Arsenal recently experienced the Kardashian curse in 2023, but almost a decade before that they were first given a headache by another Kim K.
The Gunners fell foul to the family sideshow disrupting their title challenge two seasons ago when they became another team whose trophy hopes faded after having Kim Kardashian at their stadium.
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Yet it was Swede Kim Kallstrom who arguably gave them their worst self-inflicted blow.
Arsenal were top of the Premier League in 2014 under Arsene Wenger when things threatened to derail in a matter of weeks.
Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey both picked up medium-term injuries, and when Mathieu Flamini joined them on the sidelines with a suspension there was only one piece of good news.
That good news was that the January transfer window was still open, allowing Wenger and the club’s management to attempt to fix things with a last-minute signing.
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The name they came upon was that of Kallstrom, and on the face of it, it made some sense.
The Swede had well over 100 caps for his national team and buckets of elite level experience from his five seasons with Lyon, winning Ligue 1 twice while the team regularly went deep in the Champions League.
His career was starting to wind down at this point, playing in Russia with Spartak Moscow, but a chance to return to the top level for a title challenge was a no-brainer, and one he duly accepted.
Versatile in midfield and a leader at the top level, the deal was done on loan until the end of the season, and should have at a minimum patched up the Flamini shaped hole in the squad.
Kallstrom arrived, passed his medical and told the club’s media channels he was ‘going to do his best to help out the club’.
However, the middle scenario of those three ended up being a gigantic embarrassment.
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As it turned out the 31-year-old did pass his medical, but very likely shouldn’t have.
The club admitted that a scan picked up a damaged vertebrae, something he’d picked up while playing beach football while on warm weather training with Spartak in Abu Dhabi.
Yet such was the rush to get a body through the door on deadline day, the deal was rushed through, and instantly regretted.
Arsenal had to begrudgingly reveal that Kallstrom would be out for six weeks, by which time Flamini had been back long enough to render the move almost pointless.
The former Lyon man would debut on schedule at the end of March, but soon after he was no longer needed, as he featured just seven more times with the Gunners’ title bid already over.
Admitting a major cock-up had taken place during the saga, Wenger candidly said: “It crossed my mind to not do the deal.
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“I wouldn’t have signed him if we had another two or three days, but it was on Friday at 5pm.
“We need to establish the real truth. He arrived and had fallen on his back two days before.”
To their credit, club executives at least got some of their money back, with Wenger explaining: “We accepted to share the costs, so they will pay him for the first six weeks of his wages.
“There’s a possibility he will not play, but also a possibility he will score a vital winning goal.”
Kallstrom didn’t score a winning goal, but he did find the net in a moment that he may argue made it all worth it.
Subbed on for the final minute of extra time in an FA Cup semi-final tie against Wigan, the Swede followed current manager Mikel Arteta in the shoot-out and blasted past Scott Carson.
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Arsenal won the penalties, and then the final against Hull to lift silverware at Wembley.
Kallstrom didn’t feature in that final success, but he did get a winner’s medal, the perfect souvenir for a bizarre six-month trip to London that should have never taken place.
