Is Chamakh any good?
Let’s watch Olympiakos v Bordeaux and find out.
Olympiakos beat Arsenal 1-0 on Matchday 6 when Wenger played his kids. On Matchday 2, Arsenal beat Olympiakos with late goals by Van Persie and Arshavin.
We have read that Chamakh has signed a pre-contract and that Wenger will get him on a free transfer and pay him £10.4 million in wages over four years.
Another French-African joins the gravy train ?
Maroune Chamakh is a 26-year old who has scored 9 goals all season.
Seven in the league, two in the Champions League. Last season he scored 13 and none in the Champions League. How is that better than what Arsenal already have? Can he turn an average side into world beaters on his own? Or is Wenger just signing potential again?
The manager’s negotiating position has been : We only want you, so wait, hang in there, come to us, I won’t sign anybody else.
A big club does not operate that way. Chamakh has not had to compete with anybody to join Arsenal. He’s walking in because he’s a French-African pretty boy with a bit of pace. If he was better than Huntelaar he would not be playing for Bordeaux.
Frustrated Arsenal fans will have waited a whole year for a new goalscorer, while knowing their team had a big chance to do better than finishing third.
Wenger was so keen to get Marouane Chamakh on a free transfer that he sacrificed this season. There were four trophies to be won but he didn’t equip himself to compete for even two of them.
He signed Vermaelen early to boost box sales, making people think more proper players were coming, and then decided to bluff this season, selling us the future again. Top 4 in England, top 8 in Europe, and roll on the 2010-2011 season.
Last week I was told that a guy who works at the Emirates on match days sometimes drives Mrs Wenger around. He asked her why Arsene had not bought a striker and Annie said, “My husband wants to win it without spending any money.”
Many thanks for all your emails.
Two weeks ago, following what I wrote about J.D. Salinger, I got the oddest reader’s reply since I started doing this in 1998.
That reader said : More book reviews, please.
For that guy, I’ve done a review of a popular comic novel.