Giant defender Kyle Bartley joined Arsenal from Bolton last summer to a wave of controversy, with manager Sam Allardyce reportedly set to quit his job in fury over the transfer.
Injury problems including a broken ankle in pre-season training coupled with knee issues meant he only made a handful of appearances last season, and having moved from the family home to a small North London flat, Kyle found adapting a struggle.
But this campaign has seen a complete reversal of fortunes, and the player once nicknamed ‘The New Micah Richards’ is starting to show exactly why the Gunners forked out over £1 million to secure his services.
Bartley had the task of marking Didier Drogba on Monday evening, and whilst the Ivory Coast hit-man was far from his usual best, the Chelsea number 9 had little change from Arsenal’s athletic centre back. Kyle read the play well and never put himself in dangerous positions, but as time ticked on, he also took up the ‘Kolo Toure style’ role of driving out from defence with possession.
Arsène Wenger saw no problem to hand him a debut against Huddersfield during pre-season, and Neil Banfield had enough confidence to throw him into the team at Underhill, confidence which had been merited over pre-season. The Gunners faced non-league sides including Crawley, Worthing and Rushden, – teams which had little technical ability but possessed and rugged physical style.
He seemed to relish this challenge as Banfield’s boys only conceded one goal throughout the four games, and comfortably dominated against strikers at the other end of the football spectrum.
At around 6’4 Kyle has not only pace, tactical awareness, technique, and a clam mentality, but also fits the bill of the giant centre back most fans crave, and on top of that he is an England Under 17 International.
The youngster started off very shaky, but he is now firmly set on the road to success with the club.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Well he’s come from the Bolton school of defending, which may not be a bad thing in three or four years!
Pity we have to wait a while… I wonder if Wenger is okay with blooding centre backs early, or if this is one area he prefers experience?
He could certainly get a few minutes in the Carling Cup, he has been given a squad number, so i would say that signals Wenger’s intentions.
Thought he was dreadful against Chelsea.
In your player profile you have him down as 185 which 6,1ft, but here you state he is 6,4ft which should be 195
Appiah might be on his way!
I thought he played really well against Chelski and made Drogba (who is a big lump) look like a midget. He was strong, quick and read the game well. I was really impressed with him.
great site j,i thought he did well againest chelski.
and jam jam is there any real intrest from arsenal?
Sweet, this kid seems to be the Beast of a centre back that we need so should get a good chance in the future. Is he also good in the air? I know he’s tall but that doesn’t always tell the true story, look at crouch for example, he is massive but watching him head a ball has me in stitches most of time haha!
where have you heard about Appiah ? just the usual paper talk crap ?
seems exciting, defiantly potential in this kid.
For me it seems that he has all the basic requirements of a quality center back, now it’s only for him to train like hell and and work with his mind to get to use these abilities on a top level.
The CB position seems to be in secured hands with the likes of Norvedit and now Bartley. Add to that Gavin Hoyte and we have a WALL in the making.:)
And YES APPIAH seems to be heading the GROVE……
great insight as always j.
is there any news on appiah?
Imagine him and Nordtveit alongside Sagna and Clichy and Fabianksi behind them. What a defence that would be.
its about time we had a player with a clam mentality, i just hope you mean a closed clam cos if hes as open as some of the clams ive seen we’re in trouble!
do you think that either Bartley or Nordveit have a chance at Arsenal… i see Djorou and Song first in the pecking orders just after Kolo and William.
Fabianski? are you having a laugh? He is one of the worst keepers to come to arsenal in recent years, he flaps more than a hummingbird, i think Szczesny is a better keeper.
did you not see Fabianski against Seville ? its called telent progressing with quality coaching..
i just hope he succeeds at arsenal….and does no end up doin a upson..
i cant beilieve hes 6’4 and has pace…forget calling him micah richards….hes the new ferdinand…
Can we just clear up the Appiah thing.
He is owned by a Sports Media Company, like Tevez, and Wenger said he would never do business with a player who is owned by a third party.
Bartley sounds great, not sure about his clam mentality though!!!!!
Yeah i did see the seville game, and i’ve seen almost every other first team game he’s played in. One game dont show future talent, almost every game he’s had he’s been average at best, look at the stats.
bah I wasn’t impressed with him for the Chelsea game
Alex Song wasn’t very good until he had time and developed, I have seen a lot of Goalkeepers and he has great raw ability.
Fabianski and Bartley are destined for great futures at the club. Dont be suprised if Fabianski is pushing Almunia for the no1 before the end of the season…He has genuine quality in his position way, way beyond his years. Everyone saw the 5 goals shipped against them lot down the road but on the whole he’s been very good. Szczesny is a better keeper than Mannone tho…he really isn’t up to it mentally, has talent no doubt but so many have talent but not the mental strenght to deal with it.
David – Very much agree with that, he had great skills but the coaching staff here are developing him. He is only 22-23? he is now first choice for Poland, a country spoilt with goalkeeping talent.
thought he was good defensively and when bringing the ball out against Chelsea, his distribution was atrocious though. the amount of times he knocked the ball long out of play was incredible. hopefully this comes with experience.
i would have fabianski as number 1 already.almunia for me isnt good enough.if bartley and nortveit stay injury clear and live up to there potential then as jw19 said our defence in about five years could possibly look like this.
———-fabianski———
——bartley-nordveit——
sagna—————–clichy
Isn’t Fabianski only first choice for Poland, because of a dispute that Boruc got himself into? But yeah, it’s easy to see that Fabianski has talent. He’s definately better than Kuzzzzzak.
every singleplayer has raw talent that can make heads turn anytime anyday but it takes disciopline to hit the peak and remain there.lets just pray that these guys dont come under wrong influences or unwise advisers it will ruin them but they allhave the ability to thrive at THE ARSENAL. someone please give me somehting concrete on APPIAH.love from NIGERIA.
Everybody raving about Bartley, how good his he compare Howie at the same age
i think bartley is a terrific player. I have seen him a few times now and he continues to impress me. i hear he is always working on his game and his passing range is one of a midfielders. lets just hope wenger gives him a chance. bartley or hoyte?
i think bartley is a terrific player. I have seen him a few times now and he continues to impress me. i hear he is always working on his game and his passing range is one of a midfielders. lets just hope wenger gives him a chance. bartley or hoyte??
bartley was immense against Chelsea..
Appiah isn’t owned by a Sports Media Company which is based in LA in America. And Appiah is free agent and is free to sign with anyone with out any third party/
i know this is not a good source but it says current club arsenal?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Appiah
I’d like to add to irishgunners claim re: fabianski. I reckon he’s a better keeper then Almunia who at 22/23 wouldn’t have gotten near an international team. He looks a much better keeper. As for Bartley, I remember the hullabaloo when he signed and Fat Sam throwing a wobbler so he defo came highly rated so here’s hoping that he works well under Banfield and gets a run. I presume Nortveidt being away might give him alot more chances
J. Sanderson – how do you know Appiah is owned by this agency please???
He is owned by a company called Base Soccer Agency, they were the one who released the statements regarding his fitness.
He is listed here under there clients
http://www.basesoccer.com/clients
And it’s mentioned that he is owned by them in this thread
http://www.goonerforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2683&start=15
Sanderson,
I believe the DM has to be Clichy with Gallas on Left and Toure and Silvestre/Djourour in teh Centre with Sagna on the right. Clihy has enough energy to run all around in teh Centre from Left to right and Gallas should be Solid enough on left.
Do zû think it is possible. I really want to see Clichy in teh Centre. I remember his running all around when we played Armand Traore in the match against Sunderland.
Gallas left Chelsea because he didn’t like being forced to play LB
J Sanderson – Just wanna say what a great job you are doing with this site. I visit here reguarly and the read the articles and you are always the first to break the news on a transfer/team news/match report etc
I am interested to know your view of the likelyhood of the following players making it as first team players and avoid being released/sold:
N Barazite? – Wenger left him out of the training camp and doesn’t involve him reguarly in the first team. Is this a sign?
M Randall? – First team squad last year and now been demoted.
K Gibbs – LB or LM? Does anyone know? Does Wenger know?
P Rodgers? No involvement with the first team. Running out of time?
Would love to hear your views.
But by nature Gallas does not look like a central defender. He is quick to cover up his ass out. Or may be Silvestre is the person thought to be going to play in the left back.
But I really the best person now is Clichy. With Denilson in centre it looks like Fabregas is playing the DM role.
J. sanderson. – regarding appiah and the base soccer agency.
They are just a company of agents, not a third party company like MSI with tevez.
Their site lists jack wilshire and aaron ramsey as clients, so you assume wenger wouldnt have any trouble dealing with them.
The move may still be on…?
If you take the time to explore and read the ‘basesoccer’ website you’ll discover that they represent plenty of English based footballers, including our own Aaron Ramsey.
They provide a range of services for footballers – legal, financial, public relations, career management etc – and are based in central London.
I would say that it is highly unlikely that they ‘own’ any footballers at all, yet alone Stephen Appiah.
Whilst it is quite common for footballers in some South American countries to be ‘owned’ by a third party or business organisation, such practices are not allowed in the UK.
This probably means that Stephen Appiah is indeed a free agent and isn’t owned by any company…but that doesn’t mean that he’s on the verge of signing for Arsenal either.
Wow, ridiculous idea of putting Clichy in DM.
C’mon, Clichy is a leftback. Leave it as it is.
About Appiah. We were interested in him a couple of years ago and if we couldn’t sign him short term and see if he proves his fitness like Bischoff then why don’t we go for him? At the World Cup a few years back he was super for Ghana, he let Essien bomb forward while he looked after the back four. I can’t see how his signing would be bad for us at this moment in time. He would add depth to our squad and would give a 100% to secure a longer contract.
In saying all that I’d say it’s unlikely Wenger will sign him.
DENILSON!!!
I am worried we are getting kids like Bartley and co ready for a team like Man City with all the money in the world to do the heck they want. I just hope some of these lads will turn down the lure of mega wealth to concentrate on playing football with the team they grew up with. And we are no small team neither. We are up there with the best in the world. Here, I like Berbatov’s attitude when he rejected the last minute call from City with all the money on offer & chose ManU instead.
Appiah will solve the DM void and brings in experiecnce. Diaby was suppose to fill in the DM last season and this season but he can’t stay fit.
I was informed that they actually own the player not just represent him, but info regarding that is a little sketchy.
He says he has offers from West Ham, Marseille and a couple of Italian clubs, plus his high wages.
People compare him to Bischoff, well Bischoff doesn’t have giant wages, so he is worth the risk.
He won’t go back to Italy from what I believe. Juve treated him badly the last couple of years of his contract and he said he love to play in the Premiership so why not with us? I’d say his wages wouldn’t be too bad I mean how much can an out of work footballer demand?
Jamie, I just think that people are desperate for a new defensive midfielder so his name keeps popping up but I think Song could probably do an equally good job. People think more about his age and of how he played at the world cup. Well Song’s been fantastic in the last two international tournaments which actually took place this year and as you said his wages wouldn’t have to be paid for either if Song can step up. Oh and we could do without a player who hasn’t played for a year when the Premier League’s in full flow.
Hey I’m no fool. I’m sure Wenger won’t go for him. But I wouldn’t totally dismiss him as a player or signing.
song should defo be our defensive mid he is a class player. He is Strong composed on the ball good in the tackle seems to read they game very well and is good going forward too. He will be a legend
He did say he would love to Arsenal so I suppose Marko has a point about the wages thing, and West Ham aren’t exactly full of cash either, but I doubt we’ll sign him and we should assume that we’re gonna go to January at least with this squad because Wenger has said he thinks this squad is good enough.
You were informed wrong, he isn’t own by any one. Leave the senior players to other sources and stick with the youth game where you’re top notch.
i go with Song in the DM role. he is top class. he won the Young Player of the Tournament in the last African Cup of Nations by playing DM
Who needs to waste £8-10m on a CB when we have youngsters both here and on loan that are gaining seasoning by the game. The only player in our defense that I feel shaky about is big Phil; however, between Nortviedt, Bartley, that one big spanish bloke Ignasi, Djourou, Paul Rogers & Gavin Hoyte we have a lot of youth to shuffle about in terms of center backs.
Have you noticed how people always exaggerate height? Bartley is a big lad though.
Song for DM. The Arsenal website lists him as a defender though. AW seems to change his opinion each week on where Song will play.
CHELSEA
GO BLUES!
CLICHY DM…..WHAT CRAZY PERSON SUGGESTED DAT
CLICHY IS A LEFT BACK OK….NO ONE IN THE WORLD IS DOIN A BETTER JOB THAN HIM AT THAT POSITION SOO LEAVE IT AT THAT PLEASE
MY ARSENAL TEAM (NOT SURE ABOUT NASRI AND ROSICKY)
ALMUNIA, SANGA, TOURE, DJOROU, CLICHY
NASRI, DIABY, FABREGAS, ROSICKY
V.PERSIE, ADEBAYOUR
SUBS: FABIANSKI,SILVESTRE,SONG,DENILSON,VELA,WALCOTT,BENDTNER
I BET THATS WOT ARSENE FINKS ASWELL
watched bartley last night against aston villa, and he was terrific, won absolutely everything in the air and was a real leader.