– 91% of Gordon Watson (Southampton to Bradford, £550k) – 67% of Ged Brannan (Tranmere Rovers to Manchester City, £750k) or Kevin Davies (Chesterfield to Southampton, £750k) – 50% of John Ebrell (Everton to Sheffield United, £1m) – 22% of Paul Kitson (Arsenal to West Ham, £2.3m) – 16% of John Hartson (Arsenal to West Ham, £3.2m) – 7% of Stan Collymore (Liverpool to Aston Villa, £7m) The obvious place to start was up front: Ian Wright turned 33 during the 1996-97 season, and while he was still scoring with incredible regularity, it is clearly easier to replace one striker than it is to bed in four defenders or midfielders.Ī young successor for Wright, then, was top of the agenda. Yes, he had to get young players in as a matter of urgency, but get the right ones and he could transform Arsenal from a scrappy outfit with a poor disciplinary record into the fluid, beautiful team he’d always wanted to build. This was both a problem and an opportunity for Wenger. They had a reputation for bold, brash, dirty – but effective – football, but 13 players started at least 15 Premier League games for Arsenal in 1996-97, and only four of them were under 30: Paul Merson (28), Bergkamp (27), Ray Parlour (23) and Patrick Vieira (20). The problemĪlthough he inherited the side from Bruce Rioch, the Arsenal that Arsene Wenger walked into was really still just George Graham’s side, plus Dennis Bergkamp and David Platt. He is one of the Premier League’s greatest bargains ever. More pertinently, he joined the Gunners for just £500,000 and left for Real Madrid for £22.3million. Nineteen goals in forty-six appearances for Arsenal might not sound like the record of a player worthy of celebrating more than 20 years on from his signing, but as effectively the prototype for the lone forward which most teams play with today, Anelka had a big impact on English football. If I had any questions or problems I could ask them, they helped me a great deal.Nicolas Anelka only spent two years at Arsenal and left in acrimonious circumstances – but what a player and what a signing he was. All of them of course, but specifically those guys because of the language. The first were those who speak my language – Chicharito, Antonio, Nani. I'd seen them all on TV but to be amongst them, training with them, trying to communicate. “I was a bit nervous in the beginning because I didn't know anybody – I didn't know the manager or any of my team-mates. And of course, who wouldn't have felt very happy to be able to sign and join a club like this? It opened up a great way forward for me and I was very happy, and straight away I wanted to get in here, get on with training and get started. "The story was circulating that United were possibly interested in coming in for me, and I was very happy to learn about that. “I first picked it up through a newspaper article," he admitted. He had been alerted to the Reds' interest by the media, after helping Atletico win the Europa League and UEFA Super Cup in 2010. De Gea told Inside United at the time that he was helped by three team-mates, in particular, as he adjusted to life at this new club.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |