Arsenal have completed the signing of French youngster Yaya Sanogo from FC Auxerre, after realizing the striker’s potential to adapt to the physical conditions of the Barclays Premier League. The deal is a free transfer which of course suits Arsenal since it is a limited gamble on a player with genuine talent which clearly Arsene thinks he can work with.
While Arsene Wenger is ready to sign players from any team for serious transfer fees, the French boss is also keeping his eye open for new young talents who emerge from clubs in his native country. Players like Jack Wilshere have recently spoken in the media about building squad depth in the Arsenal set-up, and Sanogo’s signing will hopefully prove to be an excellent addition to the existing crop of talented youngsters at the club. With participation in multiple domestic and European competitions, squad strength is of prime importance this summer.
With Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski the only recognized center forwards at the club, it is clear that the club need to sign a marquee striker this summer to add presence to the attacking line and naturally Wenger is always on the look out for talent no matter where it comes from so this deal cannot really be viewed as a surprise as Sanogo has been linked with the Gunners throughout the year and while it is not a “marquee” signing it could prove to be a shrewd bit of business by Arsene.
Sanogo is a talented 20-year old striker who started his career as a youth player at Auxerre. The Frenchman has only played 22 senior matches in France but had an impressive return this season which clearly influenced Wenger as far as his signing was concerned as Sanogo scored an impressive nine goals from his 11 matches (including a hat-trick) with Auxerre in Ligue 2 this year. He is a fast, strong athletic player who seems to have that something special in front of goal – he is a genuine goal-scorer. The striker has consistently been involved with the French youth sides as he has grown up, and has been a regular goal scorer for each age group side he has played with.
According to Goal, one of the biggest issues for the young striker will be his fitness as he has been plagued by injuries so far in his short professional career including sustaining a broken leg which left him on the sidelines for almost all of the 2009-10 season.
Sanogo is not the big name many fans seem to need but there is no doubt he has raw talent and being compared to Romelu Lukaku cannot be a bad thing and look at him now after a full year in the premier League with the right coach. Undoubtedly Sanogo is behind the Chelsea striker in his development but let Wenger do his thing and lets see where Yaya Sanogo is in 18-24 months from now, we could be pleasantly surprised.