Zelalem

5th April 2016: Mertesacker refuses to moan + Zelalem to get his chance?

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. A quick round-up for you this evening and I’ll start with some words from our vice-captain Per Mertesacker.

Having lost his starting place to Gabriel in recent weeks, the German World Cup winner has revealed he’s unaccustomed to his current status as back-up, but far from throwing his toys out of the pram and demanding more action, Mertesacker says he has his chin up and will wait for his chance. He said:

I’ve got to admit it is new to me. I’ve been around a long time now and this has not so often been the case, but I’m in good spirits, am fit and I have no pain. Of course I’m playing less, but I’m sticking at it. Maybe I’ll get another chance. Things change quickly nowadays. You get ups and downs as a footballer and you’ve just got to remain professional, and I’ve always been that down the years. That’s why I’ve survived for so long in this business. I listen closely to what the coach says and he knows that he can count on me, no matter what happens. I want to show him in every training session that I’m ready when needed. The team needs every player, whether I’m on the bench now or not – I don’t just write it off. I always look ahead positively and that is the best way to get over the disappointment of not playing.

He may lack pace, but Per’s attitude is clearly faultless. Even if ideally I’d love a top-quality new arrival in central defence, I really hope we keep hold of Mertesacker because as a personality and a professional, he’s a big asset for Arsenal in my opinion.

The defender also gave his take on this season’s Premier League title race and thinks the Gunner’s still have a good chance of upsetting the odds and nicking the crown. He said:

It’s not totally over yet. If we win all of our matches, then we’ve got a good chance. We’ve got to keep focusing on that and that’s why we’re taking things game by game. We’re trying to concentrate fully on our next game against West Ham. We have a bit more time now that we’re not in any other competition so we don’t have to concentrate on anything else, other than the title.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Elneny has been speaking about winning the official website’s Player of the Month award for March and promising there is a lot more to come from him in an Arsenal shirt. He said:

I am very happy to be Player of the Month for such a big club. It feels very good, it will motivate me to have more faith as I play in the team and it shows how the fans love and believe in me. It is very helpful to feel that you are loved by the people in the club and the fans – and I still have more to give the team. So, I would like to thank all the people who nominated me. This is just the beginning. Hopefully, I will contribute more and more to the team in the future.

And finally for today, The Daily Telegraph’s Jeremy Wilson reckons Arsenal may look to internal options as well as new recruits, when bolstering their central midfield this summer after the anticipated departures of the likes of Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky.

Wilson suggests Gedion Zelalem, on-loan at Rangers this season, will be given a chance to prove himself in pre-season and cement a place in our first-team squad for next season. I’ll admit I haven’t paid much attention to how Zelalem’s been getting on in Scotland but what’s beyond debate is that he’s a brilliant passer from in front of the defence and we could do with more of those.

Aside from Santi Cazorla and Elneny, we haven’t got too many of that tempo-dictating ilk at the club, so I suppose he has a good chance to establish himself over the course of the next campaign like fellow teenager Alex Iwobi has done this. Time will tell and my guess is that it’ll be his physical readiness, rather than any doubts over his his footballing ability, that will decide his short-term future.

Until tomorrow.

6th January 2016: Zelalem’s loan extended

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. A very quick round-up for you tonight and I’ll begin with confirmation that Gedion Zelalem’s loan spell at Rangers has been extended until the end of the season.

The 18 year old midfielder has, evidently, impressed enough in his 12 league appearances so far for the Glasgow giants to have his stay prolonged and that can only be good news for his development.

Rangers are of course in the second tier of Scottish football but playing in front of big, demanding crowds at Ibrox should stand him in good stead if and when he makes his mark on the Arsenal first-team. And playing against older, tougher and more experienced pros will no doubt improve his physical attributes, a little like Jack Wilshere when he went on loan to Bolton.

I must admit I haven’t paid much attention to how he’s been getting on this season and the little I have seen of him was during pre-season for us the summer before last, I think, when his passing and vision really stood out as being his best attributes. If I were to compare him to any more-established player in world football at the moment it would be Thiago Alcantara, formerly of Barcelona and presently keeping Bayern Munich’s midfield ticking over.

Whether Zelalem will end up making a career with Arsenal only time will tell, but he must look at the current Arsenal squad and think he has a great chance, for no other reason than we’re not especially well-stocked with players boasting his signature skill-set.

I mean, we have plenty of central midfielders but bar Santi Cazorla, none that would claim dictating the play and ball circulation as their main strengths. Wilshere may disagree and England seem intent on deploying him as a deeper-lying playmaker, but Arsene Wenger is on record as saying he views Wilshere’s best role as being further forward, as one of the three behind a lone striker in our currently favoured formation.

Which leaves Mathieu Flamini (defensive, old), Francis Coquelin (defensive), Aaron Ramsey (more box-to-box and passing’s far from his best asset), Mikel Arteta (old, injury-prone, surely on the brink of retirement) and if he eventually signs, Mohamed Elneny (defensive, box-to-box). So if Zelalem can prove he’s ready for first-team consideration at Arsenal by the start of next season, who knows? Maybe he’ll do a Cesc Fabregas and be running the show in the Arsenal midfield sooner rather than later …

Moving on now but sticking with the ‘exciting prospect’ theme and Jeff Reine-Adelaide has been talking to Arsenal Player and discussing his career to date. He said:

Lens had followed me for a while. They came to supervise me in a district tournament where I was voted best player on the pitch. They came to my house to discuss things with my parents. Everything went really quick [after that]. Lens were in Ligue 1 and had a bit of a financial problem. They didn’t have enough players to be competitive. We were in the bottom three for most of the season and didn’t manage to save the club from relegation. I was lucky Arsenal came [in for me]. I could have been a Ligue 2 player in France. I’m so grateful to be here. I was happy – very happy actually. The fans seemed to be happy too. In fact, everyone was happy for me, including the coach and that is important. Of course it was a strange feeling, the media talks only about superstars. I was very surprised but of course happy. My parents told me I have not done anything yet – they told me to keep my feet on the ground and that I should keep working hard. I think I need to improve every single day when I train, show that I’m focused and concentrating and show that I want to succeed. I need to show I will never give up, then, if one day I get my chance, it is my duty to show the coach to put his trust in me. Then I will fight to regularly be in the first team.

As with Zelalem, his participation in pre-season football is the extent of my scouting of Jeff, but as I’m sure we all remember, the Frenchman’s silky-smooth Emirates Cup showings last summer left fans marveling at his talent and excited by the player he might become for the club.

However their Arsenal futures eventually pan out though, right now both Zelalem and Reine-Adelaide have shown they have the footballing ability to be Arsenal first-teamers. So as always, it will be a combination of luck, timing and their progression over the next year or two that will ultimately determine whether they’ll become Arsenal first-team regulars, or have to make a career elsewhere.

Til Thursday.

18th August 2015: Wellington Trotts to Wanderers as Zelalem Geds to Glasgow

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. There is just under two weeks remaining of this summer’s transfer window and while no new arrivals seem imminent, two more of our young guns appear to be on their way out of the club on season-long loan deals.

After Chuba Akpom, Isaac Hayden, Jon Toral and Emi Martinez all the left the club to join Championship sides on loan recently, Wellington Silva has been snapped in Bolton Wanderers gear – strongly suggesting he’s signed on loan with the Championship club.

Because if he hasn’t, the 22-year-old Brazilian, who finally secured a work permit to ply his trade in England after four years on loan in Spain with various clubs obtaining dual nationality, has some explaining to do.

Perhaps he became a Trotters’ fan in his youth, laughing out loud to Only Fools and Horses, or maybe Bolton have a big following in Brazil. But most likely I’m guessing, is the club haven’t had time to draft the ‘player has joined club on loan – we wish him the best’ article yet.

I have to say I can’t wait to finally see the former Fluminense winger in action on these shores, which will come as no surprise and also quite an understatement for regular readers of this blog. It’s been a long, arduous journey past the red-tapes-worths seeing as though we clearly don’t have whatever contacts Chelsea used last week, to reportedly gain a work permit for young Brazilian beast, Kenedy.

Now 22, Wellington has it all to prove to Arsene Wenger if he’s to return to the club and compete for a first team place but if he can reproduce some of the sublime skill he showcased in his younger years before his move to Arsenal, and in glimpses in Spain on loan, in a far more physically demanding league like the Championship, then we’ll undoubtedly have another special talent on our hands.

But it’s a big ‘if’, because his time in Spain wasn’t exactly spectacular, despite a fine season appearance-wise, with Almeria last season. He’s also said to have played no part in pre-season for either the first team or our academy, as he’s been working on a specially designed fitness regime at London Colney to prepare him for English football.

I’m a little disappointed he’s not been deemed worthy of a punt by a Premier League side but that said, he’ll surely be afforded more minutes a league lower and at his age, playing must be paramount in his thoughts. A fifth reason to watch more Championship games then, and Silva will no doubt learn a lot from legends of the game like Emile Heskey and Alan Hutton.

Elsewhere, Gedion Zelalem has been linked with a move to Scotland with Glasgow Rangers. As with Wellington, Arsenal are yet to confirm any deal and the reports I’ve read suggest Zelalem has traveled north to hold talks.

I have to say a move to the second-tier of Scottish football seems a bit bizarre to me considering how highly rated the midfielder is at the club but the Guardian have reported that Wenger feels the teenager will benefit from playing in front of a big crowd at Ibrox. Never underestimate the benefits a big crowd can have on ball-control…

Anyway, he’ll also have to bulk up to make an impact up north based on what I’ve seen of him and I just hope the Scottish club have players of a similar technical calibre to Zelalem to make use of his superb pass and move qualities, as well as the runners to receive his pin-point through balls.

I’m afraid that’s where I’ll leave it for today. Pretty short I grant you but there’s plenty of post-match player interviews over on Arsenal.com to catch up with if you’ve haven’t already taken a peek.

Back tomorrow.