Jérémie Aliadière joined Arsenal in 1999 as one of the brightest prospects in world football. Fast forward eleven years, and the Frenchman is back in North London trying to re-build his career.
Aliadière was recommended to Arsene Wenger after impressing in the famed Clairefontaine system. He signed a scholarship and the then 16-year-old went straight into the Academy side. The pacy striker was considerably successful at that level, scoring a record number of goals as Arsenal claimed the FA Youth Cup.
A promotion to the first-team followed. The 2001-2002 season saw Jérémie make his mark on the Premier League, making his debut against Fulham. He scored his first goal against West Brom in the closing stages of the campaign, leaving a positive impression on Wenger.
The youngster went on to play in the Carling Cup again the following year, as a class that featured Arturo Lupoli, Cesc Fabregas and Philippe Senderos took their first steps in the first-team. He scored four goals as the Gunners were knocked out in the semi finals. The impact didn’t go unnoticed though, as Aliadière won the Young Talent of the League Cup award. He also claimed a Premier League winners medal.
Those highlights were about as good as it got for the youngster. He missed nearly all of the 2004-2005 season through injury, then failed to make any impact when he returned. A selection of failed loans to Celtic, West Ham and then Wolves saw his development stall.
However, Jérémie returned to Arsenal with a point to prove. He again had to use the League Cup, but bagged goals against West Brom, Liverpool and Tottenham en route to the final, where he played 80 minutes in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea. That defeat proved to be the beginning of the end.
After failing to win promises over his future, Jérémie’s relationship with Wenger began to deteriorate. In January 2007 a move to Middlesbrough collapsed after Robin van Persie was ruled out through injury, and he was made to complete the season in London. He finally moved to the North East the following summer.
The £2 million signing snapped at Wenger after signing for ‘Boro, criticising his management style. He had a good start to life in the North, scoring against former club Arsenal and Manchester United. Yet he couldn’t stop Gareth Southgate’s side from being relegated from the Premier League.
Gordon Strachan replaced Southgate after a number of poor performances. After just one injury-dogged season in the Championship, Jérémie opted to leave. He trained with both Fulham and West Ham before a horrible knee ligament injury ended their interest.
Aliadière returned to Middlesbrough for training, from where he almost joined Dubai based Al Ain, only for a move their to break down. In January 2011 further transfers to Blackpool and Newcastle also broke down.
Despite their previous spat, Wenger offered his former player the option to train at London Colney two weeks ago. Jérémie is now close to full fitness, and with his former manager looking after him, expect to see the Frenchman back in the big time soon.
hope denilson is reading this coz right now hes headed that way.can’t believe he makes more money than me ‘life is unfair’.
Don’t be the jealous guy, sir. Not a good trait to have esp for a man.
Al-ain is Abu Dhabi based club not Dubai.
Very nice article j, keeping as informed about our youth product
Great article. And let me here suggest to continue this “where are they now” series. Would love to read such post about Arthur Lupoli.He was promised to make big, i remember!
They all come home in the end!
unfortunately, we may not want all them here in the end…
If he was a wide player he could have made it at Arsenal, some of these attacking players need to be more flexible and play anywhere in the front three.
I always liked Aliadiere, really thought he’d make it with us so I was gutted when he left. I hope the same doesn’t happen to Vela now, a few injuries and it could ruin a young player.
arsenal is more than a football club sure.only thing missing is trophy though.i wish aladiere d best.
saw some of his videos on youtube as an arsenal player recently and he was really good, especially the match against liverpool… dude he was pacy and technically awesome… but he needs luck now…
I thought he would ‘come good’ in the end but always seemed to be injured just as he was about to get a run in the first team. Also my cousin reckoned he was always to be found in the boozer in Southgate.
I wasn’t a complete Arsenal fan when he was here but I have seen him play against us and others and he looks very good. He is more experiance now so he might suit us better.
I personally like the fact that he is back training with us. It might be a good reminder for some of the younger players who think they are the next big thing or think they have it made. He was the next big thing ar one point in his career and he fell almost completely off of the radar. I hope that he can help some of our players learn not to make some of the mistakes that he made. Injurues are unforunate and not the fault of the player. Attitude is though. I think it’s awfully big of Wenger to let him come back and train with us after his accrimonious departure.
I hope AW gv him a chance 2 prove its worth again,gv hm a contrct as a cover up 4 injury.
The guy everyone will have to look out for is alban banjaku.
Been our best under 18 player this season.
Hes 16 i expect him to get faster, stronger, hes going to be one hell of a player.
I have finally found out hes the one who Wenger said didnt need to learn anything technically.
Him and chuks aneke
Seen you speak about him before. Very interesting name – Balkans origin? He’s English though right?, very very little hype surrounding him, just the way it should be.
Kosovan – go me :P Probably eligable for both.
I agree John the boy looks very impressive. Finally a very technical player. I was shocked at the technical standard of our players in youth cup and cut unterstand why he wasnt called up.
imo Bunjaku seems to be more impressive than Aneke who i also rate quite highly even though i think he is massively overrated on this site. i think Aneke has to work on his workrate and i think he would be more effective in a Xabi Alonso position.
How come England havent called up this boy yet? I know his origins are from Albania. Was he born in Enland?
Hes albanian.
I dont care to be honest. Hes a special talent.
But the defence in the under 18s concearns me alot.
I dont rate martin angha at all as a centre half. Think he would be better as a full back.
We need to sort out our right back, left back.
Elton montiero has looked really impressive probably our best CB hes the new Johan djourou. Hes really tall though i think hes about 6ft 5,6 he looks massive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9IdJhnhq4k Not sure where the info is from on this vid but says he was born in London? As you say, who cares that much.
6ft5 you say?? That’s taller than Squillaci non…? ;)
That’s nice of Wenger, after Jeremy criticized the French tactian now he is training with one of the best sides.
I’ve always liked Aliadiere and hope to see him in the Premier League
Jamie, would like to let you know that the player profiles is not working on your blog.
Great stuff by the way!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9IdJhnhq4k
looks a promising young player, seems him and the kid from barca would form a nice little partnership in the centre for the reserves next season possibly, with chuks surely going out on loan, along with ozzy.
I have been hearing gud stuff about d kid 4 a while probably frm john & some other fan of d site unfortunately cant see d vid cos am on cell, lets watch him closely & see hw he grows
Elton mOntiero has been really good for me.
Hes really tall but a bit skinny. But hes quite fast, good on the ball.
He looks a talent.
But he was one of the main reasons why we lost 10-1 to aston villa reserves.
Hes only 16 but hes not physically strong. Needs to bulk up which he will
Monteiro and Angha have been at fault for a alot of the goals we’ve conceded, even Bould said the defence has been really poor and should have cleared it. Agree on Angha just doesn’t look like a CB.
Apparently Bunjaku was born in Romford but i’m not 100% sure. I do know he’s been at the club since he was 7/8 years old. Like I said before I can’t believe England haven’t called him up yet, will miss out a great talent if they don’t act fast.
Alban was born in Romford, Essex. Used to play Sunday League and has been an Arsenal fan all his life. He’s one player who I looked at straight away and knew he was going to be something special. Very similar to Pastore/Zidane. His technique is flawless already.
Alban, the Romford Zidane eh… Well, lets not hype him up too much, leave him to develop in peace. Btw, we already had the Romford Pele so a Maradona is now due.
Surprised Wenger didnt convert Aliadiere to a right winger, everything about his game was perfect apart from his finishing! You never know he might be re-signed.
Last season it was Sol, this season its Jens, my money would be on Paddy re-signing next season!
Are we gonna sign all our former players? Come on Bould, Adams, Seaman…Get your boots on! We need you at the back.
Influenced by Bergkamp perhaps? Bunjaku looks like he has a bit of talent alright, interesting to see how his career will develop..
Maybe the defenders are good enough but maybe the defensive coaching at arsenalis shit
Waow, the youth defence is pretty rubbish, I didn’t see that coming with the brilliant defence we have for the senior side…Wait, Hold on! We don’t. This makes perfect sense.
That 10-1 defeat confirmed to me that we don’t have a solid defensive strategy from first team down to youth level.
Losing by 4 or 5 is bad but by 9 is simply shocking. That’s amateurish/pubteam level. If I was Wenger/Bould id panic big time but nothing for the them.
I hope we sort out this issue quickly bc without defence you won’t win anything.
Im sure I’m not the only one here who wishes Jeremie Aliadiere all the best with his career. A player with a lot of technique but terrible record with injuries… I don’t think he was ever right for the physical EPL. Left France way too soon as youngster.
If fit and sharp, id have him over Bendtner as he’s much more mobile and better technically.
I will always remember him for his world class display v Liverpool in the CL at Afield. He was unreal that night in 2007 when we spanked the scousers 3-6.
He must be ruing his spat with Wenger.But as they say,got what he deserved.
this kid has been shown a distinct lack of decency by a lot of clubs, first of all when he was going away on loan a lot, and recently when he has been trying to get a contract. if he’s fit enough to train with our first team, who the hell do newcastle et al think they are to reject him? these clubs should be begging for the scraps off our table. our rejects would grace 80% of the teams in the PL.
Hmmmm, JA 128 games and 14 goals. Nic Bendtner 151 games and 45 goals for Arsenal, plus another 13 goals for Birmingham and a dozen for Denmark. Rose-tinted spectacles methinks. Also JA was given far more chances than others at Arsenal, lets take Jay Simpson for example who’s overall goal scoring record is better scoring 29 goals in his career so far. I wish Jeremie all the best but lets get real everyone!
Simpson’s record is better, 25 goals in 117 matches, but all of them have come in the Championship. Aliadiere’s played most of his career in the EPL. I’m not saying he was ever good enough for Arsenal, but just comparing goals to Simpson is misleading.
a striker with 14 gls in 128 games. nuff said.