Benik Afobe has been withdrawn from the Arsenal Reserve squad due to play Hastings United tonight. The 18-year-old is now poised to be included in the first-team for their clash with FC Cologne this weekend.
Afobe has been given the chance to impress after the club pulled him out of the England Under-20 squad last week. The news comes after Costa Rican forward Joel Campbell saw his transfer collapse, with Benik hoping to prove to Arsène Wenger that he doesn’t need the Sparissa youngster.
You can follow full updates of tonight’s game with Hastings United on my Twitter feed.
That is brilliant news. I have high hopes for Afobe
Campbell agent just came out today apparently United didnt even bid for him, a third party related to United tapped up Campebll’s dad telling him that they will double what Arsenal are offering Campbell and he fell for it.
His agent said that his dad became too greedy and Campbell might have missed out on a chance of a lifetime. He still hopes that Arsenal will sign him eventually but says they will have to wait until the U20 is over before knowing what the future holds for the kid
As for Afobe I think if Afobe is made to fight it out with Vela for a first team place, Afobe will win. He’s technically perfect, physically he’s better than Vela and is much more versatile than Vela. Would love to see being brought into the first team
do you have a source for that?
I am ok with the Campbell deal collapsing so long as he doesn’t join Man United who have once again hijacked our deal. It just feels like we are scouting for them too.
Really dont see all the fuss in Afobe, very overrated in my opionion
He’s supposed to be the reserve teams best player. He was rated as high as Wilshere.
If campbell didn’t want to come he can go away we need strikers who are prooven such as Benzema. If we had RVP Chamakh Afobe and Benzema we would be sorted
Been watching the Costa Rica kid and he is a good talent. Kinda of a left footed Neymar is the best way I can describe him. Oh well, if he doesn’t want to come to Arsenal then good luck to him, we will move on (and we did supposedly).
I hope Afobe makes good strides this year. Still a shame we can’t have a B team to integrate these young players in the Arsenal way. Still will be interesting to see what his level is now.
Shane – Left sided Neymar?? You sure
I saw him more as a sturridge style off player. I dont see him as having that x rated skill set off Neymar. Think you may be way off the mark with that one
Ha! Hark at Phillip givin it the big un, like he has a feckin clue! Hilarious!
John; P Jones is from the North West mate
And as for Smalling, its simple, United offered Fulham TWICE as much money as we did.
Simple economics and footballing gazumping.
Shyster, are you ok???
Phillip, did you watch actual games or just youtube mate? Anyways, here is how I honestly describe what I felt. He resembled Douglas Costa but a less tricky more direct version who is more about getting on the end of goals which lead me to the whole Robinho vs Neymar thing. Thats why I said he is something like a left footed Neymar.
No player is exactly alike another person but just giving people some what of a picture on him. Anyways, like I said…he is a pretty talented player for sure and would fit well with us and definitely for 1 million pounds. Doesn’t really matter now though.
That’s why i’m happy that we failed to sign Campbell. What about Lansbury? Will he travel to Germany?
Something smells about a few of these deals…ie; Smalling, Jones, Campbell…all apparently about to join AFC and Manure wave afew extra quid and suddenly all deals are off?? Is someone at AFC passing on info of who we are talking to?
Considering most of the general public knew about these deals, i wouldn’t put it down to a rogue insider. Just other teams picking up on reports. Which is why business is best done in private.
The best way to buy players is to let Asenal scout them , drive a hard bargain then step in at the last minute and offer 15% more. It will still be a good deal and Arsenal will never bid up.
ETaner92,
Sure, but the media only picked up this story about a week ago, so could you please tell me how other clubs, United in this case, had time to scout him on such a short time?
I’m happy for Afobe though!
We have to accept that other teams have wide scout networks as well. People were already in for some of the players we lost out on.
Remember that other teams were vying for Ramsey just as well, but on that occassion we won out.
didnt we sign ramsey from under the noses of manure. i think so. swings and roundabouts boys. id have ramsey over campbell anyday
@Filip,
Fair point. Although don’t think other clubs are above signing players based on reputation without extensive scouting. Bebe was signed at United on the basis of a youtube clip and alleged interest from other clubs.
Quite possibly but I think Smalling and Jones both choose Utd for football reasons and Jones wanna to stay in the North East.
Lets face it if you were Smalling and had a chnace to learn and train with Vidic and Ferdinand as oppose to our centre halfs then you are going to pick the club that can make you into a world class centre half.
As for Jones all his family are located in the North East and he didnt wont to relocate to London so Arsenal wasnt a option.
The Campbell thing is hard to take especially if he does end up joining them. Although its great to heard what players we are interested in and looking to sign there’s a balance to be struck about trying to get a exclusive and the something could slip through or be picked up on by the opposition.
In a perfect world nothing should come out in the media until its done and dsted I think its gunnerblog fault haha. Spurs have signed a young player with amazing potential they had no right signing and no one knew about it till it was done and dusted.
See above! For some weird reason my post is before the one I replied to!
That is messed up. How in the world did Tottenham get Coulibaly with what seemed like almost no competition.
Neymar is rubbish lol hes just another robinho he will fail in europe.
he would never make it in England imo.
Big cheat as well
I seriously do not get Benik Afobe been talkming to Huddersfile fans they seem quite angry about him especially towards the end of the season where they feel hes been one of the reasons why they werentt promoted!
I have watched him alot hes not arsenal class
But if he is coming on tour it must mean bendtner is off?
LOL…you make me laugh John. I love when people compare him directly to Robinho like they are the same player. It immediately tells me that they have no clue what they are talking about. Because they are skinny black attackers that came up at Santos people think they are the same. Pretty ignorant if you ask me.
Yes if Neymar gets on a team that does not playing passing attacking style of football then he will have trouble just the same as Xavi would just look like an average player if all his short passes go to average players. The same way Bergkamp looked a different player for Arsenal vs Inter. Teams styles are going to affect players. If Neymar joins the right club, he has all the attributes to be great which are mainly his first touch, short passing, calmness in front of goal and finishing. His dribbling skills are just an added bonus.
The robinho comparsion is valid as both their games our based on skill with little physical aggression, both have done extremely well in brazil, robinho struggled in europe, we will see about neymar
No lol…that is exactly it. Robinho’s game was almost only based on dribbling trickery. Neymar is far more then that. The comparison is stupid frankly.
our transfers all seemed to go smoother when David dein was handling them
my mum was never ill when she used to smoke 60 a day for 50 years, now she has given up she is always ill?
Perhaps the damage was done earlier!!
Agree scarlet Ivans ability to negotiate a deal dont appear to be up to Deins level.
He has alot of making up to do to prove his large salary
I think in the case of Campbell the deal didn’t happen because the father got greedy. I think we dodged a bullet there as their attitude sucks. They couldn’t even be bothered to turn up to a meeting that was arranged. What does that say about them.
Benik Afobe seems a talent but will have to work hard to get up to the level required. I am however really looking forward to seeing him play with the senior squad and hope he plays in cologne.
JS – Can you confirm the reports on Jeorge Birds site, Botelho, Edge and Smith?
Also could Afobe be pulled out cos a club wants him on loan or he is flying out with England after all? only they meet up tomorrow.
Coulibaly deal really pissed me off…
How could we let that one slip through?
Afobe will be better than Campbell, I’ve watched Afobe for 3 years now and Joel for only about 9 months and I know he will be the next big thing, come on Afobe
no chance
Out of interest, where exactly have you been watching costa rican football?
John: With all due respect to DD, he had a winning team that could attract the best of players. What can Ivan say to a player, come to Arsenal, we win trophies? We have, for the moment, lost our mojo. We need to win something, and soon. Players will always chose Utd over us in the current situation. I don’t blame them. Hope the situation reverses in the coming season. For now, I hope Phil Jones, Smalling, Alvarez, Campbell rot in their respective clubs and they rue the day they turned us down.
you started to write for the Mirror J Sanderson?
Its clear campbell is a much better talent than afobe, you dont need to piss people off with this comparison that just makes the situation look even worse for us
vela is a top striker,give him a good run in the first 11 and see him go, 22 goals a season at lest,
Morning Gooners,
Yesterday, I mentioned that lets not get disapointed by this Costa Rican boy whose father thought he knows what the future holds in football for his son. rather focus on what we have and make sure that we keep on producing the young gunners like Afobe so that when he (the agent of Campbell) looks back he will leave with regret that he failed his son big time. I’m glad that we are taking this young lad to Germany for me its more than a dream. but please Arsene it is time you demand from your players and if none of them is willing to be consistent week in week out then you put the them on the bench as I believe we do have players who are capable of bringing trophies in North London.
Good luck Afobe, make us proud that we don’t need to look for better talent when we have one here at Arsenal. Sorry for Campell agent and father who is so money orientated and greed.
What about lansbury and bartley? Two great young english players!! I hope both get a chance this year.
Great to see afobe coming through
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I hope JET gets a chance. Do you know if he is included? Gervinho then? Will he play?
Look i am john can the other JOhn call themself John 2 or something else kinda pissing me off someone using my username when there are million other usernames you can have!
Neymar hes a cheat, diver doest like physical contact, not har working.
You need those qualities to play in Europe
£45 million for Neymar? HAHA
Neymar failed in the copa America.
Hasnt played in a proper league with proper competition neymar would struggle outside Brazil ie outside his comfort zone
its a tale of 2 dads here
one greedy dad playing with us after he received other offers. the other dad wants his son to wear arsenal shirt.
why is chamberlain deal not happening? he wants to play for arsenal.
it will be worth the money and no headaches about work permit.
it looks like arsene will keep afobe as a squad player. nothing wrong with that.
time he starts training with van persie and co
Afobe misses 15 chances before he scores one.
Learning his trade at Arsenal is not the place to do it. Crucial 3 points every week and glaring open goal misses will not be greeted with a cheer from the crowd when the presure is on.
In that playoff final he missed 3 very very very very easy chances. All from less than 6 yards. HE needs to be loaned to prem or top end championship club for at least another 2 seasons. At least