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Arsenal Target, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Signs for Internazionale
With the Copa America reaching its latter stages, it was expected that there was going to be a break and with the paucity of news coming out from the world of Arsenal, it’s back to another dose of transfer madness yet again. The tales of Petr Cech joining the club are getting tiring and all we can do as Arsenal fans is to wait patiently till we see the news on the official site. However, there has been a bit of information making the rounds is that former Arsenal target, Geoffrey Kondogbia, has joined Internazionale on a long-term deal.
It’s evident that the Gunners need to bring in a defensive midfielder this summer because it would be crazy to think that Francis Coquelin can play every game. Mathieu Flamini is past his peak and all we see him do nowadays is the holding midfielder ‘man-marking’ Mesut Ozil in the dressing room and everywhere else. Mikel Arteta, on the other hand, is aging and I feel he needs to get an elixir of Tomas Rosicky blood if he wants to keep competing at the highest level.
Morgan Schnerderlin has been touted to be the dream target for the Gunners but with Arsene Wenger and co. not even showing any measure of interest this summer, it seems as if the midfielder would probably go to the highest bidder with Manchester United and Tottenham also interested in securing his services.
Inter’s official Twitter account tweeted a picture of Kondogbia signing his contract with some bald chump next to him smiling like he had won a lottery. Inter’s CEO, Adriano Galliani, was very confident of securing the deal for Kondogbia and even went as far of disclosing the full extent of what the move entailed,
“Monaco had given us the all-clear for the sale at €40 million with payment spread over two years, €20 million and €20 million. The agreement with Geoffrey had already been sorted out the night before and was confirmed that same morning by him and his father.”
Last season, Kondogbia had won more tackles (61) than all of Inter’s midfielders put together. However, I wrote an article earlier in the month where I compared Coquelin, Kondogbia with another Arsenal target, Schneiderlin, and from a statistical perspective, Coquelin and Schneiderlin aced Kondogbia.
| League Only | Coquelin | Schneiderlin | Kondogbia |
| Appearances (subs) | 19 (3) | 24 (2) | 22 (1) |
| Tackles made per game | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.1 |
| Interceptions made per game | 3.7 | 2.6 | 2.5 |
| Fouls committed per game | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Clearances per game | 3.1 | 1.7 | 0.7 |
| Blocked shots per game | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Aerial Duels Won per game | 2.5 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Pass Completion percentage | 85.9% | 89.3% | 86.2% |
| Bookings (Yellow/Red) | (5/0) | (5/1) | (3/1) |
Stats via WhoScored.
At 22, Kondogbia is a very good prospect that could develop under the right guidance, but with Inter snapping the lad up, the Gunners would have to monitor the Schneiderlin situation closely, unless Wenger has something else up his sleeves. A part of me feels that Wenger’s loyalty to his players would see him use Flamini and Arteta in the upcoming season, and while many people don’t appreciate the work Arteta does, his ball-retention skills and the way he controls the tempo of a game are second to none. He also has a very cool composed head and his passing stats are up there with the very best.
Kondogbia is now out of our grasp.
Let’s just see how things pan out in the near future.
Sayonara.
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Schneiderlin or Kondogbia: Who Would Arsenal Sign?
With Barcelona and Juventus closing the curtains of what has been a great season, we have to make do with the transfer rumors emanating from various sports sites like want more hits than the amount of goals the Messi-Neymar-Suarez scored this season.
The Saints made a considerable amount of profit from transfer sales of Rickie Lambert (£4m), Luke Shaw (£30m), Adam Lallana (£25m), Dejan Lovren (£20m), Calum Chambers (£16m) and Jack Cork (£3m) which summed up to £98m but they spent some money on replacements like Dusan Tadic (£10..9m), Graziano Pelle (£8m), Fraser Forster (£10m), Shane Long (£13m), Florian Gardos (£5.5m), Saido Mane (£11.8m) and Ryan Bertrand (£10m).
Despite their transfer dealings, Southampton was tipped to struggle in the Premier League but Ronald Koeman brought some good football to St. Mary’s and they put up some amazing results at home, as well as a couple away which ultimately led to a seventh place Europa League finish. Southampton were renowned for their mean defense in the course of the campaign and it was due to a collective work ethic they had when defending as a team. Forster kept a lot of clean sheets in the season and was a forerunner for the Golden Glove before a serious injury halted his progress but the great work Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama put up this season must be mentioned.
Schneiderlin has been on high demand for a while now with Tottenham’s manager, Mauricio Pochettino, trying to poach him last summer when he left the Saints to Tottenham. The French midfielder suffered an injury-stricken campaign but he still managed to score five goals for the team. His defensive work was good as always and as expected, teams are sniffing around for his services.
According to Goal.com, the Southampton hierarchy has placed a price tag of £25 million on one of their prized asset, Morgan Schneiderlin. But the question would be – is Schneiderlin actually worth that amount?
If Schneiderlin is to join Arsenal, he’d have to contend with Francis Coquelin, Arsenal’s enforcer that protected the back line with such valor and doggedness in the second half of the season. Before I delve further into this discussion, I felt it would be nice to compare the stats of both players in the Premier League this season. Bear in mind that Schneiderlein has played many more games than the Coq.
|
Coquelin |
Schneiderlein |
|
| Appearances (subs) |
19 (3) |
24 (2) |
| Tackles made per game |
3.2 |
3.7 |
| Interceptions made per game |
3.7 |
2.6 |
| Fouls committed per game |
1.4 |
1.8 |
| Clearances per game |
3.1 |
1.7 |
| Blocked shots per game |
0.4 |
0.2 |
| Aerial Duels Won per game |
2.5 |
1.8 |
| Pass Completion percentage |
85.9% |
89.3% |
| Bookings (Yellow/Red) |
(5/0) |
(5/1) |
Stats via WhoScored.
From the stats shown above, these are two defensive midfielder that are in the peak of their powers and having both of them in the same team will be awesome. Schneiderlin had more tackles and committed more fouls than Coquelin. He also had a better pass completion percentage than his French compatriot. Coquelin on the other hand, made more interceptions, clearances, blocked shots and aerial duels than Schneiderlin.
I’d love to have both players at Arsenal, but I tend to wonder if he’s actually worth that amount of money been placed on his head. The Mirror published a piece that the Gunners aren’t prepared to buy top pounds for Schneiderlin but the Independent reports that the Gunners are also eyeing a move for Monaco’s Geoffrey Kondogbia if a move for Schneiderlin doesn’t materialize.
I thought it would be nice to compare all three defensive midfielders from a statistical perspective
| League Only | Coquelin | Schneiderlin | Kondogbia |
| Appearances (subs) | 19 (3) | 24 (2) | 22 (1) |
| Tackles made per game | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.1 |
| Interceptions made per game | 3.7 | 2.6 | 2.5 |
| Fouls committed per game | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Clearances per game | 3.1 | 1.7 | 0.7 |
| Blocked shots per game | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Aerial Duels Won per game | 2.5 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Pass Completion percentage | 85.9% | 89.3% | 86.2% |
| Bookings (Yellow/Red) | (5/0) | (5/1) | (3/1) |
Stats via WhoScored.
As an avid Arsenal fan and ardent watcher of the Premier League, I can vouch for the performances of Coquelin and Schneiderlin because I watch them on a consistent basis but I cannot say the same for Kondogbia, even though I got a glimpse of his ability when Arsenal locked horns with Monaco during the preseason and twice in the Champions League knockout stage.
Kondogbia has the frame of Patrick Vieira and he’s a dominant force on the field of play. Boy, he has a thunderbolt on his left foot, as the Gunners found out at the Emirates in February.
The media is heavily linking the Gunners with Schneiderlin and Kondogbia. Who would the Gunners sign?
I’m happy with either signing because they’d improve the game massively. I don’t expect Francis Coquelin to play every game and with Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini washed up, the Gunners would definitely need another holding midfielder of top top quality.
We all know Wenger loves his top top quality.
Sayonara.
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