(Now) I Know What You Did (Since) Last Summer

By: Martin | November 13th, 2009

Did you ever do that thing where you meet a girl (or guy, if you’re one of my female or nontraditional male readers), strike up a conversation, realize she’s kind of into you, but then for whatever reason, you decide not to make your move? And then, a couple months or years later, you meet a guy who either is dating her or dated her for a while? You’re always kind of curious to see what you missed out on, right? So you kind of casually try to turn the attention to her and what it was like dating her without being too obvious or creepy just to see if you missed out on anything?

Well, that’s what we’re doing today. At vespo’s suggestion, we’re taking a look at the road not taken with all the rumored summer transfers. Arsenal was linked with approximately 5,000 different players this summer, of which we signed…well, let’s see here…we move the decimal place, carry the 3, and……um…..1. 1 player. Just Vermaelen. And he’s been great. But should we have gotten another player or two? Might we renew our interest in any of these guys in the January window?

I liked the idea of checking on the players we didn’t get, but I have to admit, I’m a bit helpless. As you guys know, outside of the Champions League, I don’t know much about the other European clubs. I used to try to catch Barca games almost every week, b/c of (a) Thierry Henry; (b) Barca’s attack; and (c) Ray Hudson, the greatest announcer in the world. But I don’t get GolTV at my apartment here in NYC, so I haven’t seen a league game from any league outside the Premiership all season.

So I needed to turn to outside help. Fortunately, one of the benefits of writing for The Offside is that it is a community of bloggers who follow their respective clubs/national teams. Many of my co-bloggers were kind enough to take time to give their assessments of our rumored transfer targets. I have given them credit where they did–with other players, I did my best to make an informed judgment about how well the player had played so far this season. I will break this down into 3 parts–Parts II & III to come soon. Without further ado…

EVER BANEGA: Arsenal were briefly linked with the 21 year-old Argentine Valencia midfielder, and given his age and relatively unknown status, it seemed like the kind of move Arsene Wenger likes to make, and thus somewhat believable. But it never materialized. Banega also answers the question–”What it would be like if Slater from ‘Dazed and Confused’ played top-level professional football?” (check it out–the resemblance is uncanny)

Javier from Valencia Offside:

What a difference 1 year makes. Ever Banega midfielder for Valencia CF lasted only half a season when he first arrived at Valencia. A net porn scandal (no joke) and late night partying very quickly saw him shuffled off on loan to Atletico Madrid where he also failed to make a good impression.

In the off season he was also quoted with desires not to return to the Valencia outfit but problems with work permits and low offers caused any transfer to fall through.

This season with the injury of Fernandes and Baraja, Ever Banega has been given the opportunity to play first team football. And what a show he has put on. He is not the same lad that messed up in previous seasons. Quick on the ball and flawless pin point passing made Ever Banega the #1 play maker for VCF. Already credited with 4 assists in 9 matches Ever Banega has a great future ahead of him has is begining to prove he was worth teh 18 million Valencia dropped from him.

Financial troubles at Valencia could however mean that Banega’s days at the club are numbered. Rumours of sales of Villa Silva are rampant and though the club is looking to hold on to their stars that could mean the exit of some quality players like Banega in the near future which would be a shame.

SEBASTIEN BASSONG The young (23) Cameroonian defender was pretty much the sole bright spot for Newcastle in their catastrophic 2008-2009 relegation season. He expressed a desire to stay in the Premiership, which, coupled with Newcastle’s financial troubles and the fact that he was their most desirable player, made it a foregone conclusion that he would be moving to a side still in the Premiership. Arsenal’s need for a physical defender, coupled with the fact that Bassong graduated from the same football academy which produced Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, and William Gallas, made Arsenal seem a likely destination. However, the deal never materialized, and Bassong instead moved on to archrival Spurs for £8 million.

He has immediately become a mainstay for Spurs, making 13 starts already this season. He scored the winner against Liverpool on his debut, and has played well since then. It’s a bit tough for me to assess how good he’s actually been, I have to admit. The only Spurs game I’ve seen in its entirety is the North London derby, so I’ll have to rely on a secondary source. It’s far from scientific, I admit, but looking at Sky Sports’ player ratings in his 11 league appearances for the club, he’s received an average player rating of 6.81. That’s not spectacular, but is very good, especially for a 23 year-old in his first year at the club. From the look of things he could very well be a mainstay of Spurs’ backline for many years to come.

LORIK CANA Arsenal were heavily linked with the 26 year-old holding midfielder, who at the time was captain of Marseille in Ligue 1. Eventually we passed, and he was bought by Sunderland for £5 million at the end of July.

Stephen from Sunderland Offside:

Lorik Cana is one of those players two years ago under the celebrity management of Roy Keane who wouldn’t have been signed. Lorik isn’t Irish, or have an O at the start of his name, and here’s a shock–is someone who played for a top club (Marseille) and was tracked by some top clubs like Arsenal. That’s a huge step up for a club like Sunderland. You may ask what he means to the club. Well, he was named Captain straight away, so that says a lot. The other important thing is that when he’s either carded or suspended, the club plays like they did under Ricky Sbragia (whom I called a first team coach, not a manager). While it’s still early days at the Stadium of Light for him, you can bet that he’s going to be successful for the club. Will he be the greatest player to sign for the Black Cats? Probably not, since that’s Super Kevin Phillips.

Stephen also wrote up the Cana transfer here.

MAROUANE CHAMAKH I think it would have been funny if Arsenal had also been rumored to be interested in Paul Scholes, so stupid bloggers like me could have used “Ginger or Marouane?” headlines all summer. Ah, the possibilities. But I digress.

Arsene Wenger was plainly interested in Chamakh as a replacement for Adebayor–the big 25 year-old Moroccan fit the target man mold which no one except Bendtner at Arsenal fit. He would also, coincidentally, have battled Bendtner for the team title of “most ridiculous Euro-hair.” He provided 13 goals in 40 appearances (31 starts) for the Ligue 1 Champs in 2008-2009, and openly campaigned for Bordeaux to allow him to leave. Arsenal wanted him, and he wanted to be at Arsenal, but Wenger played hardball, attempting to use the leverage of the fact that Chamakh only had one year remaining on his contract to lowball Bordeaux into selling him cheap. It didn’t work, and he stayed at the French side.

Chamakh has kept up the good work this season, scoring 5 goals in 16 appearances in all competitions for the French side, although he’s cooled down considerably–he scored 3 in his first 2 matches, which means he’s only notched twice in his last 14, including a 10-match goalless drought.

He’s been unsuccessful at the international level, failing to score a single goal for Morocco as they failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Many, many sincere thanks to both Javier and Stephen for their time and insight–they both do a great job with their respective club’s pages and are well worth checking out.

Part II to come either tomorrow or Sunday. Hopefully Arsenal’s players will make it through tomorrow injury-free.