Watching Clément Chantôme + Wenger confirms Nasri arrival
Add comment May 25th, 2008
My Saturday night’s are crazy. Last night, I flicked between the Eurovision Song Contest (Spain were robbed) and the French Cup Final, where I was able to observe Arsenal target Clément Chantôme for 80 mins, as his valiant PSG side unluckily lost to Lyon.
He’s not a star player – he’s primarily a functional midfielder, who keeps the team ticking over. But he’s not Flamini mk II. He runs in an economical, upright fashion, so seems to lack his possible predecessor’s crazed energy.
He has a neat left-foot, and for PSG he plays further up the pitch than Flamini ever did for us. His set piece delivery was a threat throughout the night, though he himself did not provide much a goal threat.
The ex-Arsenal player he reminds me of most is Edu. Like the Brazilian, he is not a specialist but a midfielder who has both a defensive and offensive game: he can destroy and create. However, on the evidence of last night at least, he doesn’t yet seem to have the presence or maturity to dominate a game in the way in which we need our midfield to do. Plus, he’s only 20: we have young options already in Diaby and Denilson – what we need is some experience.
Arsene Wenger confirmed on French TV last night that Samir Nasri will sign before the European Championships are underway. You can all stop panicking – he will turn up, it’s just a question of when.
Those in the UK, enjoy the rest of your bank holiday weekend. The rest, enjoy Sunday. Haha. I think we win, brits.
