Freddie Signs - On This Day; 12th September

Back in 1998 Arsenal signed a 21-year-old midfielder who went by the name of Fredrik Ljungberg from Swedish side Halmstads BK for a fee of £3 million.

It was not to be known then what Ljungberg would go on to achieve but the mercurial midfielder would soon go on to become a Highbury favourite. The Swede caught the eye of Arsene Wenger in an international match as Sweden beat England in a Euro 2000 qualifier and was signed just a week later. He made his debut for Arsenal on the 20th September against Manchester United and made an immediate impact scoring in a 3-0 win. Goals against Manchester United were to become a hallmark of the wideman's career with Arsenal scoring in four in his first eight games against United.

During his Arsenal career Freddie played 313 times scoring 71 goals. His finest moment came in the 2002 FA Cup final scoring the second in a 2-0 over Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium.

Two years later he was also an integral part of the Invincibles side that went the entire 2003/04 season unbeaten securing his second Premier League title adding to the 2001/02 triumph. The 2001/02 double-winning campaign was Ljungberg’s best in an Arsenal shirt adding the Premier League Player of the Season Award to his league and cup winning medals.

After his nine year stay in North London the Swede moved on to West Ham United staying there for one season before moving to Seattle Sounders in the MLS. He has since had spells with Chicago Fire, Celtic in the SPL and Shimizu S-Pulse in the J League before announcing his retirement in August 2012. That was not the end for Freddie though who earlier this month came out of retirement to sign for Indian Super League side Mumbai City.

ALSO ON THIS DAY

1878 – Jimmy Ashcroft, the first Woolwich Arsenal player to represent England was born.

1912 – Leslie Compton who played over 300 times for Arsenal as well as playing first-class cricket for Middlesex was born.

1925 – Arsenal drew 1-1 with Liverpool at Highbury in a season which saw the Gunners finish in second place to Huddersfield Town.

1936 – Arsenal beat Sunderland 4-1 at Highbury.

1958 – Billy McCullough signed from Portadown. The Northern Irishman went on to play over 250 games for the Gunners and 10 caps for his country.

1964 – Just like in 1936 Arsenal played Sunderland at Highbury. This time Arsenal came out as 3-1 winners.

1970 – Arsenal travelled to Turf Moor to face Burnley and won 2-1 during the 1970/71 double-winning season.

1987 – Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 which started a run of ten straight wins which ended in November at home to Southampton.

1996 – Pat Rice replaced caretaker Stewart Houston, who himself was in temporary charge as he left for QPR. Rice took charge of three league games winning all three but lost his only European match in charge to Borussia Monchengladbach 3-2.

1998 – As well as confirming the arrival of Freddie Ljungberg Arsenal drew 1-1 with Leicester City and Arsene Wenger expressed an interest in Emile Heskey as he looked for a replacement for Ian Wright.

2009 – Having missed the entire 2008/09 campaign Tomas Rosicky made a goal scoring return to first team action, but was unable to prevent a 4-2 defeat to Manchester City at the Eithad.

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