How did Arsene Wenger's signings fare this season? - Part 1
May 23rd 2012 11:04
When Arsenal lost key players such as Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy last summer, questions were asked about the club's ambition. Not only were they asking about the ambition of the club, but they also wondered whether we would reinvest the money taken in from the big sales of Fabregas and Nasri into new signings and ideally replacements.
Arsenal waited until mid-August to sell their skipper when Fabregas made it clear a year earlier that he wanted to rejoin his home town team. Nasri featured in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in August, before he joined Manchester City a couple of days later. The fact Arsenal didn't sell these players back in June, which would have meant Wenger could have signed new players throughout the summer, rather than wait until the last minute to get deals done baffled me. It is also one of the reasons that the club started the season so poorly, with the 8-2 defeat at Manchester United in late August being the lowest point of the Gunners season.
The good news for Arsenal was that despite their poor league form, they still managed to win their Champions League qualifier against Udinese. Arsenal won 1-0 at home and 2-1 away, therefore going through 3-1 on aggregate. This was just before the heavy defeat at Old Trafford and the fact they were in the Champions League rather than the Europa League meant that they were able to attract certain players to the club still.
Arsenal are usually quiet during transfer windows. They don't do a lot of business coming into the club, the most you usually will see is 3 in and a lot usually go out. Arsenal have lost a lot of big players in the last few years and are desperate not to lose their captain this year. Robin Van Persie is currently in a similar situation to Samir Nasri last year, so the ball is very much in the Dutchman's court, with only 1 year left on his current deal, which would also mean that he can join another club the following summer for nothing. Last summer, with the big players leaving, Arsenal needed to invest in the team to keep fans on their side and relieve some of the pressure on their manager. The Gunners made a splash in the last two days of the summer transfer window, with 5 players joining the club in those two days.
So, I ask myself the question, how did Wenger's signings do this season?
Carl Jenkinson - Charlton Athletic (Rumoured fee of approx. £1m): Jenkinson joined the club with very few fans knowing anything about him. This was because he had only made 8 appearances for Charlton's first team. Jenkinson had also been on loan to non-league clubs Eastbourne Borough and Welling United in 2010. Despite being born in Harlow, Jenkinson has represented Finland at Under 21 level, as his mother is Finnish. He has yet to play for the Finnish National side, which means he can still represent England at full international level in future if he wants.
Jenkinson impressed during the first leg of the Champions League qualifier against Udinese in August, a game that was his competitive debut for the club. Jenkinson was a regular in the early stages of the season. He made his Premier League debut against Liverpool at the Emirates in August, as well as playing he the return leg of the Champions League qualifier against Udinese. Jenkinson kept his place in the side in what was almost a second string outfit against Manchester United. It was the best that Arsenal could field that day. The Gunners were hammered 8-2 and although Jenkinson got an assist in the game, he was sent off, which made the task even harder for his team.
When Bacary Sagna got injured in the North London Derby at White Hart Lane in October, Jenkinson had a big chance to get even more playing time in the Frenchman's absence. In a 3-0 win over West Brom at the Emirates at November, Jenkinson suffered a back injury that kept him out for 3 months. Jenkinson featured in a reserve fixture against Norwich in February and then continued his recovery by coming on in the 5-2 win against Tottenham at the end of that month. Jenkinson was an Arsenal fan growing up and his Dad has had a season ticket at the club for a "40 odd years" as he put it when he signed, and his whole family support the club. His Dad even threw him a surprise party to celebrate the day his son joined Arsenal. Jenkinson said he attended the North London derby the previous season, so I would imagine it must have been an odd feeling playing in that fixture the following season.
He is popular with the Arsenal faithful because he is one of them. He's living every Arsenal fans' dream. He works his socks off every time he wears the shirt, and he wears it with pride, something any fan loves to see in a player. It is a huge step up to the Premier League from League One. As mentioned earlier, he was on loan in the non-leagues in 2010/11 too. So I feel that Jenkinson has adapted well to life in the Premier League. He has still got a lot to learn and a lot to improve on, but he is young so he has time to develop. It's a shame that he got injured, as he would have played a lot when Sagna was out injured. Jenkinson did get given a tough time against West Brom on the final day of the season by Albion's Marc-Antoine Fortune, the striker's strength caught Jenkinson out at the back. So I suggest that he bulks up a bit in the summer, so he can deal with the strong players that the Premier League has.
Gervinho - Lille (approx. fee £11m)
Gervinho was a player that I had first come across back in his days at Le Mans. I came across him because he was linked with a move to Arsenal back then. I noticed that he joined Lille in 2009, which surprised me as I knew he was a player that had been on Wenger's radar for a while now. Given the fact he started his professional career at Arsenal's former feeder club Beveren, as well as coming from the famous ASEC Mimosas team that had produced players such as Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Salomon Kalou in the past, somewhere that Wenger knows a lot about.
Come 2011, Wenger dipped into his pockets and found what is believed to be around £10.8m to bring the Ivorian to the Emirates. Gervinho couldn't have had a better start to his Arsenal career if he had tried. He scored two goals on his debut in a friendly against FC Cologne. The Gunners won the game 2-1. He followed this up with some impressive display's in the Emirates Cup games against Boca Juniors and the New York Red Bulls.
Once the competitive season began though, things turned sour for Gervinho. On his competitive debut for the club, Gervinho was sent off after clashing with Joey Barton in a 0-0 draw at Newcastle. A warm welcome to English football for him. Just what you'd expect from Barton. He was therefore banned for the league games with Liverpool (2-0 defeat), Man Utd (8-2 defeat) and Swansea (1-0 win). He was still able to feature in the two Champions League games with Udinese and played well in these two games.
He scored his first Premier League goal in a 4-3 defeat against Blackburn in September. He scored the first goal in this seven goal thriller. One of his best games in Arsenal colours so far came against Stoke on October 23rd. He gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead, before going on to assist Robin Van Persie twice in a 3-1 win for Arsenal. Therefore he played a massive role in all three of Arsenal's goals. His career at the club had started fairly brightly. He was in amongst the goals again in December, netting the third goal in a comfortable 4-0 win away to Wigan at the start of the month, before putting Arsenal 1-0 up against Wolves in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw just after Christmas.
Gervinho would go to the African Cup of Nations in the winter. He was the hero for the Ivory Coast in their semi-final win over Mali. Gervinho scored a superb winner in a 1-0 win, setting up a Final with Zambia. The game would go to a penalty shoot-out, with Gervinho missing the crucial penalty, meaning that it would be Zambia that were crowned the Kings of Africa for this year. I don't think Gervinho recovered from this. He came back to Arsenal and was a lot less effective than he had been before he left. He frustrates me as a player because he does a lot of things right, he just lacks the end product. I feel he has the ability, looking at his goalscoring record in France, particularly in his last season with Lille, you can't argue with it. He looked a little better towards the end of the year, he played well at Stoke, improved as the game went on against Norwich, but again was disappointing at West Brom.
After such a promising start, it's a shame how this season finished for him. I hope that he can improve next year, otherwise he may well become a player like Marouane Chamakh or Andrei Arshavin, that started so brightly, yet faded away so quickly.
Part 2 will be up as soon as possible.
Until then guys,
Come on Arsenal!!!!!!
Arsenal waited until mid-August to sell their skipper when Fabregas made it clear a year earlier that he wanted to rejoin his home town team. Nasri featured in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in August, before he joined Manchester City a couple of days later. The fact Arsenal didn't sell these players back in June, which would have meant Wenger could have signed new players throughout the summer, rather than wait until the last minute to get deals done baffled me. It is also one of the reasons that the club started the season so poorly, with the 8-2 defeat at Manchester United in late August being the lowest point of the Gunners season.
The good news for Arsenal was that despite their poor league form, they still managed to win their Champions League qualifier against Udinese. Arsenal won 1-0 at home and 2-1 away, therefore going through 3-1 on aggregate. This was just before the heavy defeat at Old Trafford and the fact they were in the Champions League rather than the Europa League meant that they were able to attract certain players to the club still.
Arsenal are usually quiet during transfer windows. They don't do a lot of business coming into the club, the most you usually will see is 3 in and a lot usually go out. Arsenal have lost a lot of big players in the last few years and are desperate not to lose their captain this year. Robin Van Persie is currently in a similar situation to Samir Nasri last year, so the ball is very much in the Dutchman's court, with only 1 year left on his current deal, which would also mean that he can join another club the following summer for nothing. Last summer, with the big players leaving, Arsenal needed to invest in the team to keep fans on their side and relieve some of the pressure on their manager. The Gunners made a splash in the last two days of the summer transfer window, with 5 players joining the club in those two days.
So, I ask myself the question, how did Wenger's signings do this season?
Carl Jenkinson - Charlton Athletic (Rumoured fee of approx. £1m): Jenkinson joined the club with very few fans knowing anything about him. This was because he had only made 8 appearances for Charlton's first team. Jenkinson had also been on loan to non-league clubs Eastbourne Borough and Welling United in 2010. Despite being born in Harlow, Jenkinson has represented Finland at Under 21 level, as his mother is Finnish. He has yet to play for the Finnish National side, which means he can still represent England at full international level in future if he wants.
Jenkinson impressed during the first leg of the Champions League qualifier against Udinese in August, a game that was his competitive debut for the club. Jenkinson was a regular in the early stages of the season. He made his Premier League debut against Liverpool at the Emirates in August, as well as playing he the return leg of the Champions League qualifier against Udinese. Jenkinson kept his place in the side in what was almost a second string outfit against Manchester United. It was the best that Arsenal could field that day. The Gunners were hammered 8-2 and although Jenkinson got an assist in the game, he was sent off, which made the task even harder for his team.
When Bacary Sagna got injured in the North London Derby at White Hart Lane in October, Jenkinson had a big chance to get even more playing time in the Frenchman's absence. In a 3-0 win over West Brom at the Emirates at November, Jenkinson suffered a back injury that kept him out for 3 months. Jenkinson featured in a reserve fixture against Norwich in February and then continued his recovery by coming on in the 5-2 win against Tottenham at the end of that month. Jenkinson was an Arsenal fan growing up and his Dad has had a season ticket at the club for a "40 odd years" as he put it when he signed, and his whole family support the club. His Dad even threw him a surprise party to celebrate the day his son joined Arsenal. Jenkinson said he attended the North London derby the previous season, so I would imagine it must have been an odd feeling playing in that fixture the following season.
He is popular with the Arsenal faithful because he is one of them. He's living every Arsenal fans' dream. He works his socks off every time he wears the shirt, and he wears it with pride, something any fan loves to see in a player. It is a huge step up to the Premier League from League One. As mentioned earlier, he was on loan in the non-leagues in 2010/11 too. So I feel that Jenkinson has adapted well to life in the Premier League. He has still got a lot to learn and a lot to improve on, but he is young so he has time to develop. It's a shame that he got injured, as he would have played a lot when Sagna was out injured. Jenkinson did get given a tough time against West Brom on the final day of the season by Albion's Marc-Antoine Fortune, the striker's strength caught Jenkinson out at the back. So I suggest that he bulks up a bit in the summer, so he can deal with the strong players that the Premier League has.
Carl Jenkinson in his Arsenal themed bedroom. I think it's fantastic to see an Arsenal fan playing for the club. It's also nice to see that he had the same duvet as me, same curtains as me, same Kanu shirt as me and the same Champions 2004 shirt that I did!.
Gervinho - Lille (approx. fee £11m)
Gervinho was a player that I had first come across back in his days at Le Mans. I came across him because he was linked with a move to Arsenal back then. I noticed that he joined Lille in 2009, which surprised me as I knew he was a player that had been on Wenger's radar for a while now. Given the fact he started his professional career at Arsenal's former feeder club Beveren, as well as coming from the famous ASEC Mimosas team that had produced players such as Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Salomon Kalou in the past, somewhere that Wenger knows a lot about.
Come 2011, Wenger dipped into his pockets and found what is believed to be around £10.8m to bring the Ivorian to the Emirates. Gervinho couldn't have had a better start to his Arsenal career if he had tried. He scored two goals on his debut in a friendly against FC Cologne. The Gunners won the game 2-1. He followed this up with some impressive display's in the Emirates Cup games against Boca Juniors and the New York Red Bulls.
Once the competitive season began though, things turned sour for Gervinho. On his competitive debut for the club, Gervinho was sent off after clashing with Joey Barton in a 0-0 draw at Newcastle. A warm welcome to English football for him. Just what you'd expect from Barton. He was therefore banned for the league games with Liverpool (2-0 defeat), Man Utd (8-2 defeat) and Swansea (1-0 win). He was still able to feature in the two Champions League games with Udinese and played well in these two games.
Gervinho clashes with Joey Barton.
He scored his first Premier League goal in a 4-3 defeat against Blackburn in September. He scored the first goal in this seven goal thriller. One of his best games in Arsenal colours so far came against Stoke on October 23rd. He gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead, before going on to assist Robin Van Persie twice in a 3-1 win for Arsenal. Therefore he played a massive role in all three of Arsenal's goals. His career at the club had started fairly brightly. He was in amongst the goals again in December, netting the third goal in a comfortable 4-0 win away to Wigan at the start of the month, before putting Arsenal 1-0 up against Wolves in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw just after Christmas.
Gervinho was impressive against Stoke in October.
Gervinho would go to the African Cup of Nations in the winter. He was the hero for the Ivory Coast in their semi-final win over Mali. Gervinho scored a superb winner in a 1-0 win, setting up a Final with Zambia. The game would go to a penalty shoot-out, with Gervinho missing the crucial penalty, meaning that it would be Zambia that were crowned the Kings of Africa for this year. I don't think Gervinho recovered from this. He came back to Arsenal and was a lot less effective than he had been before he left. He frustrates me as a player because he does a lot of things right, he just lacks the end product. I feel he has the ability, looking at his goalscoring record in France, particularly in his last season with Lille, you can't argue with it. He looked a little better towards the end of the year, he played well at Stoke, improved as the game went on against Norwich, but again was disappointing at West Brom.
The Ivorian team look dejected after losing on penalties.
After such a promising start, it's a shame how this season finished for him. I hope that he can improve next year, otherwise he may well become a player like Marouane Chamakh or Andrei Arshavin, that started so brightly, yet faded away so quickly.
Part 2 will be up as soon as possible.
Until then guys,
Come on Arsenal!!!!!!
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