Gunners Alumni continue to face misfortune
Whether Arsene Wenger has developed a knack for selling players at exactly the right moment, or there is some genuine witchcraft going on, it seems that Arsenal players who move on to ‘better their careers’ don’t seem to be able to live up to expectations.
When making his home debut for Barcelona at the weekend, delicate little flower Alex Hleb was forced off the pitch with an ankle injury that will keep him out of action for three or four weeks.
Also facing misfortune during Barcelona’s 1-1 draw with racing Santander at the weekend was Thierry Henry, who was left out of the squad following a disappointing display in a 1-0 defeat to La Liga newbies Numancia two weeks ago.
Continuing the trend of stars who have failed to live up to the form and success they experienced in a red and white shirt is Mathieu Flamini, who has thus far failed to set Serie A alight with Milan, who are maintaining a 100 per cent league loss record so far. Also, when the Frenchman’s former colleagues travel to the Ukraine to begin the Champions League campaign proper, he will have to settle for a UEFA Cup tie with FC Zurich.
Plenty of other stars have also experienced the post-Arsenal curse - Emmanuel Petit admits that leaving the club was the biggest mistake of his life, while Freddie Ljungberg is currently being forced to spend his days walking around New York with beautiful women, as no one wishes to employ him.
Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Gio van Bronkhorst (who defeated his former team in the 2006 Champions League final) have managed to forge careers away from Wenger’s particular brand of football, yet Emmanuel Adebayor should probably be thankful that his summer fax correspondence with Milan didn’t prove more fruitful.
9 responses so far
1 LB // Sep 16, 2008 at 10:03 am
Don’t forget Arturo Lupoli. Not even established at Arsenal yet he has suffered the same fate.
2 plamen // Sep 16, 2008 at 10:18 am
What about reyes??? :)
3 kk // Sep 16, 2008 at 10:18 am
Only few teams play Arsenal way,so you can not learn how to use your left hand in old age
4 CL Squirrel // Sep 16, 2008 at 10:24 am
And
of course there is Bentley (snigger snigger) wonder what he is doing now?
5 Eddie Yak // Sep 16, 2008 at 11:07 am
In Arsenal, the emphasis is on teamwork so if they win all the players looked great. They all looked world class but not many Clubs played like Arsenal. These other clubs depended a lot on individualistic skills to win and players with that killer instinct will stand out. Unfortunately not many Arsenal players are like that so they fail to live up to expectations of the team.
6 Honest Abe // Sep 16, 2008 at 11:39 am
A few years ago I would have had nothing positive to say about Wenger. But in the age of billionaire owners and crazy investment, Wenger seems to be the only manager in the league that talks sense on a consistant basis.
I support United, but even I have to admit that his comment about Liverpool and Robbie Keane seemed a bit rich, considering Berbatov at £10 million more.
7 brdgunner // Sep 16, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I think that Eddie yak makes a good point. Also, Arsene looks to bring out the confidence of his players, it seams he is one of the more hands on managers in football. This could also have an effect.
8 Raph88 // Sep 16, 2008 at 3:25 pm
honest abe… you’re forgetting martin o’neill. a young ENGLISH team, a joy to watch. and a great message on how to run a club by lerner. if england win anything in the future, it’ll be because he’s raised them well and given them a game. im starting to get a bit of a soft spot for villa. watch out for the davies, youngs, agbonlahors and even reo-cokers in the future.
9 yeye // Sep 16, 2008 at 9:11 pm
yet bentley is in a team which has only managed 1 point out of four games snigger snigger