With the arrival of Danny Welbeck at Arsenal on transfer deadline day, the chances for Yaya Sanogo to play in his favoured centre forward role were reduced dramatically, but with Olivier Giroud being out of action for the next four months or so, the young French striker should still get some chances.
The Gunners do have options like Podolski, Alexis and Walcott, but it seems as though Arsene Wenger has plenty of faith in Sanogo, as the 21-year old explains in a Daily Express report, and that only adds to his own strong self-belief.
Sanogo is well aware that he needs to get that first senior Arsenal goal under his belt, but he is confident that it will come and that it will lead to plenty more. He feels that he has already improved a lot after making the move from Auxerre in the French Ligue 2 and you would have to agree that his performances have surprised us at times after such a big step up.
Sanogo said, “Football is football, but it’s a bit like going from sixth to third all at once.
“It takes time to adapt. When you come out of Ligue 2 and you end up in a duel with [Man City’s Vincent] Kompany, it is not an easy task.
“In every aspect of my game I’ve evolved. When you train with great players every day, you progress. When you play big teams, it helps you gain experience.
“The fans expect me to score more, but once the first one goes in they’ll come.
“At 21, it’s not easy to play striker at Arsenal. You have to fight every day to prove his worth.
“But Wenger just pushes me to continue my work will eventually pay off.
“They [pundits] criticise me. But I’m always there, I’ll play, improve and score.
“Sooner or later, it’s going to happen.”
The young Gunner has not had any problems scoring goals in general, with a good record for Auxerre and at various underage levels of the France national team. He bagged a brace for the under 21s last week and should be in action for them again tonight against Iceland, so hopefully he can score again and return to north London and start doing it for us.