Johan Agwawandre Djourou, was born in Abidjan, (Ivory Coast), to Ivorian parents Joachim and Angeline, on January 18, 1987, however at just 17 months old, his parents split up, and he was later adopted by his father’s first wife Daniele, a Swiss woman, and he went to live in in the city of Geneva.
He quickly honed his football talents, enrolling at the Payerne Training Center when he was 13 before being signed by second division side Etoile-Carouge FC as a midfielder aged just 15, his talents were being spotted by some of the biggest clubs in the world, including Arsenal.
A few months into the season, Arsenal agreed a scholarship deal, to bring Johan to London to play in the Academy, before signing professional terms aged 17, and then international honors followed after being named in the Swiss European Under-19 Football Championship squad in 2004.
Having been used as a holding midfielder, the coaching staff decided to use his height and power, and put him to centre back, where after a brief setting in period, he impressed and was quickly called into Arsene Wenger’s first team, making several excellent performances, in the Carling Cup and as a substitute, but with injuries, he soon had his chance to shine.
After an superb break through season, he was called up to the Switzerland team for the World Cup, where he attracted many suitors including Juventus, and with his contract being up it seemed he would talk away on a free, however after short negotiations he penned a brand new 6 year extension, further proof Wenger has big plans for the utility man.
Last season he became a regular in the team with William Gallas spending long periods on the treatment table, and it seemed that with many fans having doubts over Phillipe Senderos he could become 3rd choice centre back in the side, he then started this term featuring in both the Emirates Cup and Amsterdam tournament wins before Birmingham City agreed to take him on loan until January 2008.
The loan had mixed spells, he was used in both midfield and defence, impressive performances against Chelsea on is debut were tainted with errors against Bolton, but Birmingham were keen to tie him to a permanent deal, something Arsenal rejected.
After returning in January, he played in the Carling Cup semi-final 1st leg against Spurs, but having been injured on his final game for the Blues, he was forced off, and would spend the next two months on the side-lines.
With now Phillepe Senderos, being an impressive option, and Alex Song’s excellent African Nations Cup spell, Johan had gone from being 3rd choice to 5th choice, and has had to return to the Reserves for game time, and to keep fit.
So it leaves us wandering what the future lies for Johan, if he was to be sold there would be plenty of clubs willing to take him on, but he is a worth keeping? could be play defensive midfield with Gilberto leaving in the summer?
What do you think, leave your comments below.
Article By – J.Sanderson
If Gilberto leaves then Song will move up the order for defensive MF. Can’t see him playing a lot for us, but he will prob stay for at least another season.
Most likely Song would be filling in as backup in defensive midfield once Gilberto leaves. Especially since he filled that role rather impressively in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Djourou will probably stay on as 4th choice defender for another season or two. Then it will probably depend on what happens during that time, whether or not he will stay on after that.
Such a shame if Johan leaves, he has so much talent, but Senderos has really kicked on this season.
I know Song had a good African nations tournament but i would be staggered if that alone put him above Johan in the pecking order. He has so much talent and like Bendtner and Theo just needs a run of games to show it.
Jimmy, Song has not been placed above Djourou in the pecking order by his ACN performances alone; he was incredible in the central defensive role throughout our Carling Cup campaign.
I think the general consensus is correct though; after an excellent loan spell at Charlton, and excellent performances during the ACN – where he was named Young Player of the Tournament – he will probably be used as a defensive midfielder. When Diarra left in January and with Gilberto completely off the boil, many questioned why Wenger didn’t sign a replacement DM, but I think it’s clear now that Song’s impressive performances for Cameroon have given Wenger added confidence in him to serve as back-up to Flamini.
As for Djourou, I feel that with William Gallas reaching the age of 31, his chance will come soon; however, he must be prepared to battle for his place with fellow compatriot Senderos, and young Norwegian Havard Nordveit. Come on Johann!
I hope he will stay though IMO he has been pretty poor this season. He can cover in midfield and will be a good backup when Gallas leaves.
could anybody give a brief comparison between djourou and connolly? I don’t appreciate djourou much as CB, but I haven’t seen a lot of connolly, so I’m just wondering what make djourou ahead of connolly.
I still feel that Djourou is better than Senderos and should be third choice!
He looked great at cm in the reserves last week, really rampaging through like a young Vieira. He’s not dominant enough at cb and looks bad unless he’s next to big phil. I like him and song beter than Diaby because they at least have some tactical awareness plus both can play cb too. Would rather see diaby leave and then buy a natural wide player but that won’t happen he will probably leave next year.
CC, I haven’t seen much of Matthew Connolly either, but from what I gather, he is a tall, strong, commanding centre-back, in the Tony Adams mould. Having captained the reserve team and having received a call-up to the England Under-21s, there were high hopes for him, but he has recently transferred to QPR on a permanent deal.
Johan Djourou is a tall, pacey centre back, who is equally adept in the defensive midfield role – the position at which he played prior to being converted to a centre back. Despite his size (6 foot 4) he is not as dominant in the air as you may have thought, but at the age of just 21, he has time to improve. In the two seasons prior to this, he looked very good for the first team, showing himself to be comfortable on the ball, and an excellent reader of the game. Unfortunately, as stated by the author, his loan spell at Birmingham was greeted with mixed reviews, and he has yet to feature since returning to Arsenal.
I think what sets Djourou apart is his versatility and quite simply, more potential. While he may not be a physical or aerial presence yet, at 6 foot 4, he could well become the dominating centre back we have lacked since Campbell – if given the chance, Senderos could fill this role too though. In addition, he already has a very good reading of the game, is comfortable on the ball, and has very good pace for a man of his size; he could become a complete defender.
I’m not a fan of Djourou I think he lacks concentration, has poor passing, not that good in the air despite his height and he is clumsy. Therefore I don’t think he’ll make it as a regular CB or CM and in a few years he’ll just get fed up and leave. Song deserves to be back up DM to Flamini because he’s shown more ability and determination than Gilberto has this season and thats why Gilberto hasn’t been in the squad for the past 3 games, he’s leaving in the summer for definite. There are some players in our squad that don’t deserve to be there e.g. DJOUROU, EBOUE, DIABY, HOYTE, TRAORE, GILBERTO, LEHMANN but only Gilberto, Lehmann and Hoyte will leave this summer permanently Traore will leave on loan.
I am not sure Djorou is 6 foot 4, maybe 6 foot 2, max. Senderos is taller than him.
He is a right sided player and could play in a number of roles.
I think he will stay and play DM. He could get in the first team next season if Flamini leaves as well as Gilberto.
Who would have said last season Flamini would be a regular and Hleb so improved.
No Senderos is definately not taller than Djourou. He is about 6, 1 whereas Djourou is about 6, 3. Senderos is stronger in the air though because his game is much more agressive. Djourou is sometimes still a bit nicey nice and can get bullied despite his stature.
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I think Johan has looke very poor all season for either Birmingham, Us and even in the reserves. He was def out shone by Song against Chelsea reserves last week.
I can not see any reason to keep him, we have Toure, Gallas and Senderos already – Song can play there and if really pushed, we could use Sagna or Nordveit (who i think will be playing in the carling cup team next season)
Gentlemen Djourou = 1.92 m (6 ft 3 1/2 in)
Senderos = 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
i think Traore should move up to midfield. I’ve only seen him play in one game with the 1st team and I wasn’t really impressed, but I’ve seen videos where he’s played much better and he seems to be very attacking. I would rather have him play on the wing than in defense. just my opinion.
I agree with Global , Sagna is a good bet
Stuart, thanks for explanation. I know Mathew has moved to QPR. what I don’t understand is why djourou has priority of staying to mathew. connolly, a home grown native english player, a life-time gooner, at the same age as djourou, is what we need in future. i’m not biased to english players, but had we got more native players, we wouldn’t be mistreated by refrees like what happened recently. the key is djourou has done nothing to impress me, lacking composure, mispositioning, keeping on making similar mistakes. the only thing he superior to senderose is his pace. I’m surprised that so many people rate him higher than senderos who is a very intellegent player, reading game very well. you may argue that djourou is 2 years younger, well, let’s go back 2 years ago, his recent performance could never compare to what phil did on WC06.
8:31 JamJam comment spot on – I had also added Diaby to my list of ‘out the door merchants’ after his tackle on saturday. I have supported him all the time especially as he has never really played in his correct position in the middle but that lunge left us in such a hole I cannot forgive at the moment! Going back to Djourou then his control is just not good enough. Players like Hoyte and Djourou should never be given longer than a 1 year contract because they are not good enough.
Djourou is going to be good and i would be disappointed if wenger lets him go…he has all the qualities gallas has and i see him as a long term replacement
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Djourou has everything to make him a really top top player. All he needs is experience & a lot more aggression in using his physical stature. For me definitely a CB rather than DM.
You have to have a lot of patience with developing players & so do they themselves. Probably a couple more years of filling in for him, then I am convinced he will be the ‘real deal’.
He is clearly a Wengerball player & may have been out of place at Brum. Injury has ruined his return from there & there is no doubt that otherwise would have had quite a few games, in this recent spell.
I was at the last game of last season which was away to Portsmouth. Djourou played the holding role in central midfield and was man of the match in my opinion. Fast-forwarding almost to now and a spot of deja-vu, I see him play his comeback game against Portsmouth again, but this time in the reserves. They also played him in central midfield once more and he produced another outstanding display.
I believe he is the nearest and best thing we have to a Gilberto replacement and I would love to see him get the chance to prove it
Interesting. I thought of him very highly as a top young CB until last year when he had a torrid time at Birmingham. He seems to lack the aggression at times to really dominate. With our mass of centre midfielders, can anyone see him breaking through? I hope so but I really doubt it.
i hope he stays. i rate him higher than Senderos. everytime i watch Senderos play, i fear that we will concede a goal from a Senderos’s mistake. he does not give me much confidence. let Djourou stay and learn from Gallas, Toure and Keown for another season or so. hopefully, he will become a better and dominant player. he needs to show more aggresion, for a defender. We do not seem to tackle in many 50-50 chances. look at rooney. he goes flying in in many 45-55 situations. this makes many defenders quickly clear the ball and send back the ball to manure players. we lack such players, and need players like this. Wrighty, Winterburn, Dixon and Vieira did this very well.