Story by Samuel Bannister
Mikel Arteta has Arsenal in contention for four trophies this season. In light of this, let’s look back at the first trophy he won with the club: the 2019-20 FA Cup.
Arsenal will be going for the first of four trophies available in 2025-26 at the weekend when they take on Manchester City in the EFL Cup final. If we overlook the Community Shield, it’s a chance for the Premier League leaders to win their first piece of silverware since that 2020 triumph.
Since then, the squad Arteta has at his disposal has undergone a significant transformation compared to the group that lifted the FA Cup trophy six years ago.
So what happened to the players he used when winning the FA Cup final 2-1 against Chelsea?
GK: Emiliano Martinez
Martinez was starting to make a breakthrough with Arsenal towards the end of the 2019-20 season, with Bernd Leno injured, but it only further fueled his desire to become a number one somewhere else.
Aston Villa bought Martinez later that year and has since used him more than 200 times in the Premier League.
In turn, he also got his wish of becoming Argentina’s first-choice keeper and won the World Cup in 2022.
Linked with a move last summer, Martinez stayed at Villa, conceding 29 goals in 26 league matches so far this season.
CB: Rob Holding
By the time Arsenal won the FA Cup, Holding was in his fourth season at the club, continuing as a bit-part player before featuring more regularly in 2020-21.
His time with the club ended in 2023 after 162 appearances, but his next step with Crystal Palace was a disaster, as he played only once.
After a stint at Sheffield United, Holding joined MLS side Colorado Rapids in August. He has played nine games and captained against the LA Galaxy this month.
CB: David Luiz
Luiz played one more season at Arsenal before returning to Brazil with Flamengo.
After leaving Arsenal, Luiz completed one more season before joining Flamengo in Brazil. A brief 2025 spell at Fortaleza was followed by a move to Pafos in Cyprus, where in November, he became the second-oldest goalscorer in Champions League history.
CB: Kieran Tierney
Tierney was in his first season with Arsenal after joining from Celtic when he became an FA Cup winner.
Tierney left Arsenal after his contract ended in the summer, returning to Celtic. Since rejoining, he has made 43 appearances, scoring five goals and providing 11 assists.
RWB: Hector Bellerin
Bellerin left Arsenal on loan to Real Betis in 2021. He later had half-season spells with Barcelona and Sporting CP in 2022.
Bellerin permanently rejoined Betis in 2023, making 61 appearances in all competitions since then, although he missed four months due to injury last season.
CM: Dani Ceballos
After winning the FA Cup, Ceballos stayed for a second loan season in 2020-21 before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
He remains there to this day after adding more than 150 appearances to his Madrid collection, although he has often been linked with an exit, and that could well materialise this summer, when he will turn 30.
CM: Granit Xhaka
After Arteta replaced Emery, Xhaka’s future looked uncertain following the captaincy strip, but he revived his Arsenal career.
Xhaka stayed at Arsenal until 2023, then spent two seasons at Bayer Leverkusen – winning the Bundesliga in his first year – before joining Sunderland in the summer of 2025.
Sunderland appointed Xhaka as their captain, and he has played 28 times for them so far.
LWB: Ainsley Maitland-Niles
By the time of Arsenal’s FA Cup win, Maitland-Niles’s time at the club was nearing its end. He went on loan to West Brom for the second half of the 2020-21 season.
Further loans to Roma (2021-22) and Southampton (2022-23) preceded Maitland-Niles’s move to Lyon on a free transfer in 2023. Since then, he has played more than 100 times for Lyon, mainly as a right-back.
RW: Nicolas Pepe
After becoming Arsenal’s record signing in 2019, Pepe came to be widely perceived as a flop, more so for not meeting the expectations of his £72m price tag than his otherwise moderately respectable record of 27 goals from 112 games.
Pepe spent 2022-23 on loan at Nice. Arsenal let him go to Trabzonspor on a free transfer in 2023, and he now plays for Villarreal, with seven goals in 65 matches.
ST: Alexandre Lacazette
Lacazette left Arsenal in 2022, where he had scored 71 goals in 206 games, and rejoined Lyon that summer.
In 2024, Lacazette departed European football after three seasons and 72 goals for Lyon. He currently plays for Neom in the Saudi Pro League, where he has scored 12 goals in 27 appearances.
LW: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
At the time of their FA Cup triumph, Aubameyang had struggled to settle at any club after leaving Arsenal in 2022.
Aubameyang’s short Barcelona stint in 2022 showed some inspired form, but his subsequent return to the Premier League with Chelsea did not go well.
He played two spells with Marseille, split by one season in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Qadsiah. As of this season, Aubameyang, now 36, has 12 goals and 10 assists from 34 games for Marseille.
SUB: Eddie Nketiah
Nketiah entered the 2020 FA Cup final as Arsenal’s first substitute, having returned that January from an unproductive loan at Leeds United.
Nketiah stayed at Arsenal through summer 2024, then transferred to Crystal Palace. At Palace, he has scored 11 goals in 56 appearances, including four from 19 this season.
SUB: Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Sokratis has now retired from playing, ending his career in 2024 after a spell with Real Betis.
He played another half-season for Arsenal after the FA Cup before his contract was terminated, followed by two years at Olympiacos, then his final campaign at Real Betis.
SUB: Sead Kolasinac
Kolasinac departed Arsenal on loan to former club Schalke in January 2021, in the same window Sokratis left.
In 2022, he left Arsenal permanently to join Marseille for 18 months, before moving to Atalanta in 2023.
He won the Europa League in his Atalanta debut season and is nearing 100 appearances for the club.
