in years to come.

Based on past performances following his 2023 move from Italian side Spezia, there was scepticism over Jakub Kiwior's credentials as an Arsenal player, particularly as he was a direct understudy to William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes. But do you know what? The Pole has proven a capable deputy to two of the world's best centre-backs.

He has shed his tag as a liability and earned his right to wear that famous cannon on his chest, putting in some stellar displays during the Gunners' run to the latter stages of the Champions League.

He may have only played 33 minutes for Arsenal after February 5, but Kai Havertz still managed to end 2024-25 as Arsenal's top scorer (15 in all competitions, including nine in the Premier League). Even factoring in a lengthy three-month absence for a hamstring injury, he played over 2,800 minutes.

Maybe the real tale of Havertz's strange season is a cautionary one, then. If you overplay one of your key men and run them into the ground, then of course there will be production concerns immediately and availability issues later down the line. After all, Havertz wasn't signed as a striker, but now he's one of the only natural striker options left in Arteta's ranks. At least he should be getting a helping hand up top next season, with Arsenal aggressively pursuing a new No.9.

It seemed so, so unlikely during the autumn and winter that Mikel Merino circling the corner flag in celebration would be one of Arsenal fans' favourite traditions come the end of the season. The Spain international was underwhelming in his first few months after arriving from Real Sociedad, but has found a new life as an auxiliary striker.

Merino might even be better as a No.9 option than Havertz in the long run having popped up with some huge goals at crucial times, most memorably against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. Alexa, play Kingston Town by UB40.

Jurrien Timber must have thought the world was out to get him when he tore his ACL during his Premier League debut on the opening day of the 2023-24 season. After a year on the sidelines recovering and rehabbing, he has shown the world what Arsenal have been missing.

The Netherlands international is one of the very best lockdown defenders around. It's not up for debate. He may lack White's creativity in attack, but not many wingers can claim to have skipped by Timber this term. Not even Real Madrid's gauntlet of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham could sprint clear of him.

Save for some strange brain farts down the final stretch of the season, this was another impressive campaign for William Saliba to add to his collection. He is easily among the world's leading centre-backs and looks every bit the second coming of Virgil van Dijk.

Arsenal will, however, have a problem later down the line, with Real Madrid already up to their usual transfer tricks. Saliba's contract expires in 2027, and though he has publicly spoken of his desire to stay and win at the Emirates Stadium, the club can't bank on that unless he puts pen to paper again.

For the second season in a row, David Raya has taken home the Premier League Golden Glove, given out to the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in a season. Granted, he has enjoyed the luxury of playing behind one of the game's best defences, but there was rarely a consistent back four ahead of him this term such was the extent of Arsenal's injuries.

That selection concern permeated right through the Gunners' spine - they weren't as defensively solid this time around because their core wasn't always there to protect them. Raya, however, always stood tall and was up for the fight, acting like a goalkeeper six inches taller with his expert cross-claiming and quick thinking shot-stopping to earn some points all by himself.

The main differential between Myles Lewis-Skelly and some of his peers also on a 7/10 rating is absolutely nobody expected him to have the season he's just completed. He had never played left-back before his senior debut, yet has ended 2024-25 as one of the best in that position in the Premier League and maybe even Europe altogether.

Still only 18, Lewis-Skelly stepped into a men's team in crisis over the winter and played like the adult that Arteta needed him to be. Some iconic moments, including mugging off Erling Haaland and Manchester City, followed, while he also became the youngest England player to score on their international debut.

Oh, how Arsenal fans must wish they had a time machine to go back and stop Bukayo Saka tearing his hamstring against Crystal Palace. The Gunners' starboy was on course for another fantastic season from start to finish, but was sidelined for nearly four months when his side were still chasing down Liverpool for the Premier League title.

What's become clear since is Saka is by far and away Arsenal's best player, as well as their most important. The team cannot function in the same way without him. Even in a year where he missed 19 matches, he still scored 12 goals and added 14 assists, while he secured an iconic moment with a clever dink over Thibaut Courtois in their win at Real Madrid.

From the pubs around Islington to the modern-day terraces of the Emirates Stadium, there is one chant that has proven more popular than any during the final few months of the season. 'Declan Rice, we got him half price'.

At £105m, it's hard to call Rice a bargain, but it's obvious he is now worth much more than the sum Arsenal paid to West Ham in 2023. This is an ironman midfielder who can do it all, the Gunners' long-awaited successor to Patrick Vieira and an England legend in the making. That he shocked the world and shook north London with two ridiculous free-kicks to all but knock out Real Madrid is merely a bonus.

Rice has also worn the captain's armband on occasion for Arsenal and is already one of the faces of the club. He's been worth every penny, and then some.

The king of Brazil, the wall at the back, the one who gives the opposition hell. Gabriel Magalhaes was Arsenal's best player in 2024-25, and it's about time he started receiving some wider recognition.

Think about it: The Gunners literally plan most of their unique set-pieces around Gabriel and his freakish aerial prowess, ending the campaign with five goals in total. In his own defensive third, you will not find a better box defender, such is his imposing nature and intimidating aura. How many players can claim to have such an impact at both ends of the pitch?

Were it not for a season-ending hamstring injury at the start of April, Arsenal may have had a Champions League final to look forward to, and that's not just because of his defending. Gabriel's earned the nickname of 'Monstro' for a reason.