Norwegian Tippeligaen outfit Tromsø I.L have confirmed Arsenal’s interest in their midfield prospect Kara Mbodj, while agent Jim Solbakken admits he is exploring ‘new challenges’ for his client.
Young Guns broke the story of Arsenal’s interest in Mbodj in July, and also confirmed that representatives would be at last night’s clash with Molde. Kara impressed in the 1-0 defeat and after admitted he was aware that The Gunners were there to watch him.
“I know that Arsenal were here, but I try to shut that out in a game situation. I do not know what it is yet, but it is possible I will be in conversation afterwards.”
Sports Director Morten Kræmer later told VG.com he refused to allow any talks with the player but confessed he knew negotiations with interested clubs had already gone on with agents. Scouts from Hamburg and Genk were also present.
“There were several clubs here today, they have been here to see a match. There will be no meetings. There is no problem for us, they’re welcome to make checks. Kara can talk with his own agents and advisers. We have nothing to do with just that.”
Mbodj has been a revelation in the Norwegian league this term, turning in several dominate and powerful displays in central midfield. At home at centre back or in a holding role, Arsenal are thought to want to pay around £3 million, although The Daily Mail says a bid of £28 million will be lodged in January.
The key to any deal swinging in Arsenal’s favour lays with agent Jim Solbakken. He has close links with Arsène Wenger and currently represents Håvard Nordtveit and Sean McDermott. He opened the door for a potential move last week;
“We are looking for new challenges for Kara. But there is no hurry. Kara is doing well at Tromsø.”
Steve Rowley is expected to make further checks on Mbodj before January.
I hope you meant 2.8mil NOT 28mil, lol
why do we want this guy again?
Miquel?
Bartley?
and am honest here Djorou is doing some nice things
back up? future CB for arsenal? both pretty solid reasonings
he’s a back up for Song not our CBs
and J I seriously hope you mean 2.8 million
@ andrew….. YET he plays CB…. So therefore, he CAN cover there.
Dat wud be fairly crazy paying 28 mil for a 20 year old, he sounds like a good prospect, any news j on new contracts for szscesny and nordtveit, really hope they tie them dwn long term.
To be honest most of the time a player comes out and says ‘Arsenal are interested in me’ it never happens. Its like the kiss of death.
Why this bizarre disappointment at the potential of us signing a talented 20 year old CB/CM who could come into the first team almost immediately, and for such a great price?
If Bartley/Miquel/Frimpong/Coquelin are good enough, they’ll make it regardless of the competition.
Also, I believe Song has become a bit complacent, probably because nobody is challenging him for his place.
Mbodj might just be what we need to give Song a kick up the backside and up his effort. There’s nothing wrong with competition for places.
Frimpong is the only real DM player who has a chance of making it but you have to look at his injury record over the last 3 years and say it doesn’t look good for him
Coquelin is good enough to play in the CM/wilshere role and even as a fullback and he still has a lot to prove
Mbodj can really be the backup and sometime even partner Song as a true DM player
I watched this game, and Kara does not look like Arsenal quality. Good defensively, but his passing doesn’t look up to Arsenal standard.
I think the 28 mil mentioned is actually the number mentioned in norwegian Kroner, as it equals about £3 mill. Kara is a good prospect in midfield, could see him as a backup for Song. Tall and strong, at 6ft 3 he is also quite mobile and a good passer. His length is something which talks for him comparing him with the likes of Eastmond, Coquelin and Frimpong imo.
Greetings
Norwegian Gooner
A couple of things confuse me about this rumour!Firstly he would not get a work permit and secondly he would have to be loaned out for two years.
A more likely target is Espanyol midfielder Raul Baena…..
not sure about his work permit but his physique and his defensive qualities will fit well in england
The £28 million comes from a Daily Mail article, where they said we’d would bid £28 million. They’ve since deleted the article and replaced it (which they took the story from here anyway)
Sean, firstly it’s not a rumour, because even if you didn’t believe it before, Mbodj confirmed the interest today.
Work permits can also depend on where countries are in the FIFA rankings at the time.
Where did the story come from originally? A Norwegian paper?
These reports and quotes are all originally in Norwegian language and then translated. 28 million Norwegian kroner is equivalent about 3 million british pounds. Probably the newspaper got mixed up with the currencies.
Its pretty obvious that Arsenal would not pay that price for anyone, let alone a prospect in a 3rd or 4th tier league.
Ha the Daily Mail is a horrible horrible rag. Of course if this guy turned out to be as good as Paddy then £28m is a bargain but I’m guessing if we go for the guy we won’t spend more than £5m.
I can’t understand people knocking these potential buys. Song – 1 million, Diaby -2 million. Why would you want to wait and then have to pay 15 million. A lot of the players we came very very close to signing go on to be worth millions so i hope Arsene grabs these players when he finds them. If they don’t work out we will most likely get the 2 or 3 million back for them anyways. Low risk, high reward…how can anyone not like that?
haha..definitely not 28 million pounds. He did not light up the league either, but performed well, and people started to talk about him after Arsenal interest; which shows the mess at that club that they confirmed it, they are known for the “messy boardroom”. Anthony Annan has had interest over several years with nothing happening, so does not have to mean anything. Carew still got transfer record with 7 million pounds, as Diouf it is uncertain how much but most of the sum is paid in installments depending on performances
The original source of this story was the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, so it is reliable. VG added a bit to it with interviews after the game, and it is a tabloid and not reliable.
there is a local tv interview with him on the net already on the 9th of september confirming arsenal interest, but he talks in his tribal language with no translation
to make the story short, in july Bobby Bennet is interviewed in the stands saying he is there on a general basis to watch good players which he says Tromsoe has several of, in september Kara confirms interest from Arsenal and Everton, not the source, but says he is comfortable at Tromso. On the 14th of October, NRK (like BBC) says chief scout Rowley has been there several times, while chairman says Arsenal have watched him several times not confirming any name of the scout. Directly translated quote from chairman Morten Kraemer:
“We have not been in direct dialogue with Arsenal. This usually goes first through agents, which is also the case now. We can in any case confirm that the interest is there, that we may”
thanks for breaking it down for us
any idea if we can use this player or not
Andrew, for me I have never watched the guy, as I don’t live in Norway. I don’t know if anyone who lives in Norwat has seen him play. The Norwegian league is a much lower level than the English though, so from assumption I would say he would have to use much time to adapt. Probably more time than (also Senegalese)Diouf at ManU who came from Molde FK, and much more than Gamst Pederson who also got sold from Tromsoe who dominated the norwegian league to a great extent before moving but still used a lot of time.
NRK say he is versatile, but Arsenal mainly want to use him as central defender. I think we got great prospects there through what I read from Mr.Sandersons reports
You can not look at what others did and say he won’t adapt quickly mate. Also John Obi Mikel came from Lyn Oslo in Norway.
This kid can go fuck himself. The end
Alex thank for sharing your balanced statement with us, please spare us for any practical suggestions
Shane, true it is hard to say. Gamst Pedersen also had issues because of his physical build and being signed by another manager. Can actually not remember how much time Mikel used. But for my talent scouting skills…I never even came close to believing that Hangeland would make it,even though my mates told me he would.
Kara has got the physique, I can tell he is strongly built also seems like a good character from interview…similarly to Mame Biram Diouf in his professionalism and physique.
Going further back lots of norwegians adapted quickly, but the premier league has evolved. For example Djourou has plenty of Premier League experience still not regular, Nordtveit Bundesliga experience, Song can play there and Bartley seem to be doing very well in the Championship
Intresting i still think we need a defensive midfielder especially with height.
Its a sham for guys like frimpong, coqulin if they were 6ft 3 they would be in the team now arsenal have got too many midgets and too many playmakers not enough wingers or defensive minded players.
We need to get rid off some attacking central midfielders
hes not a multi million pound buy? i mean hes not like pluss 15 m? then hes not a marquee signing and most arrsenal fans dont want him. they want something flash. like yaya toure, who cares if this kids may be better than yaya in 2 years? IF hes not sold for more than 15m to us hes usless right? we want man city signigs so we can brag to our mates in the school yard right? No more fish and chips price players, only pure champange players are the shit! im 15 and i want money and bling and ladies not some stupid norwegian!
and Diouf and Kara has had the same infuence id say. They play in different positions and diouf being a striker would naturally get more publicity. You may hate the norwegian league and it may be lots craper than the English but damn they are big and hard up there. We like players that can take some and give some do we not? If he is talented he will adjust. Arsene has never bougth someone he has not belived can adjust.
If AW has the faith so should you. He has proven arsenal fans wrong over and over and over and over and over and over.
people moand about kos they moand about chamakh they moan about preatty much eberyone thats worth less than 15m. let them moan.
THis guy is a good player. he got all the right attributes. and hes cheap. just you wait, if another medium sized club get him before us people will moan ten too. Lorik Cana anyone?? i never seen so much moan as when he signed for Sunderland and not us.
he might make it, not saying that, but needs time. think it has a lot to do with attitudes, Diouf has top notch attitudes and is a humble guy to talk to. Mikel was an arrogant asshole when I worked at NTG where he was for LYN, the other nigerians were nice, but he was lucky to have mourinho I think. Diouf will make it, no doubt he has physiquue and top notch attitude so given this chance he will but seeing him play I never imagined Manu…so guess it is a reason these guys have that job for a living
Kara, I have got no clue…last year Senegalese Makhtar Thioune was by far the best player in the league, much better than Diouf but Diouf younger…Kara I got no clue never seen the guy, just think one year is usually a short time for Arsenal to buy a player, but they did that with Konscielny (phuh, hard name to spell)
I wish I could watch the norweigen league. This is one league I can’t seem to find. How good is Makhtar Thioune and what does he play like? Who does he resemble when he plays?
creative attacking box-to-box midfielder, intelligent, likes to drift out wide, plays on very small margins so he would have to learn (remember am no expert) how to be more composed to play for a mid premier league side. Physical built, but don’t use his physique particularly much, excellent attitude as with Diouf, but Diouf shy while Thioune is a leader but humble and very loyal.
but norwegian league is like league one or championship at its best. teams do not perform on a stable level over time, lots of varied level of performance from each team…so a jump for Kara or Thioune to the Premier League is a big one, the norwegian league is physical, less technical, fast counter football but far from the level of passing as the premiership and you can make mistakes in norway you can not afford in the premiership
thanks mate. All you need to be a good judge of talent is to focus on quality not quantity. Quality is when a player does things that would be good in any league.
For an attacking players, stuff like Elasticos, chip shots, vision and ability to pick out the pass, first touch…these things have nothing to do with the competition but show quality. The thing about quality is that when they player with better players, that will be even better.
Quantity is where most people miss judge talent. The biggest example of this is the Dutch league. There is always an Ajax or PSV player scoring 30 goals a year in that league but all of them do not go on to be top strikers in big leagues. Stuff like tap ins, slow dribblers verse bad defenders (Luis Saurez)…seriously how many times can you nutmeg players? lol. Goals from bad defending that would not be there in a top league…. These things have know relevance on how good a player will be in the Prem regardless of the 30 goals.
i hope we get him we need back up for song and there will be more competition for song.
http://www.matchhighlight.com/forums/view.php?topic=DL201010170522
Lorient game
Kara Mbodj is primarily a defensive midfielder. Without any comparison otherwise he has the impossing figure of Vieira in bossing the midfield in front of the defenders, and maybe some of his attacking qualities as well. Clearly one of the most promising players in the Norwegian League (wich I agree consists of teams with qualities ranging from one or two Champions League qualifiers to the Championship an below at the bottom. The Norwegian League can be physical so that says a bit of Kara, but it lacks the tempo of the best leagues in Europe.
I’m not a fan of Tromsø (all though I’m from the northern part of Norway) or any team in the Norwegian league, but if there was one player I’d have at Arsenal from there; it would be Kara. He’s far better tha Thioune anyway (The closest contender may be Henriksen at 18 from Rosenborg. But we’ve got prospects at Arsenal to fill this spot – box-to-box midfielder).
wenger will sign him january, vermaelen injury has just been confirmed long term
he will be a backup for Song who will be a backup for the CBs
Kara will play against Rosenborg tonight 20:00 norwegian time.
Seems like we are up for some competition for this guy…
http://www.ontheminute.com/news/news.php?news=26278
Time for Wenger to make his move? I believe it is. He will probably be avilable on the cheap and he is a very decent player (I have heard ;) )