Quincy Owusu-Abeyie inspired memories of Dennis Bergkamp when he joined Arsenal after an education in Ajax’s famed Academy, yet the quick-silver forward now finds himself attempting to blaze a trial in the cash-laden Qatari league. His, to date, journeyman career seems a million miles away from the potential he showed as a Carling Cup hopeful.
Quincy was born in Amsterdam to Ghanaian parents and was quickly signed up to Ajax’s world famous Academy system. Although he ticked all the boxes in terms of talent, his disruptive nature meant the Dutch giants decided against offering him a contract and a chance to become a first-team player. He was quickly shipped around Europe and Liam Brady handed him a trial and then a deal. 17 goals in 20 games for the Under 18’s justified the decision to snap him up.
As Owusu-Abeyie turned 17, Arsenal signed him to his first professional contract. However, the negotiations were done via an unlicensed agent, and the Gunners were fined £10,000 and given a suspended two-year transfer ban. A fast, energetic and skillful winger who could play up front, Quincy had the complete package to become a fans favourite. Several forays in the Carling Cup brought assists and applause. Just as things were on the up, the off the field issues tainted his career once more. He was arrested at the PFA dinner in 2005 and then fined by the club after turning up late for training on various occasions.
In January 2006, Wenger finally had enough of his attitude and placed him on the transfer list. Theo Walcott was brought in from Southampton as an almost like-for-like replacement and on transfer deadline day, he left England for Spartak Moscow. His first six months in Russia were difficult. He was not trusted to start often and after being used as an impact sub, Celta Vigo signed the Dutchman on a season-long-loan with a view to a permanent deal. A paltry 4 goals in 21 appearances saw him quickly returned to Spartak.
After switching his allegiance to Ghana and featuring in the African Cup of Nations, Quincy’s stock was rising again. High flying Birmingham City added the winger to help boost their Championship promotion cause. A debut goal and several outstanding performances put him on the verge of a deal, but City couldn’t stump up the funds to buy him and the loan was not extended beyond January. Cardiff City then took up the agreement with Moscow following a failed trial with Tottenham Hotspur, but he never got back to full fitness and was again sent back to his parent club.
Spartak were desperate to sell the troubled youngster who reportedly had angry exchanges with the clubs chairman. A memo was sent around Championship club’s telling them they could have Owusu-Abeyie for a “small fee” believed to be as little as £100,000. Bristol City had a closer look, yet decided against parting with the cash. With no deal on the table, he buckled down and made the most of an awkward situation with Spartak. In January 2010, finally, he was back in the big time.
Relegation threatened Portsmouth loaned Quincy for a bumper £1 million fee for 6 months. After earning star status helping dispatch local rivals Southampton in the FA Cup, Spartak pulled the rug from underneath him. They returned £500,000 of the money to Pompey, who were in administration, and sold him to Qatari club Al-Sadd.
Now plying his trade in a league famed for giving legendary players a final pay day, Quincy is still trying to make himself into the legend he looked destined to be.
Poor quincy, remember a league match which replaced henry.
Poor quincy, remember a league match which in he replaced henry.
Apologies for going off topic straight away. If the 1st team manage to secure 3rd place with a decent result at Blackburn, might AW include JET, Lansbury or even Bartley on the bench against Fulham (Championship having finished by this time). On several occasions in the past AW has included young players in the squad for the final game of the season. (I haven’t included Sunu in the list due to his injury and likewise Gilbert & Simpson because i don’t think they have a future with AFC).
“comment by R
Apologies for going off topic straight away. If the 1st team manage to secure 3rd place with a decent result at Blackburn, might AW include JET, Lansbury or even Bartley on the bench against Fulham (Championship having finished by this time). On several occasions in the past AW has included young players in the squad for the final game of the season. (I haven’t included Sunu in the list due to his injury and likewise Gilbert & Simpson because i don’t think they have a future with AFC).”
Fulham have nothing to play for and if they’re in the Europa Final will have played just a couple of days before so it could be Kids V Kids. Plus our internationals may not want to risk injury in a meaningless game before the world cup
LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLoWZBsWzY
That Kid did have talent its amazing how he is throwing it all away most kids would love to have been as good.
Great update was wondering what happened him.
Had pace, trickery, and ball control. Too bad he didn’t have the attitude to match.
he did quite well at portsmouth when he played.
i think metzelder is now going to schalke but i don’t think arsenal were really ever going to buy him
Wat de hell has Wenger got against playing Carlos Vela. I just watched a goal he scored recently for Mexico against New Zealand and it was top class, he really has the potential to be one of the best strikers in the world.
Dont feely playing to sorry for Quincy Owusu Abeyie because he is earning a stack load of money playing for Al-Sadd.
I ment to say do not feel sorry Lol.
There’s no evidence that he’s earning loads. A lot of famous older players have gone to UAE and earned loads of money, but he’s not got the fame or success that would warrant a large amount of money.
WHO’S JACK JEBB?!?!?!
I must say, I really like this feature J.
Great article once again, J. Perhaps you could do Ryan Garry or Matthew Connolly next?
Thanks very much, guys. I’ve a few players on the list, I’ll add those to it.
Saw his only ever Premiership start (Portsmouth 04/05), he got an assist for one of TH14’s hat trick that day. He was subbed by RVP, how their career paths have gone in different directions.
Yeah J I really like these posts as well. When I was an Arsenal fan 7 or 8 years ago, I never really knew much about our youth teams, so I missed out on a lot of players and team history. PLease keep on doing these features!!:D
Arsenal goalkeeping solution lie in the PL, heres why
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/384952-arsenal-need-a-keeper-wenger-will-find-one-in-pl?just_published=1
hey JS,
with the homegrown rule coming into force next term, i was just wondering if you would be able to use your bags of knowledge to let us know which of the current first team squad currently qualify as ‘Home grown’? and how much it will actually effect us. i feel will be hit biggest when we start to get our regular 7 injuries at a time with the squad limited to 25. i feel you could feel me in with a quality article. :D
Homegrown rule clarification:
Clubs will have to announce a 25 man squad at August and then in January after the winter transfer window. Out of these 25 players, at least 8 have to be homegrown, which basically means being trained for 3 years when they were 21 or under by ANYONE in the ENGLISH or WELSH systems. That means that for example if Arsenal sign Danny Welbeck from United, because he has been educated in Manchester he will be classed as homegrown. Anyone who is under 21 is eligible to be counted as over the limit of 25 players.
I think for Arsenal these players are homegrown: Vito Mannone, Wojciech Szczesney (as of August 2010), Philippe Senderos, Johan Djourou, Gael Clichy, Kieran Gibbs (as of September 2010), Armand Traore, Francesc Fabregas, Denilson, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Fran Merida, Theo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner.
Source: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5560131,00.ht
all these player qualify as homegrown
Mannone, Clichy, Djourou, Diaby, Cesc, Song, Denilson, Bendtner and maybe vela (not sure about him)
hey, J.great posts. keep it up man
off topic-just wanted to know if the young stars we’re linked with are true…like Dorrans or Sarabia……… and are we watching anyone very recently???
oh sorry again….but wanted to know if Jack Rodwell rumors are true….would love it if we join us…don’t want to miss out England’s bests although wilshere will be England’s best but Rodwell is one i also like
If Jack Rodwell comes up for sale this summer, i doubt that Arsene Wenger would pay the money needed to get him from Everton football club.
it will probably be United who get him they dont care how much debt they oncur
Arsenal Have Never Been Better Than They Are With Wenger?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/385452-arsenal-have-never-been-better-than-they-are-with-wenger?just_published=1
we could sign assulin and sarabia for free in the summer
i doubt it dude but Assulin will be the player to get
As someone who has followed Assulin quite closely, he’s just another overhyped FM youngster. Has potential, for sure, but will end up as a middle-table player in La Liga – considering how many Barca youth prospects have stepped up under Guardiola (Pedro, Jeffren specifically at the same position), there must be a drop in his development. Though I hate to say this, an equal point could be made about our own Carlos Vela.
we had a 2 year transfer ban??
It was suspended, basically if we do any transfers again with unlicensed agents then we will get that 2 year sentence plus the current one.
Cruise named in England U19 squad, together with Jones from Blackburn who we have been linked with recently.
Wenger is saying that we’ll definitely sign one player before the world cup!! Is it Chamakh or could it be someone else?? I’m kind of hoping for a surprise and the whole Chamakh thing would be anti-climactic, but he’s a very, very good player. If Cruise made the under 19’s does this mean that he might still make it at Arsenal?? I’ve seen a few posts on here that have suggested he won’t make it here. Hasn’t he been injured a bit this year?? I can’t watch the youth team games because i can’t afford to subscribe to Arsenaltv.com so it’s hard to keep up with how players are developing and such. I’ve never seen Phil Jones play before. I HAVE seen Abel Hernandez of Palermo play a few times, and I can see he is a true ANIMAL!! Veeeeerrrrrry strong!! But he doesn’t want to leave Palermo right now, so I don’t think we will get him even though we have been linked with a transfer for him:(
Cruise is a good LB but nowhere close to level gibbs is and we have tried to play him as a Cb but he has been out of position a couple of times
Signing before the World cup is chamak for sure
and after that I hope we go for a Gk and a CB
YG I know Wellington SIlva is a winger but does he play on the right or the left any idea or can he play on both wings
He’s right footed but he usually plays on the left wing for Fluminese, although I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t do a bad job on the right either.
how good is Phil Jones, J? are we really after him. if we’re a post with his profile would be appreciated… i don’t think Fat Sam would want his talents to move to the Arseanl
Well Phil Jones only has a two year contract at Blackburn Rovers according to the news papers, so if the kid wants to come here, getting him might not be that difficult providing Arsene Wenger puts a decent amount of money on the table and does not think he can get him on the cheap, which would/will probably mean we loose out on yet another very talented young player with a bright future ahead of him for both club and country IMO.
how good is Phil Jones, J? are we really after him. if we’re a post with his profile would be appreciated… i don’t think Fat Sam would want his talents to move to the Arsenal
I’ve seen Phil Jones play a few times, well on Match Of The Day that is, but he’s been outstanding on all occassions and he’s sort of a young John Terry imo, he’s not scared to get his body in the way of the ball and he works VERY hard for the team. He’s got a strong tackle on him too, but not reckless.
How tall is he? that;s what I want to know because I really havent seen him play and when I saw his profile on wilki then it said 5’11 which for a defender playing outside of england maybe ok but not for one playing in england.
Vermaelen is 6 feet and a 5’11 means we are too short in the height department.
if he plays as RB then I dont mind but not a CB
There is barely a difference between 6’0 and 5’11…