Arsenal have released Mark Randall after deciding against offering him a new contract. The 21-year-old, who spent last season on loan with League Two outfit Rotherham, is now a free agent.
Arsène Wenger revealed in October that Randall was still part of his plans, saying he ‘has so much quality’. That was from the man who promoted him to the first team five seasons ago, only for his development to stall after failed loan spells MK Dons and Rotherham.
Mark only ever made two Premier League appearances, but was a regular in the Carling Cup, showing some excellent form in the 2008-2009 run, as well as playing in the Champions League.
Randall follows in the foot steps of George Brislen-Hall and Roarie Deacon, both of whom were released last month.
finally…
should of kept Giorgos Efrem a lot better player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eze07ApDDog
This will, I’m sure, sound harsh but about time, too. Unfortunate for Randall but while Wenger has been determined for him to fulfil his potential, players like Fran Merida haven’t been given the same opportunities.
I wonder if – in part – the reason for Wenger being so keen for Randall to succeed was to appease his critics who say Arsenal lack an English spine and Wenger doesn’t like English players. I guess no we have Wilshere, Lansbury, Afobe et al – Randall’s development is no longer a part of Wenger sticking two fingers up at his critics.
That should read “now”, not “no” […] “we have Lansbury, Wilshere, Afobe et al”
I think @Joss and others are right. If you can’t get into the Rotherham first team, especially at 21. You aren’t going to make it at Arsenal.
Randall is one of those players who promised so much but never really delivered and in the end he did stop others players from getting a fair chance.
I think I’m still aggrieved Nordtveit was never given a genuine chance at Arsenal. Promised so much and seemed to do well in pre-season but then spent two days on the bench at the Emirates Cup, while players like Randall were given an opportunity (not that he could have taken his place, just saying) and then was never given a first team opportunity.
I’m glad Nordtveit moved on to get his development back on track and hopefully Randall can do the same.
I can see Mark bouncing around clubs for a few years. I hope for his sake he finds a club that will nurture him because he is a talented player.
in fairness he didn’t even get into the rotheram side on a regular basis so easy decision for the staff and Wenger to make this decision. good to see them being brutal with regards to not offering contracts to players who dont deserve it, might just be an eye opener for the one’s that are borderline weather they make it or not
finally. because of him others never got a fair chance. he was a great prospect once but stopped getting any better 2 years ago.
too bad he never fulfilled his potential
Others such as Barazite who was imo way better, not even getting one carling cup start, unreal!!!
ahh well i’m sure he’ll do okay elsewhere, couldn’t see him fit in the team anyway.
I feel for the lad, he has had a great opportunity but blown it.
Lets hope it is a kick up the back side, as he does have talent to play at a reasonable level. he could easily play in league 1 if he knuckles down.
Good Luck to him whereever he goes. I feel he needs a smaller club.
Finally! I hate to sound harsh but a player with his ability should be standing out amongst his peers but unfortunately for him his attitude stinks and to bf honest with you all I am pleased he never made it,just goes to show you that you can have all the talent in the world but if you don’t apply yourself properly you’ll end up never fullfilling your potential.
watch arsenal new signing gnabry playing for the nt http://tv.dfb.de/index.php?view=3350
Is he #11?
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His attitude was indeed horrible while in the reserves. Never seen a young player drop his head so often when working harder was the required response…all while acting so bloody arrogant.
His attitude has apparently stunk for many years (even his antics at Rotherham stunk). It’s why it’s so hard to feel sorry for him. Had the chance billions would kill to have, and had the talent to achieve it, but arrogance got the better of him.
It seems to be the right decision but I still expect him to become a solid PL footballer at least, possibly an international, at some point (it may be a number of years before that happens, however). Still, we have too many young midfielders who are clearly better than him, and to be honest we have had for a long time.
I don’t really know why people say he has a bad attitude, never really had that impression of him. That said, I haven’t seen THAT much of him, just enough to know he has quite a lot going for him, purely from a footballing pov. Good luck to him in any case. If it is an attitude thing, I hope he turns it around sooner rather than later.
He will be a championship player next season.
lol i remember saying to my mates years ago that this boy will be an arsenal legend. oops :P
He made his debut with us at the age of 16/17 didnt he? that shows the kid had talent just never fully fulfilled it
innit`? ;)
Couldn’t say this came as any sort of surprise.
I think the decision they took to release him was right, i could remmenber 2 year’s back he was showing some promising signs so wenger saw those signs and gave him chance ahead of other but he fail to take his chance and now he is even worse than before also he can not break into the first team on loan in league two so how can he make it at arsenal so i wish him the best where he will carry on his career and i hope he will rediscover those his promising form one day.
i wish him luck, i’ve got nothing but good wishes for all our kids who don’t cut it here.
hopefully he can do a sidwell and find a club where he can establish himself and grow.
About freaking time.
Once rated along Wilshere, Gibbs and Lansbury. The first two have already received their English caps. Reminds me a bit of Harley who when at Chelsea was considered a future English international. It’s the nature of the game. Wish him the best.
Shame that looked a good player when he broke through. Can someone expand on his attitude looked up for it in the games I saw. Seemed to have be goodfootballer + fighter..
I would have expected him to go. I think his showing at Rotherham almost guaranteed the end of his claims for top tier football (at least in the short term and with AFC). I really like Lansbury and feel he is one of us. However, after one full season with us in the coming year, I’d not be surprised if he is also moved on. Why?
Because the talent we have in midfield mades it difficult for me to see what new qualities he could offer our current squad – let alone after any buys that occur over this summer. I hope he does prove himself this season and proves my fears unfounded.
In the meantime, all the best to Mark in his future.
The timing of this is no coincidence and isn’t down to Wenger suddenly deciding he’d had enough chances, this was always going to be his judgement day (or month) for Mark Randall. The reason being that he will need to be registered to play next year in the EPL. While a player is under 21 at the start of the year he has the luxury of not taking up a squad place. After that point he needs to have earnt one of those 25 slots. I noticed that he’d reached the end of his last safe season last week and wondered when he’d leave but thought we might get money for him.
Hi
On the PFA transfer website it says that Tom Cruise is also available on a free transfer. How many players do think Arsenal will release this year?
Deacon, Gbh and randall. Here is another 22 that can go as far as i am concerned Almunia fabianski Shea mcdermott eboue squillaci hoyte boateng cruise traore eastmond denilson diaby Rosicky Arshavin watt sunu Murphy bendtner emmanuel-Thomas Vela meade. That would bring our squad down to a more realistic 39 players. Would bring in about 60m to spend and god knows how much saved in wages. We could then afford to bring in about a dozen quality players including a few freebie with experience.
Thats a shame if true, Cruise is talented andI think we could have got a decent fee for him. Also a gooner from Islington and been at the club since he was a kid.
I guess Gavin Hoyte will also be released after he’s recovered and maybe Rhys Murphy aswell who never fulfilled his potential.
Murphy has signed longterm contract in winter, so they wanna keep him apart from his injuries, they wanna give him a chance
Hoyte, Murphy, Watt, JET, Eastmond, Sunu, Coquelin, Bartley, Traore, Botelho, Gibbs, Mannone, Vela & Lansbury all of this lot are entering the last year of their contract some big decisions to be made.
http://www.arsenal.com/search?q=murphy&x=30&y=11
Wenger and his favorites…this is more than one recent player that he got wrong. Is it just me or is Wenger becoming a bit more senile?
Mark lives 4 doors away from me in MK. Sorry to hear the news, being a Gooner. Good luck mate and maybe see you at MK Dons now?
Just goes to show the difficulty in getting accross the great divide between star youth and senior pro – very difficult step and the one the is least predictable. Given every opportunity to make it and can only reflect on his own inability to grasp the opportunity. Will still probably make a career as a pro in lower leagues.
maybe his dream is not a footballer but to be a doctor or something else? Sure money is good but that is not everything in life. Not everyone wants to be a footballer despite being a terrific talent and playing for a big club. I also has many talent but choose something i really really wants to go for instead of taking a easy road in a area you obviously had much easier for.
Mark might do the same thing he is young and probably has many thoughts in his head. I wish him good luck in whatever he choose to do.
Going to be a struggle to apply himself to be a doctor if being ready to play football is a bit much of an effort.
While we’re on the subject of pending dapartures, I wonder why Vela’s name is not yet doing the rounds!? Surely, for ‘Mark and Rotherham’ you could substitute ‘Carlos and West Brom’ and expect the same outcome!
I do not think he is what we need and cannot see him making a regularly positive contribution to the team. The problem is that his profile has dwindled over recent seasons and I’m not certain if we would acrue a decent price at sale. Maye, we’ll bring him back for the Carling cup next season to see how he goes (best case scenario) or to increase his selling price if not quite what we need (worse case scenarion but – in my opinion – the most likely one).
I’d also list Watts and a few others among the potentially sensible departures.
Hmmm very interesting – I sold him on FIFA just yesterday, does this mean I should be Arsenals manager?
It is a bit sad because we’ve lost a generation of young players really: Merida, Simpson, Barazite, Fonte, various others whose names I can’t remember and now Randall too. It just goes to show how hard it is to develop footballers to the standards demanded at the highest levels.
Good luck to the lad, I’m sure he’ll be welcomed back if he gets to play against us sometime.
This could be used as a call up to any 15-18 year old who think they have made it already.
Well at 21 you’re no longer youth. And with Arsenal’s first team looking to add players from outside the club, and with only Lansbury, Miyaichi and Frimpong who seem likely to make the step up from the youth, it’s no real surprise.
Randall isn’t good enough, and that’s been apparent for a while now. Good luck elsewhere.
Do you not consider Coquelin or Botelho to be candidates for the senior side next season?
I’m of the opinion that Coquelin is a more technically gifted player than Frimpong, and he performed well in Ligue 1.
2 years too late with this release
It always puzzled me how he has lasted this long. At 21 if he isn’t seriously knocking on first team door then the decision to let him go was surely an easy one. I used to think he had the look of a West Ham player but the way things are going he will be lucky to get a League 1 club. I imagine the incident over commuting to Rotherham counted against him.
Truth be told…. i think his release is fair. i heard we havent signed jenkinson yet???? hmmm….. Mr. Sanderson… could you elaborate?
John- where are you. Another one of your world beaters gone.
about fucking time!
Cruise has also been let go.
About time.
George Brislen-Hall is staying at Arsenal check his twitter.
Cruise – I guess that ship has sailed!
There are few players we need to let go and I like how we are releasing them now as it shows we need to cut put the dead wood.
Does anyone think afobe will get a chance to play for the arsenal next year i would love to see him in the first team he really has alot of potential.
what a cracker of a match that was, i take my hat off to barca. One thing must be said about wenger and all his silly critics. He has transformed this club. We used to play in a 40000 stadium now 60000.Barca and Utd have 70000+ world class stadiums n we are catching up. He transformed our football from kinda boring to nearly imitating barca. we on the right track. I think the foundation wenger has built for this club will only be seen in years to come and his legacy will only then be appreciated. If only we could have a b-side in the championship to nurture our young talent we would be on par with barca.
Don’t really get Thomas cruise so him leaving won’t be a big disapointment in my eyes,few others could join him like hoyte and murphy who I if they stayed for another 5 years they’d still be no better than they are! I’m not sure afobe should be pushed into the first team squad next year,I still think he needs to have a good solid loan spell at either a premiership club or top half of the championship club like wilshere,Gibbs and Lansbury amongst others have,we can’t expect a player who’s played half a season in league 1 to produce for arsenal yet,it’s a completely different kettle of fish,throw them at the deep end somewhere else and let them prove that they can handle the pressure and if they can’t then well tough luck,if a chance to play for one of worlds best clubs is not enough of a motivation then they’re not the type of player for us,end of.Just look how well wilshere did at Bolton,Lansbury at Watford and Norwich,miyachi probably needs another loan but what he’s done at feyenoord outstanding,coquelin at lorient,bartley at rangers,botelho at whoever that Spanish team is lol and even
mannone deserves to at least nick manuels spot after his performances at hull,reward the hungry ambitious ones that show their worth,the ones who like Randall have countless loans,prove nothing,play with an attitude and show complete lack of respect for their loan clubs well they can join the spuds for all I care,reward achievers arsene not under achievers.
Frimpong,Henderson,miquel are 3 others who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the first team without at least one loan,if they’re as good as arsene thinks they are then they’ll prove their worth to their loan club and come back 10 times the player they are now! Apologies for my long message everyone
I hope Randall sorts himself out and becomes a good player!! I remember a year ago when i was 21 and not knowing what I wanted or what I was looking for…you could say I have an attitude problem, but most people don’t know exactly what they want at this stage in life!! They can’t all be bad people!! It doesn’t matter how much natural talent you have…if you don’t realllllllllly want it badly enough, you will notmake it. It goes for being a musician, a professional footballer, a doctor…every occupation in life!! This isn’t rocket science here people…this is everyday life we’re talking about!! I also hope that Coquelin comes back to us and impresses us in pre-season!! He looks to be a hell of a player!! He has an odd mix of attributes in that he has genuine pace for a defensive midfielder!! That can only be a good thing!! He also has crossing ability and a bit of trickery and dribbling ability about him to go along with his tackling and defensive nous!! Like I said it’s on odd, but very intruiging mix!!
could be me who wrote that. Good post and seems like most people don’t understand that we are all different and handle things different.
Henri Lansbury is to have a meeting with arsene regarding his future.. henri wants to be part of the first team squad on a week-2-week basis very much like denilson has been.. if wenger cant guarntee this then im afraid to say henri will be on his way, he’s had 3 promising loan spells. he’s done very well with every club he’s been at and he deserves his chance, i dont blame him when you see players like denilson getting chance after chance. lets hope that meeting goes well and henri signs a new contract. not long to run on that contract and we will end up loosing him on the cheap if it all goes tits up!
@hellsBalls Denilson aint getting any more chances, neither is player on his level. Lansbury has to prove he is ALOT better than denilson to stay. he has to take a step up.
Lansbury has to prove he can compete with the likes of Wilshere, nasri, rasmey and cesc. Not the likes of Denilson.
@sad.. im not doubting that, but he hasnt been giving the chances like denilson had is the point im making,when you go on loan for 3 years and been succesful and you see donuts like denilson gettin game time your going to get disheartened, if he isnt giving the chance he will be going. and thats likely to be this summer otherwise we risk losing him for free. lets hope wenger tells him what we wanna hear.
When does his contract expire, this summer? hopefully he stays, definately deserves a chance
@ HellsBalls – Although i’m under the impression that you’re related to Henri in some way, hence your comment may seem biased, i couldn’t agree any more! Not only is he a better bet than Denilson, but he’s also a better bet than Diaby and Rosicky. I know that a couple of people have overrated Henri in the past but the vast majority of people have no idea just how good he actually is. I know for a FACT he will shine at Arsenal being surrounded by all the quality we have and playing the style of football that we do. Paul Lambert has done a phenomenal job with the Canaries but their style of play never really suited Lansbury. Still, he made whatever he could of his spell there and i for one, am hoping that Wenger uses him as he should do next season. Henri is a winner! He’s also a big game player and we don’t have enough of those at AFC at the moment. We need more like him, that stand up to be counted, and not the other type that we currently have here.
Whether Lansbury has had enough chances or not is irrelevant. What is importnat is, is he good enough to get in the team at the expense of Song, Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshire, Ramsey, Diaby, Rosicky, Walcott, Arshavin. The same applies to Frimpong, Coquelin, JET, Henderson, Miyaichi, Ozyakup, Watt. Obviously it has already been decided that in the cases of Randall and Deacon the answer is NO. Unless Fabregas, Nasri, Rosicky or Arshavin are moving on then it could well be Lansbury, JET, Watt. I think if Norwich were to come in with a bid of around £3m Henri will be on his way,with Wenger placing some sort of condition where we get 1st refusal if he moves again and 50% of any profit. Personally i hope he stays and that it is Rosicky that joins Denilson in moving on and perhaps even Diaby and Watt
@TJ DA GOON (briliant name btw) I’m of no relation to henri himself just a friend, thanks for your comments, i agree with your comments fully, I dont no what he has to do to get a chance as i said.. 3 succesful Loans, England U21 regualar now (okay may not start but must be doing something rite to stay in that squad) Played and scored against the yids and on every game on The big screen he’s done something special (debut against ipswich, bristol city as a sub.) plenty more cases when the spotlights been on him he performs, As a friend and an as an arsenal supporter i want him to stay and hold down a starting place, but unfortuantly i dont think he’s gonna get the chance and is likely to be off to somebody who will respect how good of a player he is and give him a chance to shine!
When does his contract expire as i’m sure he signed extension last year?
and why did he quit Twitter?
well arsenal have released some very good players over the past few years which will come back to haunt them e.g
Nacer Barazite
Havard Nordtveit
Rui Fonte
Mark Ranall
Roarie Deacon