Tag Archives: Yaya Sanogo

Yaya Sanogo leaves Arsenal – But who are the other Premier League flops?

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Yaya Sanogo has finally left Arsenal. And the fanfare in the British media highlighting him as one of the biggest Premier League flops in history is laughable. Yes, he did not do much in his time at the club, but it should always be remember that he did cost Arsenal nothing.

He was essentially a youth team player who failed to play a game. There are hundred of Yaya Sanogo’s who have joined a Premier League club for a free transfer (or nominal fee) and done nothing. I guess it just shows, stories about Arsenal sell.

In the interest of fairness, I decided to write a few words on some strikers who have failed to make the grade at top clubs, some of which were much more expensive flops than Yaya Sanogo, and all of whom garner less criticism than the Frenchman.

I will start with the man himself…

Yaya Sanogo – Arsenal – Free Transfer

On paper, Yaya Sanogo joining Arsenal should not have made headlines.

A 20 year old French youth international signed on a free transfer. A risk free punt. If it pays off, it is a sign of ArseneWenger’s genius in spotting top young talent. If it does not pay off, well no one really know about him, he would be forgotten about quickly and we would move on.

The problem with the Sanogo signing is the circumstances he came in under.

https://twitter.com/Highbury_74/status/872012160905478144

The summer of 2013, arsenal begun it by courting Stevan Jovetic, quickly moved on to Gonzalo Higuain, and finally settled on Luis Suarez, activating his release clause. Liverpool stood firm. Arsenal ended up with just Sanogo.

The reality is Arsenal should have secured one of the above mentioned names, and Sanogo should have gone into the youth team, but we cocked it up and Sanogo was suddenly thrust into the limelight. A figurehead of everything that had gone wrong in the summer.

Sanogo actually ended up playing 20 games for Arsenal, scoring 1 goal. 1 curious performance was when he was picked to start against Bayern Munich. He also played 120 minutes of the 2014 FA Cup semi final against Wigan.

Whilst he did almost nothing in his career, Arsenal fans should always be grateful to Sanogo for winning the corner that led to our equaliser against Hull City with 19 minutes to go of the 2014 FA Cup semi final.

Sanogo leaves Arsenal with an FA Cup winners medal (more than what Harry Kane has won at Spurs).

He might not have had the career at Arsenal he would have dreamed of, but it should always be remembered he cost nothing. A flop. But an inexpensive one.

Bebe – Manchester United – £7.4m

Sir Alex Ferguson famously spent £7.4m on Portuguese striker Bebe without ever having seen him play.

Bebe joined Portuguese top-flight side Vitoria on a free transfer from Estrela da Amadora in 2010 and played well in their pre-season friendlies, scoring 5 goals in six games. A few weeks later Manchester United made their move, signing the street kid.

Just two league starts for Manchester United in 4 years, Bebe was loaned out 4 times before joining Benfica who then loaned him out within 6 months. Two years and two loan deals later, Bebe found himself on the move again, joining Spanish side Eibar in 2016.

Spending £7.4m on a player you have never seen play is one hell of a risk. A risk that never paid off for Sir Alex Ferguson. At least Sanogo was a free transfer.

Iago Aspas – Liverpool – £7m

In 2013, Liverpool signed 26 year old Iago Aspas from Celta Vigo for a fee in the region of £7m off the back of a single season in La Liga.

Aspas played 14 league games for Liverpool, failing to score a single goal.

A year later he was sold to Sevilla, who immediately sold him on to Celta Vigo where he has recently re-found his scoring touch.

Fabio Borini – Liverpool – £10.5m

The second Liverpool flop on this list.

Fabio Borini was Brendan Rodgers’ first signing when he joined Liverpool for £10.5m from Roma. Big things were expected of the former Chelsea trainee.

2012/13 saw 1 goal in 13 games saw him loaned out to Sunderland for the 2013/14 season. Mysteriously, Borini was not sold by Liverpool after his poor spell on loan and in 2014/15 was once again part of the Liverpool first team squad. 1 goal in 12 games led him to have the fabulous record of 2 league goals in 25 league games for Liverpool.

Somehow Liverpool managed to recoup nearly all of their money for the Italian when they sold him to Sunderland for £8m, despite 3 poor seasons in the Premier League. I guess signings like Borini is why Sunderland went down.

When you add in Aspas, Liverpool spent £17.5m on 2 strikers who scored 2 league goals between them.

Romelu Lukaku – Chelsea – £17m

When you have millions to spend on players, no need to balance the books, and a sugar daddy with pockets that are amongst the deepest in the world, you can spend big on the likes of Andriy Shevchenko and Fernando Torres for a combined £100m and get very little return.

Whilst both of these are often labeled as expensive flops due to their return against their cost and hype, they did score 67 goals between them.

Romelu Lukaku was a different case.

Signed in 2011 for £17m from Anderlecht, he was immediately labeled as the next Didier Drogba, due to the fact he was a big, black striker.

In his first season at Chelsea, he struggled to make a start, playing just 8 league games and not hitting the net once. He was loaned out to WBA where he showed his ability – scoring 17 goals in 35 games.

A couple more games at the start of the 2013/14 season also failed to see a goal materialise and he was then loaned at once more – this time to Everton. 15 goals in 31 games was still not good enough for Chelsea to give him the chance and he was sold to Everton for £28m. A nice profit for a player who had failed to make the grade.

Last season he scored 25 goals in 37 games, which ha sled rumours of a big money move back to Chelsea this summer – likely in the region of £60-70m.

His transformation into one of the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League has made people forget about his Chelsea years. But there is no doubt if you spend £17m on a striker to only play him 15 times in all competitions over 3 years (and get no goals from it), he is a flop.

Lukaku could go on to be one of the highest scoring strikers in Premier League history. It makes it even more stupid that Chelsea signed him for so much and did not play him.

Jo – Manchester City – £19m

Brazilian striker Jo was signed in July 2008 under the Thaksin Shinawatra regime. 2 months after he signed for the club, Manchester City were sold and Robinho was signed.

At the time, Jo was being courted by many around Europe, seen as the next big striker to come out of Brazil.

His stay at Manchester City saw him loaned out 3 times (twice to Everton!). In 21 league games for the Citizens, he scored just once, and in 2011 he returned to Brazil.

Hélder Postiga – Tottenham – £8m

Under Jose Mourinho at Porto, 20 year old Helder Postiga led the line as the Portuguese outfit won a historic treble. Postiga scoring 19 goals in the process.

What followed was a big money move to Tottenham, as the North London club declared they had signed the new Thierry Henry.

As it turned out, Spurs had secured an average player who only got 71 caps for Portugal because there were no other options.

In his time at Spurs – 1 year to be exact, Postiga playued 24 games and scored just twice. He was sold back to Porto with Spurs recouping most of their original outlay.

Grzegorz Rasiak – Tottenham – £3m

On the final day of the 2005 summer transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur spent £3m on Derby County’s Polish striker Grzegorz Rasiak.

Rasiak had failed to fire Derby to promotion out of the transfer window, and, under pressure to raise cash to keep the club afloat, Derby sold him to Tottenham.

Rasiak was at Spurs for just 143 days – starting 5 games; scoring 0 goals – before he was loaned (and later sold) to Southampton.

Like many of these players, he is not an expensive flop, but a flop none the less.

Keenos

The Right Back Conundrum & Benik Afobe

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The Right Back Conundrum

We currently have a headache at right back. Mathieu Debuchy is currently head a shoulders above anyone else at the club. He is undisputed 1st choice.

The conundrum then comes with who should be his back up going into next season.

Hector Bellerin is just 19, and certainly has the pace and ability to be a long term contender to the 1st choice right back slot. He looked good against Stoke and certainly has a bright future.

Meanwhile, at West Ham, Carl Jenkinson is going from strength to strength. Another brilliant performance against Swansea for West Ham has led some to start talking about him adding to his sole England cap.

We then have Calum Chambers. Started the season so well, but has gone backwards a little bit, and has rightly been taken out of the limelight. Still just 19 himself, he certainly has a future at Arsenal, whether it be at full back or centre back.

Next season, 3 in to 1 does not fit in the race to be Debuchy’s understudy.

The issue he could be slightly resolved if we decide to turn Chambers into a full time centre half. This would reduce the competition at right back to two. But with us clearly needing an experienced centrehalf to back up Koscielny and Mertesacker (or replace one in the 1st team), that would then leave Chambers as 4th choice centre back. He is better than that. Conundrum not really solved.

If this is the option the club takes, it then leaves Jenkinson and Bellerin battling it out. Jenkinson has the experience – he would have played nearly 38 games for West Ham by the end of the season – but Bellerin is perhaps the more naturally gifted.

It is clear that Wenger backed Bellerin over Jenkinson last summer, as it was the Englishman loaned out, but perhaps the form of the on loan Jenkinson will perhaps see Wenger reverse the role in 2015/16.

Jenkinson returns to back up Debuchy, with Bellerin on loan, perhaps?

I think what is the likely scenario is a new centre back is bought. Chambers is installed as 2nd choice right back, 4th choice centre back, Bellerin is loaned out, and Jenkinson sold to the highest bidder.

It makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

Benik Afobe

So Benik Afobe is the next Arsenal in a long line of Arsenal youngsters to have been hyped up as ‘the next big thing’ who has ultimately failed to make the grade at the.

Now a lot of people seem to be disappointed that the England youth striker was not given a chance at Arsenal. Citing the performance against Manchester United in the League Cup and the fact that Yaya Sanogo is still at the club as the two main reasons.

The fact is, Afobe did not make it at Arsenal because HE is not good enough.

Over five years ago, rumours circulated that then 16 year old striker Afobe, was interesting Barcelona having put in some good performances for both club and country at a youth level. Alongside Chuks Aneke, big things were expected. Sadly, both have shown how hard it is to make the step up for talented youngster, to  breaking through into the first team.

Afobe is 22 in February. This means we should stop talking about his potential, and start talking about his ‘here and now’. And it is the here and now which is not good enough.

You look at the players he is currently competing with for a place in the Arsenal first team squad. Yaya Sanogo, Chuba Akpom & Joel Campbel.

Afobe is older than 2 of the 3, and is infact 3 years older than Chuba Akpom. Yet is behind all 3 in terms of talent and ability. Some might argue he is better than Yaya Sanogo, but you only have to compare youth international records to see that Sanogo is the superior player.

As for Joel Campbell, he is 6 months older than Afobe. He has already played in the Premier League, in the Champions League and in a World Cup. Afobe has not even played for Arsenal yet!

Finally, Chuba Akpom. Like Afobe, he has been rated ‘the next big thing’.

For me, whilst Afobe has not had his chance at Arsenal, he has had his chance at other clubs.

A loan deal to League One Huddersfield at 18 saw him score 5 league goals in 28 games. But rumours of him being arrogant and a ‘big time Charlie’ would have rung alarm bells at London Colney.

Over the next 3 seasons, he had 4 loan spells at 4 different Championship clubs. In 40 league appearances, he scored just 4 goals.

This season, he went on loan to League One MK Don’s, where he has performed well. 10 goals in 20 league games, 19 goals in all competitions. It would usually be enough to get you excited, but it is League One, and he is nearly 22. Had he had that type of scoring record for Huddersfield at 18, you could talk about his potential. Having that record at 22 probably means he has found his level.

You could point to Tottenham and the likes of Andros Townsend, Harry Kane & Ryan Mason, who between them shared 18 less than impressive loan deals, before breaking through to the Spurs 1st team in their early 20’s. It shows some players do develop later. But the question to ask is are any of those 3 good enough for Arsenal?. The answer is no.

Personally, I do not think any of Afobe, Akpom, Sanogo or Campbell are good enough for Arsenal and would not be surprised if none of them are with the club by the time the 2015/16 season kicks off.

Benik Afobe (and Aneke) is not the 1st to be hyped up massively – mainly by our own fans – to that not make it. A lesson learnt? Probably not.

Keenos

 

2 out at Arsenal but will any be coming in?

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See it seems this morning that both Lukas Podolski and Yaya Sanogo are set to leave Arsenal on loan until the end of the season to Inter Milan and Bordeaux respectively. What began as a reply on the She Wore Facebook page has ended up growing into a blog on the matter.

Firstly, I think both would have left in the summer, however the injury to Olivier Giroud (before we signed Welbeck) left us short and both remained. Sanogo was clearly in need of game time and Podolski had been surplus to requirement for some time, having been on the verge of leaving in the summer of 2013.

For one reason or another, neither’s Arsenal career has exactly hit the highs expected of them.

Yaya Sanogo has a lot of natural ability. Anyone who has seen him for France U21s will agree. The problem is he needs game time and to stay injury free.

Even before he joined us, he had injury problems. This led him to admit that he once considered quitting football:

‘I told my mum that because of my injuries I wanted to quit, I told her that I was ready to give up and go and work in the post office.’

Through no fault of his own, he was already starting his Arsenal career on the back foot.

Being part of the colossal mess up of a transfer window that was 2013, where we chased Steven Jovetic, Gonzalo Higuain and Luis Suarez, the signing of a 20 year old French youth international on a free, alongside his post office comment, led to   cruel mocking from Arsenal fans that all we had ended up with was a postman.

I could understand fans frustration’s, but they were targeted at the wrong man. Sanogo did nothing wrong. He was merely signed to the club, but became a scape goat. The anger should have been at Arsene Wenger, who failed to reinforce a sub-par forward line.

Sanogo’s signing should have been under the radar. A talented youth international who, given the right nurturing and time, could become a key squad player, but circumstances beyond his control thrust him into the lime light and onto the pitch when he clearly was not ready. It was not his fault.

If he gets game time and remains injury free  in France, he will score goals. I think he could return as a good squad player, and even if he is not good enough, wish him well. This is a kid who was just the wrong person at the wrong time.

As for Lukas Podolski, it is not really a mystery as to what has happened to him.

When we signed him, many spoke of a big risk, that he had not done it at his previous big club – Bayern Munich. Arsene Wenger probably thought he could bring his international form out of him. Unfortunately, despite showing glimpses, the same criticisms he suffered at Munich reared their ugly head. That he does not affect a game enough.

Podolski was always at his best (for Germany) playing alongside a big man (Klose) but two upfront is no longer in vogue. He is not quick enough, has enough skill, or good enough crossing to play wide left, and does not have the physicality or speed to play up top on his own. His one dimensional game is outdated with current formations. It is the reason why someone as talented as Jermaine Defoe is playing in America rather than the Premier League.

Arsene Wenger has come in for a lot of criticism from fans for ‘ruining’ Lukas Podolski, but I will defend him a bit here. Yes, he could have played him more, but the fact the Podolski has had the same issues at Arsenal as he did at Munich shows it is the player, not the manager.

Imagine an employee who blames his manager for his failings. He joins a new company, stating his under performance was due to poor management at the previous company. When at the new company, he shows the same failings again. Is it managerial issues at the new company? Or is it infact issues with the employee?

It is the later, and Podolski fits into the same bracket.

At Munich, Podolski played 71 league games scoring 15 goals. At Arsenal it is 59 league games and 19 goals.

At Munich he was manager by Omar Hitzfeld, Jurgen Klinsmann and Jupp Heynckes. At Arsenal he has been under Arsene Wenger. These managers have overseen:

16 league titles
12 Domestic Cups
4 Champions Leagues
154 international games

Maybe the reasoning behind Podolski’s failing at Arsenal and Bayern Munich is not the managers, but the player himself?

Of course, you could be petty and blame Arsene Wenger as he was the man who signed Podolski knowing his struggles at Munich. But that is petty and criticism for the sake of criticism.

Podolski has got a lot of love recently, but this is more due to his antics then his footballing ability. His instagram account, his tweets, his celebrations at Spurs. Maybe had he worked as hard on the football pitch to please fans as he did off it, he would have had a better Arsenal career?

I guess what sums up Podolski’s career at Arsenal for me is the away match against Galatasaray. Yes, he scored 2 great goals, but he was playing left wing. He attempted 0 crosses. This supports the analogy that if he is not scoring, he is not doing much else.

Good luck to both, but ultimately neither are Arsenal quality.

The big question is whether either will now get replaced. The answer is probably no.

On one hand, we do not need to bring in like for like. Between them, they have 239 minutes of Premier League football under their belt this season. With the likes of Sanchez, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Campbell and Gnabry in competition with Podolski for a place on the wing, and many of the above mentioned and Welbeck and Giroud competing up top, we are set for attacking players – unless a truly World Class striker is available.

We are still in need in defensive positions. The extra centre back and defensive midfielder. It is here we are likely to strengthen – using the wages saved from Podolski to reinforce. Personally, I would not be too surprised to see us buy a stop gap ‘utility man’ like Loic Perin who can cover right back, centre back and central midfield.

I doubt we will do much in January – we rarely do anything.

One a side note, the BBC have published an alternative league table this morning just for the 2014 calender year. No prizes for guessing where we finished…

Have a good New Years Eve, I am off to Southampton for the night before the game tomorrow. Good luck for 2015!

Up the Arsenal!

Keenos