Yaya Sanogo has confirmed that he’ll be released by Arsenal when his contract ends on 30 June.
The France under-21 international has endured a terrible run of injuries since signing for the club on a free from Auxerre in 2013.
Despite being listed as a member of Arsene Wenger’s first team, Sanogo hasn’t actually made an appearance for the Gunners since starting the 4-1 Champions League win over Galatasaray December 2014.
He’s since undertaken loan spells with Crystal Palace, Ajax and Charlton but this season was stuck on the treatment table at London Colney.
Back in December Arsene Wenger was prompted to talk about the player’s injury status somewhat oddly remarking: “He had a real medical problem, you know, that I cannot explain to you here because it’s a confidential problem.”
“Not a secret problem, but it’s medical. I cannot speak about that medically but it’s no life threatening problem.
“He had a long-term injury and I am not specialised enough to explain to you what it is in his calf, but we had to rest him completely.”
A return to fitness in recent weeks saw the player score a hat-trick for the under-23s against Reading but it was never going to be enough to persuade Arsenal to offer him a new deal.
Speaking to L’Equipe [translated by Get French Football News] he confirmed his departure, reflected on his injuries and the relief of making a comeback.
“My left calf is healed. It kept me off the pitch for nearly 7 months. I came back in January, with a fitness trainer. I was able to play again for the Arsenal reserves.
“Three games with four goals. It is not a lot, but it was a real source of relief for me. It was very hard when I was injured. You feel so mentally alone. There is virtually nobody at your side. And there is this frustration about not knowing what the source of my pain was.
“The injuries stunted my progress, there were moments where I was good. I remember the summer of 2014 when, during the Emirates Cup, I scored a quadruple against Benfica. And then there were some bad decisions, and I maybe did not always do what was necessary to impose myself.”
No doubt he’ll have suitors across Europe. At 24-years-old he’s still young and if he can stay fit he’s a physical handful. Remember, this is a guy who scored against Borussia Dortmund not too long ago and whose chaotic presence helped the Gunners to FA Cup glory in 2014.
Arseblog News wishes him all the best.
Good luck Yaya, and thanks for your contribution to the Arsenal.
All those glorious air kicks. Give me a break.
Get a life. The guy did nothing wrong. Was sold a dream by Arsene Wenger and injury ruined his Arsenal career. It’s not his fault he was not good enough and had a horrible injury hit time at our club.
On a human level, I wish him nothing but the best in his future and hope he can stay injury free.
Yeah. Let us pretend like Wenger did not know about his injury record before taking him.
Before getting him for free.
It was a gamble but a relatively cheap gamble (salary only) which anyone that saw him playing U17 international level would know was worth taking.
What contribution?
Keeping Gary Lewin company in his difficult “post Diaby” years.
He taught Gary to love again when it looked as if all was lost. As Abou hobbled out of the physio room that one last, painful time, Yaya turned and whispered “It’s OK Gary. My leg is proper fucked too”.
Yeah, Gary’s really got a type…
He didn’t have more injuries than Welbeck.
Pretty sure he helped win one of the F.A cups, he contributed to ending a trophy drought much more than fabregas and co
Remember when he started against Bayern Munich in the Champions League?How fucking mental was that? Arsenal Football Club playing literally the best team in European football at the time with Yaya Sanogo up front.. fucking Wenger is literally bananas at times.
Well funnily enough one of the Bayern defenders (can’t quite remember who) said after that game that they found him one of the most difficult players they had faced that season. Probably because they didn’t know anything about him and his unpredictability, but nevertheless high praise!
Not saying that that was Wenger’s explicit intention, but he clearly unsettled the Bayern defenders, which can only be a good thing.
I don’t know, I think that’s getting too carried away, we did still lose the game 3-1 and if my memory serves me well, the highlight of his evening was forcing one save out of Manuel Neuer where perhaps a more experienced striker probably would of scored.. regardless. I think this was more a case of Wenger taking a gamble on an unknown player and it not paying off – which is obviously one of downsides of gambling. So you cant really blame him too much. The one thing that does bother me slightly regarding Sanogos Arsenal stay was his… Read more »
SO-Noo-Gooo .. Pleease!??
Wish him well!
Thanks for confusing the fuck out of everyone in the 2014 FA cup final. Good luck Sanagoals.
Well good luck Yaya. A start to the removal of deadwood. Alot of work to be done. Debuchy, Asano, Gibbs, are at least surely next?!
Asano? Are you serious?
I don’t think the guy has even seen full seen around the Emirates yet!
Yeah im serious….hardly set the world alight has he? Asano wouldnt be entertained at any of the other top 10 clubs in european football…get rid. Its not even a debateable ffs. The only argument is there are others, which are in 1st team squad that need moving on first. Like gibbs, wilshere, debuchy…
How is asano affecting the first team. He’s on like 5k a week, and we’re not saving a spot for him even in our u21 team. We signed the guy for virtually nothing and he honestly does look promising. Coming from Japan he needs to adapt in a European league and get regular game time so we sent him to Germany where his manager has had a lot of praise for him. I don’t see how having him bothers you. And I genuinely can’t see how you compare having him on our books to having players like wilshere and Gibbs.
Not camparing him to gibbs or wilshere am i you complete melt. Im listing him with them as players that need to be moved on. Imo of course.
Yeah Yaya Sanogo held us back from signing a top class striker. And asano was just signed last summer, he was a signing for the future and hasn’t even kicked a ball for arsenal yet. Yes there is plenty of dead wood to get rid of, but only the first team players that are holding a spot in our squad, not poor old sanogo who couldn’t even come close to being selected. The “deadwood” we need to sell this summer are ospina, Walcott, Gibbs, possibly elnenny, Joel Campbell. Players like asano and sanogo have nothing to do with this argument.… Read more »
Do you also remember everyone that knew Sanogo say that he hardly played any football because of injuries? Yet we bought him, only to say 4 years later thatbhe was unlucky with injuries. We once loaned an injured player in January to fill in for an injured Ramsey. Ramsey returned to the team before his relief could play.
Simply i added asano and sanogo to your list. The argument is theyre at the club, they take a wage, contribute nothing and like your opinion on the others, i feel they be with them. Whats the problem? Because they dont play?
Poor Sanogo. I guess the first trophy in a million years count for nothing nowadays.
Let’s not forget the chest down and volley which the Ox tucked away on route to the final.
Best of luck, will always remember his contribution to our 2014 FA Cup win.
Watching him sing and dance to his own chant in the dressing room whist Santi laughed in the background was hilarious.
I’ll have fond memories of the guy and his all round ‘random’ game.
All the best Yaya.
He really helped in winning that FA cup against hull city.. goodbye sanogoal!??
Only club in the world which would indulge an injury prone nobody for four years, God knows what he cost us in wages over the last four years but it’s too much.
If Wenger in the next two years wants to push us to the ‘next level’ then indulging wastes of space like this needs to be stopped.
This isn’t fifa where you see a magical graph of player potential and the player reaches that potential. Last year if we signed Mbappe on the cheap, you’d have slated him as the next Sanogo, and now here we are next season apparently fighting off Madrid for his services. You can’t completely predict what a player would be like, maybe if it weren’t for his calf injury, Sanogo might have been what Mbappe is. Who knows? In hindsight, he does look like a bad signing and a waste of money, but we didn’t know for sure when we signed him,… Read more »
Except you can. He already had two bad injuries at Auxerre prior to joining us and was on the verge of retirement…we gave him a four year contract which is mind boggling.
Your example of Mbappe is totally irrelevant except that they are/were young and French, Mbappe’s career progression is much different to Yaya’s.
It was on a free and he had a promising youth record.
It was worth taking the chance, it didn’t work. Let’s move on.
You mean didn’t work out in the Park and Chamak sense of ‘not working out’ I assume ? There have been way too many of these dead beat, bed blockers under Wenger in the last decade.
And he – Wenger – is entirely responsible for them. Will things change this year ?
I won’t hold my breath.
We all know that Wenger made some cutprice signing when the stadium was being repaid. What’s your point. Are you an Arsenal fan who knows what’s what or one of those thickheaded pundits who sit outside and pass judgement. Wenger criticism is fine, but don’t overdo it.
Wenger has history of giving players who are historically injured too long contracts. Diaby, Rosicky, Carzola to name a few. Why can’t you offer pay as you play or one year contracts based on the amount of performances they make?
My point is, he constantly pleads poverty against our rivals and drains the wage bill with too many players who may not play enough games.
Signing players is a risk assumed by all football clubs and all football clubs have signings that don’t work out, because that is the nature of risk. That’s football. Like, that is actually how football works. It happens at every single football club on the planet, no more at Arsenal than most others I’d wager. Wenger’s judgement with player signings tends to be more sound than most.
Exactly,even Ferguson signed Djemba Djemba.
I have no doubt that the attraction was that he was a free transfer. Wenger is attracted to cheap players like bee to nectar. It didnt matter that he was reputed for being injury prone.
No, the attraction was that he was a dominant striker at international youth level. He had some really outstanding tournaments that interested a number of top teams and then he got injured… So he became a gamble signing…
Are you saying that if Sanogo was going to cost us 10m, we would have gambled on him?
I honestly feel sorry for you
Yea, everyone must be a Henry right? You piece of sheet.
I remember comments that we were the only top team to play Koscielny when he was a no name getting red cards and causing penalties.
I would be okay with that, if it didn’t come at the expense of our own Afobe.
Had his own injury issues, but we effectively chose the promise of Sanogo over Afobe. Whether the later is arsenal quality is open for debate, but in 18 months one went from chances with us to playing for Ajax B team and the other went from League 1 to becoming an established PL player. Both same age.
Sometimes it feels like we at the club have a “grass is greener” approach to academy players.
Afobe would have been offloaded anyway, good player..? Yes….Just didn’t make the cut..and he won’t make it today
So did Sonogo because of injuries. ..we wish them both best of luck…
He is just grabbing at straws to try to make an argument.
Don’t be a tosser.
It’s possible to have a reasonable debate without it being to “grab at straws”.
I would gladly do a search on this board when we signed Sanogo and though I stated I hope he fulfils his potential, I’m saddened that it’s at the expense of Afobe. So I’ve been consistent from the start, if anything. No need to be a douche about it.
He probably wouldn’t but it’s hard to say completely. I know people’s first justification for why a player who didn’t make it was “but look at what he didn’t after Arsenal?” But it’s never that strait forward. A large part of a player’s development isn’t to do with the coaching and environment. Like, is Ashley Bumhole had left to Crystal Palaceas planned, would he have become one of the best LBs in the world? Doubt it. Would Flamini have ended up as a CL level player if he had gone to Birmingham before his breakthrough? I don’t believe so. If… Read more »
Typing on the browser for this site is a nightmare.
Please blogs, have commentary on the app so I don’t have to use the browser to comment.
Afobe would have had chances with us but he was always injured… (so an apples with apples comparison 😀 ).
The rules prevent me from describing what I think of you and your attitude.
I’m sorry, your attitude is bad. He made an objective observation. No need to get personal here.
Gosh, it’s not often you hear a sweeping and unfair reference to folk as deadbeats and bed blockers, or the jaundiced dismissal of a recruitment policy that has brought in the likes of Rob Holding, defended as being objective..
My attitude is ‘winner’ and a desire to be the best that we can be. We’ve indulged players who are not up to scratch for too long.
It’s a professional football club which should strive to be the best & you need a killer instinct, something that we lack. But fine, continue with your fake appreciation for a player who made about 10 appearances in four years & who was going to be a postman before we gave him a ridiculous four year contract.
If your mom had that attitude, you would be disowned at six.
Of course the problem is not Sanogo. He made efforts. He gave his best. He is who he is. He is by no means responsible for his injuries either. So we can only wish him well. The problem is a manager that is so contradicted as to be hypocritical. He earns 8 million pounds per annum. Probably more with the new contract. But he fights to keep a cap on the wages of plays. He abhors expensive transfers. So he consciously and consistently looks out for cheap buys in the hope that they would be Anelka or Holding. A man… Read more »
Messi was reputed as someone too small and unable to grow without some experimental drug.
Perhaps. And how many Messis has Barca groomed since then. Is it Barca’s policy to look for players on the cheap in the hope of turning them to Messi?
Perhaps you should think about supporting whatever club Mourinho is coaching. Some of us still object to having human beings described as “wastes of space.”
I think he was talking about being a player just making up the numbers in the arsenal. Not as a person.
Pleas don’t give me a lesson in fake morals ‘a waste of space’ describes his (lack of) football ability & use to the club. I’m sure the lad is incredibly nice outside of the game & hope he gets another club. Also, don’t give me the ‘support chelsea’ nonsense, I’ve supported the club for over 30 years and I’m a season ticket holder. I can call a bad player and a bad contract offer when I see it, as we all can. Maybe get past your own ego & self righteousness and support the club. We need winners & a… Read more »
Waste of space and injury prone nobody are not footballing terms in my lexicon, they’re nastiness. I don’t give a damn how many years you’ve been a supporter and how many season tickets you have, you didn’t call a bad player or a bad contract, you were unnecessarily personal and nasty. Get past your own hate and self-righteousness, it might even go some way to improving the atmosphere at the stadium.
What would you call him then (in footballing terms)? Was always injured (which we knew before we signed him, he was going to be a postman before we gave him a four year contract!) and never played when he was fit?
This is professional sport mate, you have to be single minded & make hard decisions. I’m not hating anyone, making a cold blooded footballing decision.
I don’t understand why we have to have this over emotional connection to a minor player. He was a poor signing given a too long contract, move on.
tdl described the situation, a young player on a free worth a chance, who took on a lot of hate because he wasn’t the world class striker that we all wanted. He had lots of injury issues, but he came on in the FA Cup final and caused havoc which helped us to win, and his enthusiasm was a delight. He never earned a huge salary and he’s suffered a lot of setbacks, so why the personal insults, what’s wrong with just saying thanks and good luck?
Nothing is wrong with wishing him well… He has played for us and deserves some praise.
He’s a player who didn’t achieve his potential and not for lack of trying. No more, no less. The way some go on about him here it’s as if he’s committed crimes against humanity of something. Give it a rest.
People are so angry…
It upsets me
Now I’m angry!
Most have, but also nothing wrong with being brutally honest. He was pretty crap, unlucky with injuries. And it didnt happen for him. Now can we focus on getting some more players out this squad and get some players in that are of the calibre to make us challengers again. Why people take offence to this non story is pathetic
Yaya showed some talent in youth setups that showed potential to improve. He was on a free and got a small contract youth team contract, he got injured. He’s 24, and is definitely not an unskilled hack, he’s definitely better then you and I. Is he Thierry Henry, no, but seriously your unnecessary vitriol toward him and his selection is far more annoying then Arsene taking a shot at a physically imposing young man with got potential.
Vonnie, hes a shit football player. That okay?
A shit footballer who scored this goal against Dortmund.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2014-15/arsenal-vs-dortmund/goal-yaya-sanogo-1-0.html
May I say your comments are a waste of space here?
You can say what you like as can i. Hes never been and probably will never be good enough for Arsenal like many others in recent times. Its not vitriol…i actually had high hopes of Yaya when he joined, trust in Arsenes judgement most of the time, good stats in youth teams etc…im simply saying if you look back at my first comment…thanks and goodbye. You want to carry on this pointless discussion?
Do you even know how much Sanogo earned pw? Do you even know what the average youth player wage is? Do you have other cases of gambling on youth players to compare to so that we may see how objectively worse or better the Sanogo situation was? Nope, because you just want to get up on your soapbox and bash Wenger. I know you don’t like Wenger but Christ at least use your head a little. No one but you is making any remarks against Sanogo’s abilities. We all know he wouldn’t make it here, yet you are the only… Read more »
Go and see his statistics with the french U18, you will be surprised. Even a world-class player like Torres was worth nothing at Chelsea. Wenger should have bought a confirmed CF and give this guy 10 or 15 mn of game regularly but he threw him in to shoulder all that responsibility.
Yeh no need for the verbal beat down, the poor guy’s had it hard enough with injuries, and as far as how long we’ve persisted with him, again just giving him the chance he deserved considering his injury setbacks. Arsenal works like this because the guy that makes those decisions has a conscience, he’s a pretty special guy that Arsene. He’s stood next to a lot of injury ridden players over the years, would’ve been pretty shit if Ramsey were flogged during his post broke leg fan hate days, no doubt you were and are still one of those impatient… Read more »
You all need to stop crying & have a look at yourselves. I would never advocate Ramsey to be sold post injury, what a ridiculous thing to say.
good luck yaya toure, pls find latest football news on http://www.revolutionnews.com.ng
If your news page is so dumb it thinks this article is about Yaya TOURE, then I think I’ll give it a miss.
However entitled or spoilt the image of modern footballers might be, the time injured or rehabilitating from injury is very tough with a short career on the line.
Hope Yaya gets back to playing competitively soon. Good luck kid
He was being paid a week what few people will earn in a year so I wouldn’t fell sorry for him financially.
Are you sure about that… I’ve no idea what he was paid but I’d guess it wasn’t much without appearance money… Maybe more per week than many get per month (in the western world)…
Rumour is he was on about 5,000 per week – which is about the same as what a decent software developer can earn in a month, and probably less than what an executive at a large company earns. So no, his wage wasn’t that far out of line.
I really like Yaya and will always be grateful to him for helping us win the FA cup, hopefully his injury problems are behind him and he can have a successful career, best of luck to him.
Yaya Sanogone
Finally.
He played for us against Bayern.
One step in the masterstroke to finally make us a club at Bayern’s level.
See ya mate, thanks for some great seasons in Football Manager 2011.
unrelated, but did anyone see the interview where Per Mert said he’s retiring?!?!
He’s only 32, hope it’s not true.
What the fuck!!! This is an outrage blood. You know what I mean fam?!?!? Sack venga! Kronke out!! The board out!! These cunts don’t know what they’re doing!! You get me fam?!?!
I hear you….Wenger promised some big changes, but this is what we get within a week of his new contract?! A genuine cult legend cut loose?! #VengaOut
Ya Sanogo YA!!
-Mesut Özil
Man, I thought with the season over those miserable Arsenal fans so displeased with Arsenal, Arsenal, the Board, plastic forks etc would take the opportunity to do things that make them happier and let a little sunshine in their lives until they have to start printing new Arsene out signs….but no, here they are hating on Yaya. Young player had injury problems and didnt work out….whats with the hate…
Sanogo was always a punt.
Wenger brought him in on potential but with an injury record.
Its start of the culling we seriously need to lighten the squad.
Other mediocre players, injury prone and/or peripherals should also be culled –
Jenkinson, Elneny, Debuchy, Gibbs, Jack, Campbell, Lucas, Asano
Ospina likely will push for his move.
Walcott IMO Wenger should sell. He isn’t getting younger and lacks nuance to his play at this stage of career. We need to sell whilst he still has substantial value and he has his main asset ‘pace’.
Switching to the app version as to avoid all future comments from the Chelski fans, trolls and keyboard warriors that seem to have taken over here.
thanks for you contribution yahya sanogo
Just read something about arda turan.. Arsenal interest… 25 million…. ?
“If I play really well, I will end up signing for Barça, because my style suits theirs. If I play well, I will end up at Arsenal.”
Yeah, seems like the guy to lift us.
Its funny how sanogo gets slated everytime his name crops up. The guy has been hard done by injuries and don’t forget he was a diamond in the dirt. Wenger gave him a chance like he did with Walcott,wilshere, Ramsey and co but he didn’t get lucky. We need to wish him the best. In one way or the other he made us smile at some point. He had two good games for us(Dortmund and mancity(community shield))..
Thank God.
All the best wishes to you, Yaya. Good luck!
Mbappe price is ridiculous at 95m. For the price, Wenger may as well just seal Mahrez for 40-50m Seems unlike Wenger to commit to 95m. Mbappe is exciting but he is also a young player and may struggle for consistency. We saw Mahrez struggle this season but at the same time Hazard regain some form. It could be even more erratic for a young player barely 19yrs. And if it goes belly up, its a huge sum to balance. May as well throw 60-70m at PSG and see if they want to cash in on Draxler whom they bought at… Read more »
Wrong article mate
Good riddance. I don’t expect Wenger to get every transfer right but this one was all shades of wrong 90% of the time he wore an Arsenal shirt.
God.. I miss the days when reading through the arseblog comments doesn’t make me want to punch someone’s face in.it seems like everybodys got an opinion they cant keep to themselves nowadays. Not that its wrong to have one but jeez have some perspective before u decide to run your mouth.. I realize now how much I hate social media. Bunch of entitled beings hiding behind a profile. Ps. I also realize I have anger issues.hahah come at me!
I’ve only been here 3+ years but I remember more considered football analysis back then than the “Wenger Out/Hound Player of the Week” shite seemingly on the increase.
Good luck to the man.
Will always remember seeing him rag-doll Skrtel, who went crying to the ref. Felt okay with the business that Summer – one big signing, couple of free transfers, one a success and one a wild card that made a minimal but significant contribution. Not enough, but pretty tidy. Two in three isn’t a bad rate when it comes to signings.
(Obviously we should have spent another hundred million)
And doing similar with Agger when they took turns 😀
Don’t wake me up before you Sanogo
#Yasanogoya
Here’s wishing you all the best in life, Yaya.
Really nice guy. He had loads of potential but never recovered from several serious injuries he sustained as a teenager. Thank you for your contribution to Arsenal Yaya. Good luck.
Hope he does well wherever he goes and yes, we will always have his moments like the Bayern, Dortmund and FA cup performances. However, I do hope we have a look at our scouting set up because this really shouldn’t be happening. We’ve brought in the likes of Holding so it’s not all bad I guess…
He was scouted and approached by many big teams when he was a youth player but then he got injured and became a gamble.
Good luck, Yaya. Dudes — the guy didn’t pick himself for games or over promise what he could do. He’s a young player trying to make the most of his opportunities and learn the game at a its highest level. He never said he’s the savior of Arsenal. Wish him well and let him move on.
Good luck hope he has a chance at a club more suited to his level. Gets some wages off the books too
@ Remember this is a guy who scored against Borusia Dortmund not too long ago, and whose chaotic presence helped the Gunners to FA Cup glory in 2014. And played against Bayern Munich away. Hpw can we ever forget any of that? Do we look like an ungrateful lot?
Still can’t believe he started for us up front against Bayern.
He always seemed to have a go, but bad luck with injuries, and it didn’t work out for him, no need to have a go at the poor guy, hope he gets a chance somewhere
So Sanogo was injured a lot and did not grab his chance at Arsenal. That can’t be worse than buying Batshuayi or W. Bony and yet AW still gets criticized more than other managers who buy expensive flops. Our boss has a great record in helping players reach their full potential. Good luck to Yaya, he is bound to have gained something from playing at Arsenal that can be useful in his career.
Good Luck bro!
Hope that you find a nice club.
While Yaya was sadly so-so on the pitch, his contribution to the Arsenal fan discussion has been invaluable.
Unfortunately, it seems like new deal is a no-go.