starmandb wrote:thebigbangtheo wrote:Ach wrote:Arsenal are determined to reunite coach Unai Emery with his former player Steven N'Zonzi this summer, having made the midfielder their number one transfer target.
N'Zonzi enjoyed his most successful season under the Spanish coach during their time at Sevilla, winning the Europa League in the first year.
The Frenchman moved to Roma last summer and although he is a regular starter, the club are considering offloading him as they try to improve their squad for next term.
Daily Star claims Arsenal are eyeing him up and hope to bring him and former Paris Saint-Germain boss Emery together again.
Having championed this fella as a viable solution to our soft underbelly of a midfield for longer than I care to remember, I actually feel a little non-plused about this latest link to him.
The lack of foresight, intelligence and genuine ambition that has existed at this club pretty much since the departure of David Dein, is the only thing we currently have worthy of legendary status.
That Emery wanted to get him at the club in his first (and effectively only) transfer window and apparently views him as a trusted lieutenant, speaks volumes regards our manager immediately recognising where our near fatal wound lay.
That he would have been paired with Torreira at the base of our midfield and provided the kind of solidity not seen since Gilberto Silva departed, turns that volume up to 11.
No guarantee of course and yeah, could've broken a leg in his first game, but I very, very, very much doubt that as we stand now we'd be the only team in the league without a clean sheet away from home and have such abysmal away form.
That being said, I think it is reasonable conjecture to state that we would likely have third place already secured as a minimum achievement, and not be shitting ourselves about facing the likes of Dacoure, Capoue and Deeny tonight if they decide to cut up rough.
Nzonzi was in the Blackburn team that went 15 games without keeping an away clean sheet back end of 10/11- 11-12
Including a 7-1 defeat at arsenal
Yeah, I remember him being at Blackburn and the 7-1, and I don't think I considered him to be anything more than average if I even really noted anything about him at all beyond being French with a cool name when he first arrived in England.
However, I think it might have been in that season they were relegated when I first acknowledged that he wasn't as basic and limited as I initially thought.
It was when he was at Stoke that I took notice of him and definitely after he was involved in some of those trials by stud marks we used to have at the bet365 rugby stadium.
When it was muted that Wenger might be in for him, the prevailing sentiment that he simply wasn't good enough to play for us did strike me as just a little bit snobbish and failing to see the wood for the trees, as he was exactly the type of player we needed as a foil for the likes of Santi, Ramsey, Ozil etc.
To my recollection, when we signed Steve Bould, a few thought that he wasn't good enough for The Arsenal either.
Most gooners will probably think of Drogba and Costa as total bastards, but in a heartbeat would've had them in our team so they could've been our inglorious bastards instead. What with the Stoke City history and all, that's kind of how I view N'zonzi as well.
I do understand the point you made regards the Blackburn poor away record but I think he is miles away from the player he was at 22/23 years old, same as only assessing Roy Keane by his time at Forest.