How Yaya Sanogo epitomises Arsenal’s transfer failings. by Precious Et Al
A few days ago, the premier league announced the list of players who have been released from their clubs ahead of the upcoming 2017/2018 season and in this list, Arsenal had three players- Kristopher Da Garca, Stefan O’Connor, and our dearest Yaya Sanogo. This is the very same Sanogo who having been afforded playing opportunities galore in the 2013/2014 season by Wenger, proved a colossal disappointment and showed nothing at all to justify the faith placed on him, with performances ranging from the mediocre to the absolutely shocking.
And, in that season, he lined up many times alongside Ozil and Cazorla- most notably in the champions league against Bayern; missing chance after chance as though it were his job description. All of this begs the question as to why was he signed in the first place? If in four years, he could only score one competitive goal, why then was he signed? Surely the scouts and Wenger couldn’t have made such a judgemental error? Well, news flash, they did. And it isn’t for the first time.
Time and time again, our approach has shown a club seriously deluded in its transfer dealings. A club passing on established talents to sign inferior players; in the erroneous notion that turning inferior players into world class talent will somehow justify the lack of genuine competitiveness in winning trophies. It most certainly wouldn’t; and so far, hasn’t. The few that managed to achieve a semblance of world class status have bolted once they realized their talents weren’t aligned with the direction of the club, and the players who managed to stay after achieving this semblance have either remained stagnant or continually produced declining performances- whether the stagnancy or depreciation is injury induced or not doesn’t excuse the flaws in our transfer policy over the past years.
If the youngsters we sign achieve stagnancy after a few years, or turn out just not good enough, or, worse still- leave us after nearing a resemblance of world class status, then, why do we bother? And then, when there is a chance of signing a genuine potential world class talent, we dawdle and lose out all the while seeking to unearth players from obscurity.
Having said that, in recent years, with the addition of genuine world class talent in Cech, Sanchez, and Ozil, our transfer policy seems to have changed for the better- and; in this path should we continue, even as we are faced with a decisive summer. And, if we are indeed pursuing talented youngsters, we shouldn’t dawdle. If we intend unearthing them from oblivion, we should get our facts right about their abilities so we wouldn’t end up having yet another Sanogo. And, we should also provide a clear enough path for the youngsters into the first team, so, we wouldn’t end up with another Gnabry situation.
Precious Et Al
We signed Sanogo after he tore up and helped France wins youth tournament. He was scoring for fun.
MT i agree with you in fact i feel sorry for Yaya he was thrown in to the deep end by AW and all because they were too tight to buy an experience striker instead they brought in a boy who had hardly any experience playing with seniors, what should of happened Yaya should of been playing in the Arsenal under 21 for a while and training with seniors to develop, don’t get me wrong Yaya is no Mbappe that guy is already been playing with the senior team for owe a year
some time you never know what will happen next after buying even a top top player, see what happened with Torres at chelshit, Fabre gaz and Hleb at Barcelona or Falcao at Manure, these were all flops. sometimes a player needs more time to adjust and most of the time big teams don’t have time. something q player needs to.adjust to the new system so it’s difficult to know what will happen when buying a new player it can work or not!
i remember TH’s first season with us for months he couldn’t hit a barn door if his life depended on it and everyone was ceiling him a donkey but after scoring his first goal then another in the same game ( correct me if i’m wrong ) in January, well you know the rest 🙂
so yes some take time to settle some are lucky their first few games are great and settle in fast, some miss their mum’s and dad’s and some lose their way, that’s where i have huge respect for AW for having the balls to carry on backing his players, but he has also has to buy tried and tested wc players to help develop your potential youth players
He did not develop as expected, and injuries took their toll. Vicinus Jr costed RM 40M this summer after winning U17 youth tournament, we have to keep investing in youth, every year we cant buy 3 players for 200M, take enough chances so each year we get 1 player from within
But we were also aware of his statistics which revealed at that time that he never completes five games in a row without getting a longtime injury. Anyway, we even got him on a free transfer. So we may not over lament about him
Sanogo
Squillaci
Kalstrom
Park
Silvestre…
Need I go on AW?
Couldn’t agree more!
The one thing i’d add it that with Sanogo – there was pedigree i.e. great goal scoring record for youth teams, was rated higher than Pogba for French Youth Teams so he was worth a punt.
But as is a trend with Wenger – the player stayed to long, stagnated and failed to produce or develop. Apart from one competitive match against Dortmund at home were he scored and was probably man of the match.
Sanogo or any other player who did not make it @arsenal is a risk worth taken…every big teams release/offload players who fail to shine.Every signing is a risk so stop your ignorant opinion and on the way forward for our great team#History#Tradition#Class
but there are those that are obvious, the 1st day I saw Yaya play, i noticed nothing spectacular in him, and thank God I was proven right.
I think why we signed sanogo was because he was for free
When is the last time we bought a player like Sanogo? Since Sanogo we have signed or brought in players that have improved us; Ozil,Bellerin,Welbeck,Sanchez,Cech,Holding, Xhaka.
Tacuma
Wenger bought sanogo back in 2013 and since then he has also brought in the likes of Viviano(i bet you can’t remember that name), kallstrom, debuchy
where are those Nigerian guys? Nwakali or something
Personally think we should continue with our transfer strategy. Yes we should spent the money on world class players if they would help improve the same. However the same goes for taking a chance on youngsters every team in the premiership releases players that don’t make the grade bit if u don’t give them a chance then who will. Just look at Hecror Ballerina, Rob Holding etc without taking a chance then they might never have come through.
but Wenger uses that as the only option, he says we have a huge squad and those kids are part of it, we need world class players but he brings in kids who help us win the Wenger trophy only.. but when gr8 players started arriving and FA cups started flowing, if he tried more we would have an EPL by now, but the clueless one is driving us backwards
What about Jerkinson, Debuchi and Wilshire?
Viera,Henry,Kanu,Ljounberg,Pires,Bergkam,Fabregas,Ozil,Sanchez need I go on…stop mourning over the 10% that didn’t go right…support your team at any circumstances#COYG
Jeffers, cygan, senderos, chamakh, djorou, gervinho, park, kallstrom, sanogo, eisfield, aliadiere, baptista, squilacci need i go on…stop making him look like the almighty when he makes mistakes that could easily be prevented
Don’t forget ??The Fox in the Box ?? F. Jeffers?
Oh… I’m Sorry, you named him first hahaha ??
and how many of this players did he also incorporate when they retired huh…
10% hehehe, guess you’ve been missing most of Arsenal’s transfer activities
Bruce Rioch signed Dennis Bergkamp, not Arsene Wenger. I wonder how so called fans don’t know Arsenal’s history?
It’s bad enough that Wenger loves signing unknown average/rubbish players with the view of turning them into quality players (Asano anyone!), but what’s worse, is that Wenger keeps these players around forever! One never knows if a transfer will be a success or failure, but when we’ve all had time to see just how bad a specific player performs, then why are they not moved on quickly, in some cases, never being moved on?
Sanogo has only just left us, Jenkinson is still an Arsenal player, Wilshere never even plays for us anymore, and is currently injured (as always), yet Wenger has already talked about a new contract for him! It’s farcical! Mertesacker was recently given a new contract, Diaby was kept around forever, Walcott’s on 140k a week, and has been around for about 11 years, the list goes on!
I haven’t mathematically figured this out yet, but I think mediocre/rubbish players under Wenger’s reign probably get on average, around 5/6 years at Arsenal, maybe more, for doing nothing! This will also include pay raises, again…for doing nothing! In many other cases, players are getting rewarded with new contracts for being chronically injured, and rarely even getting on the pitch!
It frustrates the life out of me that Wenger’s still relying on such poor talent, even when our financial position has vastly improved. I thought a lot of these players would have been moved on over the last four years, but no! We also have a transfer market that has gone completely insane, with average players like Morata being bandied around for ridiculous sums of around £70/80 million! Why are we not cashing in on our players that offer us nothing? Wenger’s only brought in just over £45 million over the last four years, that’s an incredible low figure, and it’s not acceptable. It’s a seller’s market, and we could have got big money for players, e.g. for Ramsey after the Euros. But Wenger kept him, and he’s been arguably our worst player this season (not a surprise), injured yet again (not a surprise), and has also had millions slashed off his valuation because he’s down to the last 12 months of his contract. It makes no sense!
We’ve all heard the phrase about Arsenal rewarding failure, and it’s true, there’s no other way of describing it.
very good points brother
what so bad about Sanogo, it was a mistake but not a horrible one. Wenger doesnt make expensive mistake that often compare to rival clubs. I mean, Sanogo was a hot player back then, so was Park, Kallstorm was signed as backup to our injured midfield. give it a break
You was doing great up until you mentioned Kallstrom, I even turned a blind eye to Park but Kallstrom was already injured when Wenger signed him and the delusional one knew that too lol?? Wenger even said “yes, I knew about his back problem but it was either him or nothing” and what’s even more funny is that the injured player he was supposedly bought to cover for, returned back to fitness well before KALLSTROM did.
hehehe and I remember we needed a striker to cover for Walcott that season, but the genius never does what people feel is the right thing, he does the opposite so that if it succeeds, he will be the best manager ever in the whole world
?? Has Wenger signed Mbappe, Lacazette or Lemar YET? Thought not ??Well, what did we expect when the old man took a year to sign himself, to his own contract.??
Why you moaning about Sanogo? When he cost less than a Wenger’s weekly wage packet. ? ?At the end of the day he was a cheap gamble that flopped mainly because of his proneness to injuries.
What You should be moaning about is the signings like Perez, who cost £17 million and was barely used even though he proved he could do the business when called upon. One of our issues for instance is that Wenger’s loyalty to some of his players is beyond jokes!
Wenger should stop signing players full stop
#outmeansout
Here you go… And you thought that the Spuds would rival us for this player because of Champions league football. I told you yesterday that the player wants Arsenal. ? ? But Noooo, my die hard fans thumbed me down yet again, assholes ??
Thomas Lemar is holding off talks over a new contract with Monaco as he is waiting to see if Arsenal will follow up their interest, according to reports in France.
The 21-year-old still has three years remaining on his deal with the Ligue 1 champions but L’Equipe claim that the midfielder is holding out for Arsene Wenger to make an offer.
hehehe, of the 3 Wenger targets, one reveals the boss made no offer yet, and still fans are excited. at the end of the day the phrase “we were not in for him” will infuriate everyone except the loyal Arsene fc supporters who see no fault in anything that Wenger does
The Lyon president has claimed that they have received a very nice offer from Arsenal for Lacazette ??But ?? But after saying that his star striker could leave ?? he is now stating that he isn’t going anywhere. ?? Like wtf is wrong with this fool? His Probably inviting other clubs for a bidding war with us.
I bet him and Wenger are best friends. They make work for each other???
Apparently, They had bust ups last year… ‘Clash of the Ego’s’ ?? its Gerrard Who-he-say that Wenger has a close friendship with and he is helping out with negotiations this time around.
i was curious about ousmane dembele after england game
so youtube scouted like a motherf
he is unreal – mbappe and dembele future of french football ? no- future of football
Not Wengerlike! Wenger is a man that likes to Make love to Failure incessantly like whore in the bothel to happy clientele. He can’t stop He won’t stop He won’t stop kiddie kiddie!
Why are we still keeping the flops after 10 season of failures?
Wenger gives them huge salaries, they we can’t sell them no more coz no club can match those wages. so we wait for their contracts to run down, though in a blink of an eye Wenger awards them with a new contract.. repetitive stup**ity
PSG President confirms we have made a bid for Lacazette
i meant LYON!
The title here got me laughing.
It summarizes my frustration with the Arsenal transfer policy. Well put article.
Michael
Didn’t Sanogo score a hat trick for us in a summer friendly? I think he scored 4. Can’t remember against whom though.
He did score 1 Champions League goal for us against Benfica. I appreciate that goal. Thanks Yaya
and how many has he missed? he and Giroud are miss-mates hahahaha
We renewed the contract of the major problem.
So we have at least another two years of crazy transfers whilst having the fourth highest payroll in the EPL.
Fabregas -viera -anelka -pires -bellerin -Walcott
Petite -Sanchez -Cech -Lauren -overmars
Van Persie -Adebayor- nasri -cliche -Sagna
Koscielny – ozil – Henry – iwobi – Dan Crowley –
Jeff rein Adelaide-
song – hleb (Barca bought them two)
But then Barca are crap arnt they
Lundberg-
Giroud keeping benzema out of the national team
Better minutes on pitch than Benzema for France
Kanu- silvinho- Wiltord -edu- SOL CAMBELL
– gio van bronckhost -Gilberto silva -kolo toure
-Mathew flammini AC MILAN-
Tomas rosicky- William gallas -Edwardo –
Lassana dirraa – Ramsey –
Thomas vermaelen Barca
O xlade chamberlain -arteta – yossi benayoun
Per mertersacker World Cup winner
SANTIE CAZORLA
LUKAS POLDOLSKI World Cup winner
Serge gnarbry Bayern Munich
Montreal- granit xhaka-mystiafi –
ROB HOLDING ?
WENGER OBVIOUSLY CANT BUY A PLAYER
To the guy who wants to know where Nwakali is……..he is a good signing for Arsenal…….I think he is better than most of the midfielders we have at the moment…….reminds me of a young Fabregas and Kante……….
I don’t agree with the rationalse for this article. All clubs/managers buy bad players. I can understand his logic , he’s young and seemingly had potential. Even when he was “better”, Wenger still bought duds. Jeffers and Richard Wright were examples as was Reyes, or Cygan and Stepanovs. Fergie at the same time bought Djemba Djemba and Kleberson, and Liverpool a few years ago bought Adam and Carroll.
I’m not the biggest fan of Wenger, but then cut him some slack, this is FOOTBALL, it’s not Arsenal-specific, not all buys can or will turn out well. Your logic here is a bit melodramatic and overly condemning, when shit always happens.
Gazidis and Wenger come under much WARRANTED criticism, but we need to have a more nuanced view of how they operate.
Before all this big money came in people looked for talents all over the leagues, cheap and talented, its the foundation of all clubs, now big money is in so buy/sell process has changed.
Clubs at a higher scale looks for immediate success, therefore the opportunity that use to be given for young players to develop in a squad is short and at most big clubs nil.
The way i look at it young players must be given the opportunity to the develop, if not in their club, in a club that will give them adequate or a pre-arrange playing time. This is provide the club with the necessary continuity or profit margin if put up for sale.
In the case of Sanogo he was an outstanding youth talent who i think has or has the the potential to achieve great things, unfortunately that did not happen and its not a team only seen in arsenal team but everywhere in the world.
So it is ridiculous to say we should stop doing that sort of GAMBLE.
In addition
Some parents are determine that their sons and daughters are going to be doctors, lawyers, and etc, while the sons or daughters are just a singer and only want to be a singer, therefore a lot of time and moneys are wasted in the goal of the parent, why not say to the child see how it goes for couple years , then if not, he/she tries something else of his/her choosing. I have said this, to say that Wenger have stuck with some players in the hope they will develop into some fantastic stars of the future,, when in reality too much time and money has been spent trying to get to a certain level, a time period must be set no more than two seasons and if no improvement that player must be moved on, the 6-7 years money and time could have been use to get a ready made alternative, football is not about the entertainment valve anymore , but money and trophies, so if arsenal want to roll with the big boys we will have to adapt the cut throat mentality and move on some players to get the ready made product
Between the ages of 15-17 Sanogo was probably the highest rated prospect in the whole of french football. However he had many injury setbacks between the ages of 17-19/20 stunting his progress, he even contemplated retiring and becoming a postman. Due to the potential he showed at age 16/17 I can understand why Wenger took a gamble on him, he didn’t cost much. Wenger shouldn’t be blamed for this, for every Sanogo there has been a good find like Henry. No young player is ever certain to succeed, I mean look at Freddy Adu. What Wenger is to blame for is keeping Sanogo for way too long, should have released him or sold him a year or two ago.