Lazio are reportedly lining up a £9 million summer bid for Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh, according to talkSPORT.
Now there are two ways to look at this transfer rumour. Firstly, considering we obtained Chamakh on a free transfer from Ligue 1 outfit Bordeaux last summer, making a possible £9 million profit from his departure would indicate a great piece of business for the Gunners, especially since the Moroccan has been out-of-favour for the last several months of the season. You can argue the fact that his lack of first-team opportunities is the key reason for his dip in form, and in my opinion, this would be a justified argument.
The other way to look at this is that the striker has only just arrived at the club, and is adapting to life in the Premier League. We shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the forward and his great start to his first season in England which saw him bag some vital goals for Arsenal – 11 goals in 42 appearances in total.
So, where do I stand on Marouane Chamakh’s future at Arsenal?
Well, I don’t think we should let him go. With the future of Nicklas Bendtner in major doubt and Robin van Persie having been injured for a considerable period in the last two seasons, I think losing Chamakh would leave us short up-front.
Arsene Wenger is not known for splashing the cash and acquiring a bunch of new players. I think Bendtner will probably leave in the summer as he has expressed his frustration over the lack of first-team opportunities, so selling Chamakh would require the club to sign two new strikers in the summer, which would not be sensible in my view.
Chamakh has the potential to develop and I think giving up on him after so few starts would be the wrong decision on Arsenal’s part, especially after tracking him for as long as we did. With a couple more starts under his belt and the gaining of knowledge of how we Arsenal play their football, Chamakh could potentially go on to be a great striker for the North London club.
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Take the money and run as fast as we can is what I suggest. Chammack is a poor mans Adebayor in my opinion
I agree with the writer. I think he should be given a chance, remember it is his first season. He needs to be given a chance and a run in the team. Everybody forgets if it wasn’t for him and his vital goals at the start of the season, we might have been out of the title race by March.
In general, I think at the start of the season he played well but as soon as Van Persie returned, he was out of the team and didn’t really get a chance back into the team. If you look at the times he came on as a sub he was constantly under pressure because either we were losing or playing really bad. He did not deliver and we got frustrated at him. It wasn’t really his fault, I just suppose we were upset with our team and needed a scapegoat.
I’m not saying he is a great player because he still has a lot to prove but he needs to be given a run in the team and a chance to prove his worth.
He was never good enough to play for a team with ambitions of winning the league… hold on… our only ambition is to finish in the top four, isn’t it?
If we want to be also-rans, sure, keep this donkey. If we want to actually win something, take this donkey to market!
I agree with you Iain! He has only been with us for one season. We need to give him a fair shot to become a class Arsenal player. We can’t judge him after his first season in the Premier League. He came from the French league which is a huge step up to be honest. We should hold on to him for atleast anothere season.
From his early season performances he certainly deserves another season. That doesn`t mean we don`t need to buy another striker. I`m sure we can make room up front.
So the crazies want to sell Chamakh and Bendtner – now who is going to score headers? Arshavin?
Chamakh did well in the first half of the season and then fell off in the second. However, he was the only striker we had come August and played eveery game. RVP is a better striker but he doesn’t add the same target man dimension that Chamakh does. RVP drops deep or goes wide and then who is there for crosses? The midgets?
One of the reason Chamakh looks less than average is simply that this team cannot cross. At Bordeaux he has Gourcuff, Wendel, Gouffran,Chalme, Plasil even Tremoulinas can cross well.
Neither of our wing backs can cross well, Walcott makes one in ten decent crosses, Nasri is more of a dribbler than crosser – the list goes on and on. How is he to win headers that either don’t get past the first defender or are hit into row Z?
Selling players especially after on season does not help the club gather the required experience. We need to keep Chamakh. He will come off good. However, another striker is required. with Benthnr’s attitude now, it is better to let him leave. Keeping him will creat more problems. A CB,a holding MF are mandatory if Arsenal is to think of any ware next season. Chelsea, Man city will spend big during summer and winning the EPL will be more more difficult next season.
We have seen enough of Chamakh to know that he is not good enough for Arsenal. A stricker should be able to shoot, not only score with the head. I noticed at the begining of the season that he can’t shoot, but expected the coaching crew to help him improve on this weakness, but this hasn’t happened. I will sell him and Bendtner, and use the money to buy a striker that can play, shoot and head well.
We are coming to live in nerja, from next month ( all being well with our house sale ); i am sure Jo will be down to make a fuss of the animals.