David Showell


36 goals in their first 11 Premier League games suggests Arsenal aren’t short of players who know where the net might be. Last week, before October had even finished, Spanish wunderkind Fran Merida became the sixteenth player to score for The Gunners so far this season. Who knows, it might not be long before Arsene Wenger is haranguing Manuel Almunia for not scoring enough.

Despite this flood of goals though, rumours about the imminent purchase of striker Marouane Chamakh just won’t go away. Chamakh has earned a reputation in France as a strong, aggressive front-man, and has gradually become a big fish in a relatively small Bordeaux pond. Last season he scored 13 goals in a Championship-winning campaign, that ended a seven-year period of dominance for Lyon.

At 6 feet 2 inches, Chamakh is understandably good in the air, but he’s also highly-skilled at playing the game on terra firma. It’s just as well, Mr Wenger would find little use for an old-fashioned striker who couldn’t ping the ball around at will just like the rest of the team. Any new additions at Ashburton Grove would always need to be more van Basten than van driver.

Marouane Chamakh is 25 and was born to Moroccan parents in Tonneins, in south-west France. Despite overtures from his country of birth, he chose to play for Morocco instead. So far, his 52 caps have brought him 15 goals, and a reputation for whole-hearted commitment to the cause.

To date, he’s spent his professional career at Bordeaux, and is now in his eighth season at Stade Cheban-Delmas. If the move to North London comes off, he’ll need to get used to a bigger stage and a more intense pressure. Wenger’s pursuit of the striker may well step up in January when the transfer window opens again.

Prior to signing Samir Nasri and Andriy Arshavin, the Arsenal manager’s pursuit was common knowledge for some time. Arsenal don’t tend to just sign players out of the blue, although they made an exception once with their famous clandestine capture of Sol Campbell. The slow but steady Chamakh saga is in keeping with the Arsenal way.

If the Moroccan can bring goals to the Emirates, he’ll be made more than welcome, but fitting into a fast-paced set-up like Arsenal have is not going to be easy. A certain Thierry Henry arrived from Juventus for a large outlay, but was lacking in confidence. What followed was a goal-fest and an elevation to the status of Arsenal legend. But for some, Arsenal has been a striker’s graveyard.

Francis Jeffers was a more than promising goal-getter at Everton, and his arrival at Arsenal had the fans waiting with calculators and record books at the ready. However, he didn’t turn out to be a fox in the box, and left after scoring just four goals. Now at Sheffield Wednesday, Jeffers stopped off at several clubs along the way.

If Chamakh does catch the flight to London, his power and strength in the air will prove more than useful for Wenger’s men. Since the departure of Togolese front-man Emmanuel Adebayor, headed goals aren’t on the menu as often as they once were. The twin towers of William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen are always a threat at corners, but in general play it’s a little different. Sending high crosses into Robin van Persie is a little like giving hamburgers to a vegetarian.

The bidding process for Chamakh has been long and drawn-out, and there’s no guarantee that Arsenal and Bordeaux will end up agreeing on the player’s value for a move in January. While the French club were looking for around £13M in the summer, the London club thought a figure in the region of £8M was more appropriate. Sunderland have already tried and failed, while there has been talk of West Ham and Tottenham sounding interested, too.

The fact that Chamakh’s contract with the French side runs out at the end of the season means he could well wait until then before making his move. And Bordeaux could not stand in his way. Whilst the player himself is known to favour a move to Islington, and has been making various pronouncements in recent months about the prospects of this ‘dream move’, such a talent out of contract will attract many interested parties.

From Arsenal’s point of view however, it seems the pieces of the jigsaw are almost in place now. Bordeaux will surely want to sell to recoup something, Arsenal want to buy and Chamakh wants to move. Come January, the hotline to Bordeaux may be red hot, as long as the price is right. A betting man might fancy a punt on the Moroccan joining the Dutchman, the Spaniards, the Ivorian, the Russian and all the others in Mr Wenger’s red and white revolution.

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