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The ‘youths/reserves’ section on the Arsenal official website confirm the signing of two long term targets Gilles Sunu from Chatteroux and Kyle Bartley from Bolton Wanders.
Sunu was originally a target for Liverpool, before deciding to move to Arsenal early this year is highly a rated striker in France.
Liam Brady on Sunu from Arsenal.com:
“He's an all-action centre forward,”
“We had him come to a tournament in Italy in late April and he did very well. He's hard-working and good on the ball.”
Bartley, who is listed as a striker on the Arsenal website. Is actually an England U16 youth international central defender.
The blurb from the FA website on Kyle Bartley:
"A physically dominant central defender with great strength, Kyle is an imposing presence at the heart of the defence. His strength and defensive reactions are assured, and he is confident when attacking the ball in the air."
Liam Brady on Bartley from the Arsenal website:
"We watched him play and moved quickly to get him when he decided he didn't want to sign for Bolton,”Anyway, the club usually try and make as little fan fair when they sign 16-17yr old players, but I'm sure we will hear more on these two signings over the next few days and months...
“He's big and strong, six foot three or thereabouts already and we're looking forward to having him here. I think he will give our Under-18s team something it lacked last season.”
7 comments:
Last season we had three problems: a) as Henry said, players did not have the patience to stay out wide,especially when playing 8-10 men defences b) our attacking players kept missing chances, and c) added to this we looked vulnerable on crosses in defence. These three things gave teams who played defensive against us (remember PSV) a real hope of nicking a point or three which is why we gave away more points to low ranked teams than to higher ranked teams. We beat almost anyone who had a go at us.
What has Wenger got this season to solve the problems a) a more experienced squad who hopefully have learned to be more patient and stay out wide and use the width of the pitch - especially the goal line, b) on the right freedom to use Eboue as a midfielder (Diaby, Hleb and Rosicky tend to go central) and a fit Walcott, c) On the left Da Silva? and perhaps Clichy. These changes may be enough to score goals. Maybe we need one more wide player who scores goals.
Scoring more goals would scare defensive teams and make it harder for them to break but we still seem to have that vulnerability to crosses: maybe Fabianski is seen as potentially better at dealing with crosses than Lehmann (and Almunia?), maybe Djourou and Senderos have improved their marking with experience, maybe Adebayor and Bendtner are improving as defenders on set plays, and Bartley and Nortfield will be ready in three years, but I would still be happier if Arsenal could buy an Alex or a Micah Richards right now. Any suggestions for an expereinced central defender with the power and ball skills to fit the bill?
You made a few decent points in the post above me but I can't stand the childish and unrealistic transfer targets so many people say. Alex and Micah Richards? Both? If Alex's work permit is sorted he will be at Chelsea and Micah Richards is not cheap. ALl that fuss and money for a central defender when Arsenal already have Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Senderos, Djourou and Hoyt as either regular centre backs or players capable of playing there. That would be an appalling waste of money. If you want to see Clichy on the wing it's far wiser to get a left back, not a centre back. Traore looks like he could be the real deal, but he still makes defensive mistakes due to his age, so Clichy is the obvious choice as left back. As for the midfield it makes sense to use Eboue on the right, Rosicky on the left and Hleb in the free role (as he played vs Inter) if you want to make best use of the players Arsenal currently have. As for Lehmann, he's a great shotstopper but his constant bullshit in the box clearly distracts the defense as he disrupts the flow of play so often during set pieces he clearly makes concentrating hard. Almunia or Fabianski would be my choice, Arsenal don't need a showman in goal, just a goal keeper thanks.
I have to say that Micah Richards would be a fantastic signing, expensive but well worth the money. He may be young but if he develops he could be one of the best defensive English players ever, and he's quite clearly ready now. I say defensive, as I believe he can play right-back, centre-back or as a holding midfielder. I'd love to see us snap him up & get rid of Senderos but I think any available funds will be used elsewhere.
I agree with most of what the two "anonymous" posters say. I would however interject that Senderos could make the step-up. So many were willing to write him off as a 20 yr old.. give the guy a break so he slipped up against an experienced striker once or twice but was excellent otherwise... I see him taking up Gallas's place in the side to form a nice partnership with Toure.
Also remember Arsene has just signed one of the best young 18yr old defensive talents too..he'll be looking to make the step up soon too. And if you are still not satisfied then Arsene has also brought in 6ft3inches of 16yr old Kyle Bartley...
Djourou is way ahead of Senderos. The one thing Senderos lacks is pace, which is vital at the highest level and something that you either have or you don't, you can improve it but not drastically. Djourou is a man mountain & is very quick & is only 20. He's the one to take Gallas's place in the side. I think Senderos is squad & will stay until he gets fed up of sitting on the bench.
My worry is that both Djourou and Senderos lack concentration.
TBH I don't particularly like Gallas either.. if he needs to organise his defence and be better in the air.
Who knows perhaps the captainship will get him to pull his finger out
I think we DO have a defensive problem on our hands. Though given Arsene's calmness on the situation we should probably have faith that the Djourou situation is firmly in control and probably somewhere in the agreement is a clause allowing him to return if we have a center-back crisis.
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