Salomon Kalou to Arsenal: Detective's Analysis
|There is not much that Kalou cannot do. He scores late goals from headers because he has played alongside a dominating juggernaut beast called Didier Drogba, and defenders do not always mark him the way they ought to when there appears a more obvious threat. All winger-forwards should be able to finish off strikers chances in the air for the the 4-3-3 system to be truly effective. Walcott does not because he is not sure where the ball will end up, and Gervinho does not because he isn’t concentrating and lacks aggression. Those players that run the line, and still finish like a striker are rare. Bale, Ronaldo, Podolski, Alexis Sanchez all can. Interestingly, Kalou can too.
Deceptively tall, naturally athletic, quick, lithe and wriggly; Kalou could score and make things happen in our attacking third. He’s a better finisher and runs where Walcott should to score tap ins and headers. Does he have the fire, heat and passion to win games week in-week out? I’m not sure.
However, Arsenal want a player deemed not good enough to be a regular in the Chelsea side. Their signing players like Mata, Torres, Lukaku and frequently benching the Ivorian tells me they don’t really rate him. When Chelsea want to keep a player they always succeed because they have great resources and strong negotiators behind the scenes.
The message it would send by buying him fits into the latter of Arsenal’s two transfer strategies; 1) Sign the best young talent 2) Make opportunist and cheap signings (Park, Chamakh). It is not going to make Robin van Persie want to sign, it won’t scare Tottenham, it won’t sell ten thousand shirts, it’s not a ‘momentum’ signing that could kick start a season where a player arrives in rich form (Arshavin), and it’s not going to draw in other big signings.
We know that a few seasons ago Luis Felipe Scolari claimed that Arséne Wenger had wanted to sign Kalou as a striker. Wenger will obviously be desperate to sign a player that can play through the centre in the place of Robin van Persie. 36 goals in 67 games at Feyenoord is proof he can play there. Henry is short term, Chamakh could yet be sold and is ineffectual, Park has no present or future, and there are no serious alternatives at the moment. I expect Liverpool to join the race, because bar the fading Kuyt they don’t have a player that can score or run between lines and onto a target-man’s knockdown. Kalou’s contract expires this summer and a price of around£3m for a 26 year old that is “hardworking, versatile, eager to improve, and unafraid of the physical side of the game” (Mourinho) could be a bargain.
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At first glance signing Kalou doesn’t send the right message. However he could be a textbook buy.
Underrated at previous club, consistent, experienced, just the right age. It could be perfect… Or not.
Please! I hope we don’t sign him!
WE NEED PROBLEMS SOLVERS! GOALSCORERS! ASSIST HEROES!
can anyone tell me what happened to granero? we were supposed to get him, we were very close. granero, kalou or podolski and bridge on loan and we will be fine
He can be a good add to the team
Kalou can be good signing at right price, we also need defenders! Why AW keeps flop Asharvin and Shamack??????
I somehow can’t see AVB allowing Kalou to leave Chelsea for a rival club so personally I think this is just hot air, but it would be worth watching and waiting to see if Wenger does actually put in a bid. As for all the other names that have been thrown into the Arsenal transfer pot I think Bridge and Podolski would be ideal but again it’s down to Wenger and we all know how he is with spending money, even if it’s not his!!!
3m is a good buy, we will still get 5m cash + a better replacement if we sell chamakh at 8m
why would Arsenal sign Granero? He is a central midfielder, last time I checked we have a lot of those. Ramsey, Song, Wilshere, Diaby, Rosicky….not sure who else I am leaving out. He is a good player but clearly not where we are lacking at the moment.
I just think of him in comparison to arshavin, a player who works hard, and there’s a world class talent in there somewhere, but almost EVERYTHING he tries ends in miserable failure. Kalou, although perhaps not ruthlessly efficient, is a big step up from arshavin, and would certainly contribute more than him. He may not have the world class talent of arshavin, but there is more to Kalou than he has shown regularly for chelsea, and who knows, maybe arsenal is the place to bring out that talent.
He certainly wouldn’t be my first choice to bring to arsenal, but he would definitely improve the squad.
On the “message” argument – arteta didn’t really send the right message, but he’s been a brilliant signing and has been instrumental in turning our season around. He plays in a position nobody really expected him to, and who’s to say the same couldn’t happen for Kalou? As with Arteta, were he to sign, it would be up to him to do the talking on the pitch.
@piken79: “not sure who else I am leaving out” – arteta and coquelin, with frimpong, aneke, lansbury and ozyakup waiting and debatably ready for their chance as well.
Arsen wenger should sign kalou because he is in formed than chamack and arshavin if arsenal can sign him he will had something to arsenal squad
And again if arsen wenger can sign karim benzema and eden hazard they will surely take arsenal to top four this season
He’s not the answer, we should be looking at Podolski or Pato. We are suposed to be one of the top clubs in Eroupe but now we’re losing our status and reputation and to top it of it looks like we could be losing another one of our targets Hazard who is now link with a 30mil move to chelsea. They get Hazard and Mata and we get Kalou / Benayoun…….. What’s happened to our club???
All we need are him, Casemiro and Vertonghen on board
Kalou is a non starter , Bridge is awful, would be going backwards. We won’t spend 35 mill because transfers take into account wages, and we would have to break our wage structure for Hazard or any really top class player. We have too many average players on good wages
kalou no no no.not what we need because he aint a team spirit uplifter.we need a podolski,gotze,vertoghen and aly cissokho.this are players we need.we get them and the top spot is ours.wenger should stop being tight fisted.he should buy these players .
Any news on Abidal? There are a lot of rumours going on that he could join us
my only huge down side to kalou is that damn african cup that is played this and next year,im algerian so my national team is involve with it before anyone takes me out of contest,but for sure if the african federation dont push it to be played in the summer it will always put big clubs in doubts unless they`re proven.how many african play 4 man u?