Edin Dzeko, Radamel Falcao, Javier Hernandez, Luis Suarez, Michu, Robert Lewandowski…they’ve each had their name casually tossed around by the red tops as possible candidates for a move to Arsenal.
But you know Arsene. When he goes looking for a striker he likes them French, young and unknown. What’s that at the back? Yes, we did indeed sign Yaya Sanogo this summer. But the boss has found another one. ANOTHER ONE.
According to a report in French publication le10sport.com, Auxerre’s 21-year-old Franco-Cameroonian striker Paul-Georges Ntep has not only been scouted by the Gunners but is set to be the subject of a €10 million bid as soon as January.
Auxerre chairman Guy Cotret appears open to the striker leaving, albeit for the right price. Back in October he spoke to L’Equipe about the France under-21 international stating:
“His possible departure will depend on the offer, which should be huge, but there is nothing concrete so far, but it will also depend on our situation in January.
“We won’t let him leave if we are in competition to get promotion to Le Championnat.”
It’s possible the Ntep link is merely a case of an agent playing on Wenger’s tastes to plant a rumour in the press about his client. In truth, despite the fee being mentioned, the prospect of Arsenal signing a Ligue 2 striker with no attacking experience doesn’t exactly come across as a statement of championship-challenging intent.
We do need back-up for Olivier Giroud but with Joel Campbell (on perma-loan), Benik Afobe (returning from injury), Chuba Akpom (yet to turn 18) and Sanogo (learning to walk) on the books we’re well-stocked in the ‘raw-talent-but-yet-to-prove-they-can-hack-it-at-the-highest-level’ department.
Sntep in the wrong direction
One ntep forward, two steps back!
le10sport is a shitty french publication. No worry, won’t happen.
The silly season has started
I cant see it happening either.
He cant be any better than all of the young strikers we already have at the club.
One inter-lull and we have a zillion rumours going across. Let the madness(of good kind) resume this weekend.
That oughta put a smile on Ozils face….i mean it’s everyone dream to move from real madrid to Arsenal and play behind a ligue 2 striker. Ronaldo who?
Arsene should stop taking risk,you have to stop trial & error. Let’s go matured strikers mr wenger.
How come you automatically assume that this guy will be the main backup/competitor to Giroud? We did not buy a striker in the summer because no big name striker was available for the right price. Why go splash £20 million on someone like Jovetic or 30+ million on Higuain when you can get people like Suarez or Benzema for 40 to 50 million, people who offer more all round.
Also, the reason why Wenger is focussing again on French youths is because their under 20 side won the U20 World Cup. They are a talented bunch with bright futures.
Hopefully this is just agent talk… I’ve nothing against the guy but let’s be honest – 21 isn’t even that young. If he hasn’t made a decent splash yet is he going to?
What about Giroud, Koscielney…..
http://youtu.be/hTn36GpLsBY
I know youtube can make anyone look like a world-beater but the boy looks very promising…(a lot more promising than Adebayor did when the obligatory youtube comp came out of him before he signed)
he seems to be more of a winger rather than someone who can play lone striker.
and with walcott, ox, gnabry and miyaichi, i don’t think wenger is buying any more young wingers.
he looks more effective than bentner… Then again most players do!
Good video, cheers for posting. Next George Weah?
I remember seeing a you tube video bout how good Chamakh was…
No offense to Michu but his name doesn’t fit in there. Seems to be a Premier League one season wonder.
He’ll go down with the Michael Ricketts and Amir Zaki’s of this world.
We’re looming for an experienced international who knows the north London area well and scores goals by the bundle load for his country as well as club…..is that Robbie Keane…..o jesus no
No offence mate, but why would a new player need to know the area of north London well? Have we turned into a bus company or taxi firm? Did Thierry Henry, Dennis Begkamp, Robert Pires etc know their way around Islington as soon as they stepped off the plane?
When did DB10 step off a plane? 🙂
Sometime around 1994 (source: Wikipedia)…
…and into our hearts, shortly thereafter, never to set foot on a plane again.
Except it’s now 18 months, not like Zaki’s purple patch which was about 6 months.
Michu would be nice backup and his versatility would suit us well, not as talented as the others but being smart and having a bit of height goes a long way at times.
Ligue 2 should be a Sa-NO-GO area
I wonder if we, the fans, will be taken down to earth with our next signings again. All the talk of signing top top quality, with the money we have, and then signing some un-proven youngsters on top of the world class signing we made in August. I hope I’m so wrong, but as they say, leopard never changes it’s spots, so there will be always a little doubt in me. Please prove me wrong, Arsene.
I think currently people are against young unknown signings, and it is reasonable, because for too long we have not been performing at the required level.
personally, i don’t mind young unknown signing as long as the team is performing at the required level. Buying little known talent and making key stars out of them is one of the things that set arsenal apart.
haha quality article. 10m euros for unknown players? mad valuations these days. I’d rather bring back Eduardo for the same price.
Saying that though it seems Wenger will go for someone in Jan, wish we picked up David Villa this past summer, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Anyone but Bendtner really.
Sounds like marble (nte) in twi
I don’t think he’s even a striker, he’s more of a left winger. He’s talented, that’s for sure. But GOD ALMIGHTY did we have enough of this.
Oh and the Kalou link is back…you’ve got to have a thread on that one…
(N)Tep-ical Arsene Wenger (Scottish Accent)
Leave the Scottish accent to me, pal.
Bring back Eduardo? That would be interesting.
In all seriousness, there is no problem taking a chance on Ntep, provided we bring in quality back up for Giroud.
Do not see a problem with taking Michu, if he can have a successful season with De Guzman, Britton, Dyer et al providing ball he can play with Ozil, Santi, Jack et al.
(By the way, f*ck the international break, I’m bored)
The kid does look very promising… One of these young guys is bound to be an immediate hit.
I would still prefer not it gamble though and sign up a proven replacement. We have enough money now to force a move, even in January, I’m sure he can find somebody.
Loic Remy. This is all.
I’ve said this too, think he’d be a hit here and offers something different to Giroud…
BUT, does anyone know the finer details of his loan deal with Newcastle? As far as I know it’s a season-long loan deal which they paid 2m for so not sure if it’s even possible…
remy is out on loan to newcastle until the end of the season from qpr , so forget about Remy iin january
No problem signing him, as long as we sign someone else. If we get a experienced striker to take some of the burden of Giroud this could be a very interesting striker, and with that amount of talented young strikers we have you’d expect at least 1 to step up and give us another option in the next couple of months..
Id personally prefer if we were going to go out and spend a decent quid, go after benteke even if it were to cost us a fair chunk. Hes absolute top quality and openlyadmiadmitted that hes a gooner fan before anyone really knew who he was.
As long as we are experimenting, lets give Walcott a go
Why should we sign him? Makes no sence. I think Campbell can become a good backup for us. If we should buy somebody then it should be a competition for Giroud. If not then we shouldn’t buy anybody as we have PARK, Campbell, Afobe etc.
Campbell is more a wide player
Afobe just comeback from longterm injury and prove nothing while on loan
Who!!
Akpom is very raw and to just comeback from injury and probably going on loan soon as he get back full fitness,
Sanogo going his yearly injury cycle
Ntep is not the backup for Giroud as he is not the in the box striker. He often comes deep and takes a run. Agree partly with Campbell is a wide player as he has the strength to become a box-player. I am just saying that we don’t need Ntep but that we should buy a competitive player that has to fight with Giroud for the first team.
blasted interlul
Probably not what most are hoping for for January- myself included..
.. But Christ, how satisfying would it be to bring in an unknown, French youngster who smashes 15 goals in half a season and wins us the league. Tad optimistic, but no harm in dreaming in an interlull!
Am I the only one who’s heard the Alexandre Pato rumour. Arsenal have been cleared to take him for 10mil in January. He had a lot of promise before his injury problems. Worth a punt?
This Pato lad fell off the wagon a bit didn’t he, not just injuries but everything just seemed to crumble before him. If anyone can change him its definitely Arsene.
yes let spend 10M on washed up injury prone former wonderkid to keep diaby company
Starting to get sick of a small group of our fans thinking they know better than Arsene. Iv seen this Paul-Georges Ntep player play on quite a few occasions and he is a exceptional talent and would be a great signing. Also think we will sign a top quality striker to take the work load of Giroud in January. We just have to be patient and get behind the players we do have at the minute with the exception to Bendtner as he is off to Barca or Real in Jan haha
havent we won the title few years ago with a 19 year old kid named Anelka .
not quite the age we should be looking at. We have Giroud and Podolski both in their late 20s. Sanogo is under 20. We need a striker preferably around 23-25 age group. Benzema is of course around there as is Benteke. Michu may represent a stop gap. But Yamolenko could be an interesting dark horse. He’s 6’2, extremely mobile and a bag of tricks. May have matured a bit since the Euros and we all know Ukraine are gunning above their weight at the moment. Just the sort of raw creative talent Wenger may relish polishing up and would likely… Read more »
LOL
I Bloody hate these interlulls!
joel campbell…..joel campbell…..joel campbell….was so happy when we signed him. Gutted that he is not with the team season. How come joel and wellington are not allowed to play for us?
He’s not really even a striker, don’t know why so many are quoting it as so as he looks much more comfortable playing LW. He does look a pretty good player, i hope we could pick him up for a reasonable price (kind of Niang like transfer who we missed out on) so he could take Ryo’s squad place and give us another direct option off the left. Physically the guy is a monster, he’s got that frame and his pace over the first few strides reminds me of Henry. Also some juicey vids, a screamer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKhtN0xDjmo Highlights vs RC… Read more »
Can see a problem in the future, desperately need an adequate replacement for TGSTELeaves for one of the Spanish big 2.
Falcao or Pato please. No more kids and nobodies.