Albin Mouton
After four years, 20 competitive games and one single official goal, Yaya Sanogo has been released by Arsenal. Without any official appearance this season, the Frenchman failed to impress, even on loan.
"When I started to play Anelka, everybody said: 'Why are you starting with Anelka, why not buy a striker?'". Looking back when Arsène Wenger said that about Yaya Sanogo, the Arsenal manager couldn’t have been more wrong. Of course, Anelka won the title and became a £20 million sale for the club after arriving for only £500,000 from Paris Saint-Germain. Unfortunately, history didn’t repeat itself. But how could Wenger know the young striker would fail him? Well, he gambled but that didn’t pay off. Signed on a free transfer in 2013 with a relatively insignificant wage salary, Arsene’s bet was a long shot but a safe one.
Why sign Sanogo in the first place?
“When I first knew of him, he had not played. He had been out for two-and-a-half years. At 16 years of age he was a very promising striker” said Arsène Wenger to the official Arsenal website back in 2014. As a youngster, Yaya Sanogo was one of the best of his generation. With the French under 16’s team, he scored an average of agoal per game. In a youth tournament that took place in Japan in 2010, he was rewarded by the best goal of the tournament with a magnificent overhead kick.
In 2013, alongside Paul Pogba, Lucas Digne, Kurt Zouma and Samuel Umtiti, he won the Under 20 World Cup with France. Scoring four goals during the competition, Sanogo played a big part as the starting striker.
At Arsenal
“In pre-season I saw he was under-strength and not ready muscularly. We decided to take him completely out and try to build him up for four months - two months in France and two months with us. When he came back on January 1, I saw he was a different animal.” After his 14 appearances in his first season, the Frenchman failed to score any goals. Even with the help of an intense physical training, he still didn’t quite adapt to the type of football played in the Premier League. But the start of his second season looked promising. With four goals against Benfica during the Emirates Cup in August 2014, everyone thought that could be the beginning of what Arsène hoped. But obviously, things didn’t go that way at all. During the 2014/2015 season, Yaya Sanogo managed to score his only official goal for Arsenal helping the Gunners securing a 2-0 at win at home over Dortmund.
Even through disappointments and bad games, Arsene Wenger always stood behind his player. In February 2014, after a 2-0 loss against Bayern Munich at the Emirates in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, the French manager said : "There's a potential there. Sanogo is world champion of the Under-20s, if he was an English centre-forward and was world champion of the Under-20s, you would not ask me these questions. It's as simple as that.” Questioned by the press for starting Sanogo over Giroud for this crucial game, Wenger’s aggressive response at the time showed his frustration and that he didn’t want to talk about the Giroud’s situation. In fact, the night before a win against Crystal Palace, The Sun revealed that Olivier Giroud was with the model Celia Kay in his hotel room. The ex-Montpellier player had to make excuses and admit that he had committed a mistake but not adultery. Wenger said he benched him for reasons related to his performances but it probably was a sort of punishment for his behavior. Anyhow, Yaya Sanogo started upfront and the game ended the same way it always does against Bayern Munich. What was actually frustrating is that Arsenal had many chances and opportunities to win the game. So, what if Giroud actually played? We will never know but the team paid for Giroud’s mistake that convinced Wenger to make the decision to start the match with Sanogo. His lack of experience at the Champions League level didn’t help Arsenal that day.
Injuries and irregularity
At 24 years old, Yaya Sanogo has already suffered several major injuries that kept him away from the pitch for too long. Before coming to Arsenal, he almost quit football due to a crippling injury. In September 2010, he broke his leg and suffered from knee trouble for a while after. In 2013/2014, his back forced him out for five months. He missed four months the next season because of a hamstring injury. Last season, on loan at Charlton Athletic, he missed ten months of competition due to a calf injury. But even when he was not injured on loan at Ajax during the first six months of the 2015/16 season, Sanogo’s performances didn’t convince at all. Under Frank De Boer, the Frenchman only accomplished 30 touches in 47 minutes. The Dutch coach even said: “When I see Sanogo, I still have my doubts. I have still found no qualities with which you can do something.”
After four years at Arsenal, Yaya Sanogo can now find a new club to bounce back. With his fighting mentality and his perseverance, he might. He just has to avoid further injuries. He definitely wasn’t Arsenal material but he could still forge a decent career elsewhere.
