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By Walter Broeckx
So we only welcomed one really new player in this transfer window. Well it couldn’t be the August 31 every transfer deadline day.
Thomas Eisfeld is the name of the new player we have bought. If you translate it in English his name would be Ice field. So what do we know about him? Well… nothing in fact.
But who knew Koscielny before we signed him? Who in fact knew Cesc when we signed him? But still sniffing around at the internet and on some German football sites I did find a few things about him that we can mention.
First of all that he was born in Finsterwalde and that is in the former East Germany part of Germany. He played first for what I think will be a very local team called SV Quitt Ankum and the only sensible thing I can say about that is that SV is the short for Sport Verein or Sport Association if I would translate it in English.
He then went to VFL Osnabruck in his youth career. And do you wonder what VFL means? Well it means Verein für Leibesübungen or in English Association for Physical Education. Well I stick to the VFL Osnabruck because the APE Osnabruck doesn’t sound that good to me. Maybe because I speak German that the VFL sounds more familiar.
Anyway he left them around the age of 13 to go to Borussia Dortmund. And he stayed there well till yesterday. He played for the U19 at Dortmund and in the first 12 games he scored 6 goals and had 6 assists. He is a right footed player and plays as an attacking midfielder. He is 5ft10in or 1,77m. Not as big as his compatriot Mertesacker but a rather good size for a football player I think. Or does size matters?
Now for the moment the Dortmundd youth academy is a little bit famous in Germany. As I have said when we played them in the CL this season a few years back Dortmund was as good as bankrupt after spending too much money. They then went for their youth project and it is that project that brought them back the success we have seen last season. Lots of their first team players are educated in the Borussia Dortmund youth academy. Just need to say Gotze and people will know what I mean. And he is not the only one.
He had his first interview on arsenal.com that you all will have watched I think and if not I can tell you that he speaks a nice bit of English. But who am I to judge how a foreigner speaks English. He looked a bit impressed I think but well I think I also would look a little bit impressed would it have been me sitting there. He was in the stadium when Arsenal went to Dortmund this season (so was I Thomas) and he also was in the Emirates on Sunday (I wasn’t Thomas). And he said he was very impressed by the events. Well I think we all know what you mean by this.
I think Arsenal will have been keeping an eye on him for a while because we usually do it when we sign someone. So I think that we can be sure that they will have monitored his way of live and how he behaves on a football field an in training.
What can you expect from German players? Good technique, good physical fitness and a never accept a loss attitude. If he possesses those 3 clichés we have about football in Germany he could be a nice and cheep buy.
He did play his first game with the reserves last week against Swansea. He then played alongside Serge Gnabry another fine young German talent we have at the club who just went from the youth ranks to the reserves during this season. So he will have someone to help him around a bit at the club. And he only played 45 minutes in this game but he seemed to do very well if I can believe the images I have seen and the words said about him. They took him off after 45 minutes because he got a knock on his knee. But Arsenal won comfortably with a very young side on the field.
He has done a first interview on Arsenal.com and at first he looked a bit overwhelmed I felt. But he did seems to be a young man who is confident of himself and his skills and who is looking forward to the big challenge in front of him. His English was rather good (certainly compared with Mertesacker the first days in London) but I do hope he can find some decent cloths? (Okay this is the older person speaking who knows nothing about fashion but believe me in the middle ages when I grew up we would throw away a trousers that has more holes than I have money in my pockets).
The scouting people did their job, Arsenal did their job. Now we let Arsène do what he is usually good at: turning a young promising player in to a great player. And then it is up to Thomas Eisfeld himself to finish the job. Here at Untold we tend to be very open to new young players coming over to Arsenal. This time it is no different. We will welcome him at our great club with open arms and wish that he will fulfil the potential that Arsenal and Arsène Wenger has seen in him.
So welcome Thomas at Arsenal London (this is how we are called in general in Germany by the way – they always add the name London for some reason – I really don’t know where it comes from to be honest).
Viel Glück and let us hope you can score a goal for Arsenal soon and then we will shout: “Tooooor”.
Nice write-up. People tend to be angry that we didn’t sign a Hazard etc., and instead of that we signed a kid. It means they don’t have the capability of sensible thinking. I’m sure Eisfeld would have been signed either way during the transfer window. Looking forward to see his development!
We should be careful about Hazard, everybody is talking about him, hope he will be a success in EPL even if not in Arsenal. With all the hype, it could be a problem.
Nice piece Walter.
Let’s hope very soon that young Eisfeld becomes another Rosicky (whom is his idol) when he was at the top-of-his-game! Injury-free too unlike poor Rosicky whilst he’s been at the Arsenal!
Great write up indeed. I also agree with the comment from Nikko, you have to think long term unless you have the riches to go spend frivilously like Man U, man shitty, RM, etc.
Although is like to see Hazard in the EPL (especially for us), I wish we would have just paid a little more and signed Mata. He is a phenominal talent who’s quick passes and excellent dribbling skills reminds me of David Silva (who seems to be the player of the year so far).
Let’s hope this guy can develop like AW has done with so many young talents in the past!!
But no, he is just another unproved kid , the sort that wenger buys every time, I am sure he will never make it, and never amount to anything, a bit like that ox fellow who came in the summer,
Brilliant ssrcasm Mandy dodd, a true gooner who believes in Arsene as true gooners do!!!!!
Tut… tut… tut… Mandy, I get your point.
I wish the young man every bit of luck.
There is sound reason for skepticism. There was his injury that kept
Him out for a long time and threatened to end his career before it began. How much has that affected him?
There is also the fact that he wasn’t able to break into the Dortmund first team, and they are hardly Barcelona or Real Mad when it comes to depth.
Besides that, he doesn’t have one particular skill that stands out. For example Thei excited everyone with his pace.
But having said that, Eisfeld excites me too. All the young players we sign do because of their unknown potential. He may not burst into the team like Wilshere or Chamberlain but Wenger has given grim the chance to train with the first team, so he couldn’t be far off from becoming a League Cup starter? I’m looking forward to seeing him play.
If 😆 gives you a smiley face in a comment, can anyone tell me how to reproduce it in an email?
@ waleed, you mean like we have to be sceptic towards both Ramsey and wilshere? Oand Frimpong and Gibbs?
nicky, try gmail and click on the 10th icon below the subject box
Who knew CFabregas when he joined Arsenal except AW and his scouts.Pls,allow this man to continue his wonderful youth development programme to make Arsenal strong again.Best of luck EThomas in Arsenal colour.
@Gulp, no I think every player is different. We know the quality of Wilshere and Ramsey and there doesn’t seem to be any doubt about them fulfilling their potential.
But there is cause for concern when a young player has a big injury and then the club lets him go. It sounds like we are taking a gamble on a player whose fitness wasn’t trusted by his club.
Not saying that’s the case but I can understand if that’s how some fans see this.
Nice article walter ….. I hear he played well those first 45 mins also.
Just throwing something out there ….what do people think of Frimpongs injury both knees gone consecutive seasons and only 18 years old ? would u keep faith with him seen as we have coq and song and risk him becomming another diaby unfortunate with injuries.
Now hold on I know the difference between what happened each player but surely theres a high risk of paying another injury prone player season in season out without much return and we are well covered in this position anyway.
Just curious to hear other peoples thoughts on frimpong and his injuries.
Look forward to seeing how he gets on, as has been mentioned, wenger has history in turning unknowns into greats.. Everyone wants the marquee signings, whatever that means, but as wenger has warned, the Europe economy and football is facing an adjustment, prices did not fall as maybe he expected last summer, but they soon will, believe me. It can be frustrating missing out on these players, but negative equity can also be frustrating. The amount of teams who can pay silly prices will fall, and those teams who can pay, well they can only have so many in a squad. The eufa Ffp, may not be the sharp weapon some may hope for, but may yield a changing of attitudes. In the 1960s and 1970s drink driving was illegal but many did it. Now it is still illegal, far less do it, there are severe consequences and it is seen as socially irresponsible, a bit like using the phone while driving. I see financial fair play going the same way, some will get around it for a while but a critical mass will change things for the better. Patience is needed, along with a few great performances of players we have now, let’s hope this player can be part of that
Waleed,
Yes, it’s a gamble on IceMan for reasons you offer; and it’s also a gamble doing nothing in the x-fer, which is off the collective comment screen. Readers are applauding one and not the other. We’ll surely see which gamble does what.
There are many, many players who have the talent but will not make it at the club. Arsenal invests so much in the youth system to increase the chances of bringing through a good number of young players each year, but no player is a sure thing. Each signing of this sort is a calculated risk and ultimately his role could either be to become the next wilshere, or become one of the nearly-men who could push someone else to become the next wilshere.
Either way, the main thing is that Arsenal will give Eisfeld and the other youth players the best possible chance of making it in professional football, whether at Arsenal or elsewhere.
@Waleed: I think it is always a gamble trying to do what we are trying to do – buy young talents and help them to develop. It is a long way to go and there always are threats and risks – their career could end at any moment with horrible injuries or something like that. And maybe they just couldn’t fulfill their potential, like that Luke Freeman, in whom I have put in very great hope. But, well, who will guarantee to you that buying a well established star player (with huge money) would not end up the same way? Who will guarantee to you that star player would not play only one game for us, get injured, and end his career there? Not me, that is for sure.
Any transfer market argument can be summed up in two words. Fernando Torres. If you compare headline statistics, Chamakh is a £50 million striker. Far better to spend that money on ten young players, two of whom may be decent and eight a waste of money.
Lets wish him all the best!
A youth system is a bit hit and miss to be honest but even if it produces one player a season it is doing its job!
I have to keep faith in Frimpong because I know he loves the club and that is not true of Diaby(wears a spud shirt & wants to play for Barca) and many others!
I hope Eilfeld Thomas will be a very good addition to arsenal. Despite been young age, hope to be better than Gozts now and future.
How comes my comments won’t show?
2nd time of trying…
Walter, thanks for this informative article. I will admit that I too knew nothing of this player and so I am looking forward to watching his development and seeing what he can do on the pitch. I saw Eisfeld’s interview on Arsenal.com and thought he spoke very good English, which will really help him settle in England and the Arsenal way of life.
Of course there is only DB10 though.
…Keeping faith with RVP was a gamble…
…Buying Nasri and keeping faith with him was a big gamble after he had a very serious illness and then a leg break…
…Keeping faith with Chesney was a risk after he broke both of his hands…
I am not writing Thomas off just yet. Alex OC was written off at the start of the season (even though he was perfectly healthy) and now people are shouting for him inclusion in every game. We have a great scouting system and development system at Arsenal so I think we have a gem on our hands. Especially since he seems so happy to be at the club.
He’s Sick
Keep the good work going, u r a true gonner!
He is a gud player. hope to see him playing more than cesc did
Fantastic to have such a talent!! Let’s hope Aw gets some more a\in June as Hazard, Vertonghen and Samba would be very welcome with some “old” Eng experience. Show us young man, Eisfeld!
i think we should experiment harzard with team .. thank god we have a potential C Ronaldo and Henry in chamblain and joel Campbell.