Arsenal decided not to offer new contracts to eight young prospects last summer, with some decisions more difficult than others. All had experienced some sort of first-team exposure, with only one not getting any first-team minutes. So where are they now – a year on?
Amaury Bischoff – Amaury claimed he had offers from Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica when released by Arsenal, but he eventually signed for mid tabled Académica. More injury complaints continued and he only managed one start, but was subbed off at half time. That said, he did feature three times in the League Cup before being loaned to second division side Aves. A further 8 appearances and one goal brought a successful end to another struggling season.
Vincent van den Berg – Currently playing amateur football for Excelsior Maassluis, Vincent has rejected offers from other amateur clubs to stay with Excelsior for next season. A selection of good performances have been mixed with the usual injury problems.
Rui Fonte – Returned to Sporting Lisbon but immediately loaned to Vitória Setúbal. Rui struggled for game time, making only start while 11 other appearances came from the bench. He failed to score any goals and is set to return to Sporting in the summer where he faces an uncertain situation.
James Dunne – The tenacious defensive midfielder joined Exeter City after leaving Arsenal. Following a sluggish start, he went on to play 18 times, scoring three excellent goals as The Grecians avoided relegation with an 18th place finish. Although he collected his usual red and yellow cards throughout his first term, he remains a firm favourite at St James’ Park.
Rene Steer – Full back Rene turned down a selection of offers to join Oldham Athletic. However, just weeks into his time with the Latics, an elbow in the mouth left the youngster needing surgery on a badly broken jaw and “serious” damage to his teeth. He eventually returned but first-team minutes has been hard to come by. Most of Steer’s football has been played in the Reserves last season.
Abu Ogogo – Popular figure Abu is one of the most successful players of last years released crop. He joined Dagenham and Redbridge on a two year contract, featuring 29 times and scoring two goals as the Daggers won promotion to League One via the Playoffs. A regular at right back, he is now a firm fans favourite and if he can tame his fierce temperament, Ogogo looks set for a solid career in the lower leagues.
Paul Rodgers – Paul returned to Northampton on a full time basis after a loan. After a shaky start, he made 24 appearances last season for the Cobblers, giving him a great start to his first season in League Two. They finished 11th last year and are aiming for promotion for the coming campaign.
Anton Blackwood – An injury hit and mistake ridden two seasons with Arsenal finally saw Blackwood leave. He since joined Tottenham after a trial on a one year deal. A selection of appearances in the Reserves and Under 18’s have seen him impress, but injuries are still an issue. That said, Spurs have given him another chance to show his true potential by offering him another one year deal.
There don’t seem to be any mistakes made by releasing any of that group. I expect the same will be able to be said if you right this article a year from now as well.
yeah they all look like they were the right decisions but I still think that Fonte had everything in his arsenal to be one of the best.
oops…”if you write this article”. Watching the start of Mexico and S. Africa…a little distracted…
great picture of bischoff!
he looks like a pub team amateur who’s hoping no one will notice he’s sitting in the wrong dugout.
good on wenger for lifting this guy out of the swamp albeit only for a season.
there’s hope for us all!
haha
hope for us all indeed
Dunne, Ogogo & Rodgers were the best performers, i have been following them since they left.
Glad for Agogo! I met his nan at a youth game and you could see have much she wanted him to succeed. I hope he has another good season. Shall have to keep an eye on him and James Dunne next season.
Does prove somewhat that not many players go on to better things when they leave Arsenal.
Bischoff screwed himself big time. He had a half decent chance of making it into AW’s books but he chose to left and fail miserably.
all of the players who were able to keep injury free seem to have had good seasons. steer must have been well unlucky to get an elbow to the face, it seems as if it ruined his season
wasn’t Ogogo the one everybody thought was the funniest man alive?
Umm…
Exeter City don’t play at St James’ Park, that’s the name of Newcastle United’s ground!!!!
The name of Exeter’s stadium is St James Park (with no apostrophe).
You’ve not understood at all. It’s important you know what you’re talking about before you try and correct people.
bischoff is a cunt, and blackwood is too
why?
bischoff because aw gave him a chance and he shoved it back aw’s his face, and blackwood because he joined spurs.
the next person 2 blog rob green 4 arsenal should b hanged and burned by the steak…
But I like mine medium rare!
to blame england’s failure on the nervous performance of a goal keeper instead of the fact that england were only able to score one goal, is terribly naive. The problem in the match was the centre midfield two and the adam johnson understudy on the left wing. i hate how time after time they show that howler on tv instead of showing heskey’s and SWP misses.
how much did england need theo to come on with 20 minutes to go and get stuff going.
Offtopic
But does anyone have any idea what formation we will play next year? Its impossible to play 4-3-3 with 5 strikers. it has to be 4-4-2 doesnt with Fab and Song midfield. I know this is a youth site but people here use their head unlike most places.
So what Formation will it be (NOT TALKING ABOUT TRANSFERS)
442 rvp chamakh front 2
442 rvp chamakh front 2.but we will go 433 in games aswell.
4-1-3-2
I like this fornation this is what Cheslea played all year a 4-4-2 diamond
but if Song gets injured then noone can really take over and play in his place. 4-4-2 is probably the best Formation for us to go with.
Fab wont be as effective but we will conceed less goal and will give a chance for everyone to play.
But bc do you think SOng and Fabregas can play in the midfield together? I dont think so we need a box to box midfielder when playing 4-4-2 someone who will go up and down the midfield again and again all day like Flamini used to do and the same thing as what Fletcher is doing righ tnow with United. I dont think a midfield of SOng and Fab can do this, Diaby and Fab yes but Not Song and Fab
We are going to stick to 4-3-3 that is really a 4-1-2-3.
Van Persie, Bentdner and Chamack will alternate for the role of lone striker.
If needed we will switch back to 4-4-2 with Van Persie, Arshavin, Nasri, JET able to play behind the striker.
we have 5 strikers not three and I doubt if they Van Persie is fit Bendtner or Chamak will even get a look in
With 4-4-3 you have 1 stiker, two winger and then your midfield and you need tall strikers to play as a lone striker to hold the ball up and then bring wingers and midfielders in. The defense is always exposed especially the fullbacks.
I think wenger will go back to 4-4-2 more compact, better form, all 5 strikers get a look in and wingers get to play aswell
This is what our team will look like next year with a 4-4-2 formation
—————– Chamak —- Van Persie —————
Arshavin —- Song —— Fabregas ——- Rosciky
Clichy —- Vermaelen ——— ? ————- Sagna
—————————- ?
GK – Fabianski, Almunia, Mannone
Fullbacks – Gibbs, Eboue, Traore
Centre Back – Djourou, Sol, Norvedit
CM – Diaby, Denilson
Wingers – Nasri, Theo
Strikers – Bendtner, Vela, Eduardo
Now I Dont want to predict who we will sign but from all the intense media speculation and Hill-Wood comments Schwazrer might be the keeper, Laurent might be the CB and either Rosciky or Eduardo might leave and Cole brought in their place.
I also wish we can keep Sol we need someone like him as a backup and in the dressing room but first team football oppurtunity with Celtic might be too good to refuse.
where is Joe Cole in your list???
The problem with young players is the consistency and concentration. In the same game they will play brilliantly and awfully. The problem for team is that during that time of experience they will concede points. It is something that a lot of team cannot afford that time.
Even Arsenal use the loan system in order to test and teach his players.
Most of the release players who have had a good run of play got better as the season went. It is likely that in a couple of years they will re-emerge at premiership or championship level.
For the others, unless they can establish themselves next season their future as professional footballer looks grim or at best as journeymen in lower leagues and even lower.
the 4-1-3-2 sounds good but we wont be strong enough in the middle ifeel we need a 4-3-3 again with song and diaby on the same team sheet with a creative player in front of them in the 3. have 3 strikers closer together but when the ball gets wide 1 drops of the 3 strikers with the other 2 strikers playing as a front 2 id play arshavin-chamakh-rvp with sagna and clichy using the wings. u might say not 4-4-3 again but if u think about it its the way fwd 4 this club we would have won the league last season if we had a better gk and gallas stayed fit or we had back up 4 gallas because sly is crap. we scored alot of goals in the 4-3-3 it was just how many we let in that let us down…………i dont doubt that……….. so we need 2 more signings 1 gk and 1 defender 2 if gallas goes…..
Last season we played two slightly different team shapes, in my opinion. Against the weaker teams we lined up in a 4-1-2-3, with Diaby employed further forward and the wingers pushing up more. Against strong sides like Barca, Chelsea, Man Utd, the team looked to be in a 4-2-3-1 shape, DIaby being moved back to shadow Song and work in tandem with him, and the wide players also lining themselves up with Cesc to form a bank of three.
Personally I like the 4-3-3 and its variations and think that it suits our smaller, but very technical players much better than the 4-4-2. RVP, Chamakh and Bendtner can all play the lone striker role very well, while those first two are also able to play out wide or as a second striker. That versatility should mean that none of them will find themselves frozen out at any point next season.
we have 5 strikers how will they get playing time ?
I loved 4-3-3 we saw some of our best football in 4-3-3 but how will these strikers and wingers get playing time get any playing time with 4-3-3
5 Strikers
4 Winger
– 9 players for 3 posiitons
and Van Persie will surely play upfront if fit same for Arshavin on the left wing
Its impossible for WEnger to play 4-3-3 and give everyone sufficent playing time
“we have 5 strikers how will they get playing time ?”
First of all, isn’t competition for places a good thing? How would it preferable for us to have too few strikers? Secondly, I can only see 3 strikers who are actually capable of playing the lone role. Thirdly, RVP is notoriously injury prone and cannot be relied upon, having Chamakh and Bendtner means we can rest RVP against weaker teams and keep him fit for when we need him most. And last of all, we don’t know if Eduardo will be staying.
i think we will play the diamond it will suit yaya and cole who will both play in our midfield once cesc leaves. the diamond will mean we can forget about trying to turn walcott into a winger and use him as a striker. we will then have 6 strikers competing for 2 positions. rvp, chamakh, bendtner, eduardo, walcott and vela.
i think this could be our line up
buffon
sagna, chygrynskiy, vermaelen, abidail
toure
cole, diaby, arshavin
rvp, chamakh
i know thats lots of transfer spec, so here is the team without any more signings or departures
fabianski
sagna, djourou, vermaelen, clichy
song
nasri, fabregas, arshavin
rvp, chamakh
personally, prefer the first team
We know that players at the World Cup (Van Persie, Bendtner, Vela) will not be able to have a proper pre-season training, so are likely to be left out of the team for the first month.
With Eduardo likely to leave that should give time for Chamack to establish himself.
Also Van Persie is also able to play on the left side of the 4-3-3 like he used to do for Holland.
Wenger also has decided that he want to have three tall strikers with good touch because he intend to stick to the new system. That new system requires the lone striker to have a physical presence to allow the ball to stick upfront when we are under the kosh.
Mexico and Denmark are unlikely to go far in the tournament, I don’t think we should be too worried about the likes of Vela, Bendtner, Song, Eboue having very short pre-seasons. RVP will be the big worry, I fancy Holland to get to the semi-finals at least so that could hurt us at the start of the season.
I agree with you on the striker front, we have three players with all the ingredients for the lone striker role so it seems as though the 4-3-3 is here to stay.
valentin: I dont think Eduardo is likely to leave and hopefully he will be a really important player for us next season, especially as you say with 3 strikers not getting a proper pre-season ands more importantly the rest they need. You could see the starting line up with Eduardo and Chamakh up front in August with the world cup players easing in that is what wenger done after the last world cup and the european championships. By the Way RVP played the right wing role for holland, they have now switched to
sorry, hit the submit button too early
holland have now switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation i think, which is basically what we need to do, to close a game down. i.e start with the 4-1-3-2 then to close it down remove a striker and bring on another DM
4-4-2 gets my vote.
We have played in it before, won everything with this formation, this formation works in england, everybody fits in it although Cesc wont be as effective as he was last season we will still score with 2 strikers upfront and good wingers in Arshavin & Walcott
bc,
Eduardo is going to leave. When Arsene Wenger states that the decision to leave Arsenal is the player decision and the player alone, it means that he wants the player to leave. In some case because he genuinely think that financially and sportively it is better (Viera, Gilberto Silva, Thierry Henry), in others just because the offers is too good to refuse from Arsenal’s perspective (Adebayor, Reyes). Eduardo has offers in England (Aston Villa, Everton ), but I believe that he is more likely to go to France (Lyon wants him) or Germany.
Why would he tread a player in a team in the champion’s league for mid table premiership?
Eduardo may elect to stay an extra year, but Arsene Wneger’s message to him will be that his playing time will be severely limited. Do not forget that he is likely to introduced some of the young players (Lansbury, JET) to the first team for the easier game before letting them go loan after the end of Arsenal Carling Cup campaign.
Regarding the involvement of Denmark and Mexico at the World Cup, the problem is not so much the length of involvment is the fact that the players would not have had a proper 4 weeks of rest. Mentally and physically, players needs to have at least four weeks completely blocked prior to the pre-season training.
Who from our current bunch will be released this season?
ozil ozil!!! wenger get him now!!!! if cesc leaves or not get this boy!!
one good perfromace and everybody wants him
@ gooner. I know him from Bundesliga and he is the real hit!!! Also we should go for Mueller like him that much!!! But I dont think Bayern will entertain any offers for him!!!
@ Gooner – It really isn’t one performance. He’s been brilliant like that for some time. This guy will be one of the best players in the world in a few years i reckon. I’ve wanted Arsenal to sign him for about a year or so now. He’s like Jack Wilshere with better pace. Plus he’s got the experience of playing in some pretty big games and he’s already his country’s creative hub at his young age of about 21/22. You notice how as soon as he went off, Germany created hardly anything at all? Big, big talent.
We have so many players like him Nasri, Arshavin, Rosicky, Cole (if rumours are true) and WILSHERE
I like Ozil too he’s brilliant with ball under his feet but we have players like him and we all know his price will sky rocket after the world cup.
ozil has been really good for a while had been watching alot of his game highlights for a very long time and he would be worth it but only if we lose someone and at his age he would be a good buy. i was shocked though that muller is only 20 years old, dang
now muller was someone we should have gone for great winger and technically sound
The biggest transfer saga of the summer continues to run and run, with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insisting that his captain Cesc Fabegas is staying put.
“I don’t need to talk about Cesc. He has a deal with Arsenal and we don’t want to sell him,” Wenger was quoted by the Mirror as saying. “I’ve spoken with Fabregas many times – as with all the players in the World Cup – but never about his future.”
GOD I HATE BARCA I HOPE MOURINHO DESTROYS THEM NEXT YEAR
again
“I’ve spoken with Fabregas many times – as with all the players in the World Cup – but never about his future.”
He never said a damn thing to Wenger
I PITY BARCA REALLY!!!!! WE GOT FAB FOR FREE AND ARE FRONT RUNNERS TO GET ASSULIN FOR FREE THIS YEAR.
NOW BARCA CHEIF AND BARCA HAVE STOOPED SO LOW THAT THEY ARE MAKING UP STORIES
AND WITH MOURNIHO IN CHARGE OF REAL THEIR TROPHIES WINNING DAYS ARE OVER AND ON TOP OF THAT THEY HAVE A 450m DEBT
MOURINHO WILL F##K BARCA UP SO MUCH IN THE PRESS THAT THEY WILL $H!T THEIR PANTS and will ask him to shut up and ask for “respect” then we can say “WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND”.
THIS DAY JUST GOT BETTER
FULLY AGREE I THINK MADRID WILL BE THE DOMINANT FORCE IN SPAIN FOR 2/3 SEASONS IF JOSE IS AROUND FOR THAT LONG
PEP WILL BE TOTALLY OUTGUNNED AGAIN BY JOSE WHEN IT COUNTS.
IF CESC GOES IT’S A HUGE MISTAKE. WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF GREATNESS NEXT SEASON THE LIKES OF SONG, DIABY, NASRI WILL REALLY COME THROUGH AND SHOW JUST HOW CLASS THEY ARE. CESC WILL END UP POTLESS IF HE GOES TO BARCA AND WE WILL START TO CLEAN UPIN THE TROPHY STAKES
HE’LL END UP WITH A HUGE TAG ROUND HISNECK OF BEST PLAYER NEVER TO HAVE WON A LEAGUE TITLE
HEERENVEEN – The talented Icelandic midfielder Ingólfr Sigurdsson (17) has a two year contract with an option for another season, signed with SC Heerenveen. The transition is remarkable, since Sigurdsson already released for the Frisian club. Eighteen years ago decided to move out Icelander Heerenveen KR Reykjavik. Sigurdsson is known as a great talent.
The English giants Manchester United and Arsenal have shown interest in him recently. Heerenveen hopes to continue to strengthen left-back Youssef El-Akchaoui. The Frisians moved earlier striker Bas Dost and defender Arnold Kruiswijk to.
Arsenal have made a fourth offer for 13 million euros for Laurent Koscielny
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Off topic, but why are international managers so horrible? Out of no where Cameroon doesnt start Alex Song.
I am so pi$$ed at Cameroon manager not starting Kameni and song makes no sense
THEY HAVE BETTER OPTIONS
They have better options?…..please never talk again
he’s a stupid manager simple as that
The only logical explanation i can think of is that Song and Kameni broke rank or something. They must have done something along those lines and have subsequently been dropped from the starting line-up.
What is Koscielny preferred foot? Some people say he’s left-footed.
Koscielny is right footed, but has played at left back.
Koscielny is two footed he can play LB or RB and plays on both sides of the CB
ANY IDEAS WHO WE ARE RELEASING THIS SEASON?
Gallas, Silvestre, Sendros, Sol
elia looked great today very sharp and direct would be a good signing for the squad??????????????
the dutch winger right but he plays left wing and we have Nasri and Arshavin on the left with Silva coming in January.
I am sure a top club will snap him up after the world cup he changed the entire game after coming on and had good body strength aswell
J
is wellington silva training with Arsenal right now, Brazil wont be playing for a month
I mean there wont be a game in brazil for a month