While most football glory rests primarily with strikers or midfielders, every club’s history includes legendary defenders whose names are almost sacred to fans. Of course, there are such players in Arsenal’s 130-plus year history.
Leave aside the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries for now. Still, that leaves us with a long 100 years to focus on, and we have attempted to find the top ten defenders who have worn the London club’s jersey with the cannon in their emblem during that period.
If the footballer in question continued to play after 2000, it was essential to us that the more significant part of his career fell within the last century. You will find these memorable players in the following chapters.
In thirteen seasons, Nigel Winterburn played 584 games in an Arsenal jersey. He started out at Birmingham, from where he moved to Oxford and headed to Wimbledon in 1983. He was promoted to the top flight with the team in 1986. He was voted Player of the Year by the fans in each of his four seasons with the club.
Arsenal acquired Winterburn for £350,000 in the summer of 1987. The club never regretted it, as the dependable left-back was a crucial figure in a team that collected several valuable trophies. He left the club in 2000 and headed to West Ham for £250,000, where he would spend the last three seasons of his active playing career.
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