Blaise Matuidi has been linked with Arsenal since last summer, but now the press is saying that, due to the Felipe Melo deal falling through, Arsene Wenger is close to finalising a deal with St Etienne for him to move to the Emirates.
But is Matuidi the sort of player that will improve Arsenal, considering the calls by the fans for a strong, tough-tackling midfielder?
Felipe Melo would certainly have fitted that bill, being over 6ft and known as a hardman in the league of hardmen, Serie A. But Matuidi stands an unimposing 5’9″ tall, and at just 22 has four years less experience than Melo, and in the less demanding French Ligue 1.
He is certainly got a reputation as a hardman in France, where he had the dubious honour of collecting 11 cautions in his first season, in just 31 games for Troyes, as the club just avoided relegation to Ligue 2.
Troyes couldn’t avoid relegation the following season, and he was then transferred to Saint Etienne back in Ligue 1, where he earned plaudits for his performances which helped his club gain 5th place and a berth in the UEFA Cup.
This was when Arsene Wenger started to pay attention to the youngster and made a determined attempt to sign him, but their approaches were rebuffed by St.Etienne. The player was also called into the France under 21 squad, and he has become a regular in the team with 24 appearances so far.
This season, with St Etienne just saving themselves from relegation, it always seemed likely that he would be snapped up by a bigger team, but Matuidi has been plagued by injuries for the last few months, which may be the reason that the French club are willing to let him go for just £2.5m. Last season he improved his discipline as well, gaining just three yellows and one red in the course of the season.
It is debatable if Matuidi can be as helpful as Melo would have been in dealing with the dead-ball dangers that accounted for many of Arsenal’s goals against last season, but he has certainly been proved to be consistent in his play.
He is quick and praised for his technique, and having a left-footer is always a bonus in England.
But the question remains as to whether he can quickly adapt to the faster moving games in the Premiership.
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To be honest, i don’t think that he’s any better than song. And song’s bigger, stronger, and isn’t injury prone. We really need some established quality and experience in there. I could happily forgive flamini right now.
Everybody is going, “Who Is Blaise Matuidi”.
But they’re forgetting that is what Arsene does, signing great players we haven’t heard of.
Who knew of Vieira, Overmars, Sagna, Eduardo, Anelka, Vermaelen, Ljungberg, Adebayor, Kanu, and so on before Arsene signed them?
We were going, “Who are they?”
…… Just like we are now with Matuidi.
for the record, lassana diarra(why did they let him go)=5ft7 (170cm)
mathew flamini, the one yet to be replaced=5ft10(178cm),
matuidi(one you say is too short)= 5ft9(175cm)
claude makele(DM barometer)=5ft7 (170cm), so this is no big issue really, seeing as you do here, two DM greats are still a good 4cm shorter than matuidi. talk of injuries maybe, these figures show that height alone is no impediment and that he is not the shortest DM anyway.
Really what’s the point of signing another player with potential.We already have Frimpong and Coquelin who have great promise.All we need is experience and leadership.Unless we get it we won’t go far this season.Song and Denilson have more exprience than this guy.
I’m not sure why everybody seems to be negative about Matuidi. Even though he’s younger than Melo, he’s had more experience in european football than him. (119 vs 129) I doubt many people have seen Matuidi play apart from the odd Youtube video. How many people knew anything about Vieira, Petit, Edu, Ljungberg, Pires, Toure or Anelka before they signed either. Finally I’m not sure what this rubbish about “the dubious honour of collecting 11 yellow cards” is supposed to suggest, Melo collected 17 yellow cards and 3 RED’s last season.
yes! song not bad, i think he had a good season maybe mr wenger is looking for more experience as a DM but i think song’s game will get better.
Matuidi will be a sensible signing in my opinion. He’s too quick for a defensive mid. We lack pace in the centre. His game is somewat a mixture of Alonso and Makalele. Aggressive, alert and with a good pass. Both long and short. He’s got good tackling. I think he’ll certainly be better than melo. Because for all his size and technique, he’s not good at reading the game. Tackles are bad too. 17 yellows and 3 reds in his first season plus a 5 match suspension for a tunnel row. Thats not at all good in the slow and tactical serie A. In the brazilian team he plays in a role too similar to denilson here. Part attack part defense. Gilberto’s the one who does all the sit back work. We need one of that kind. So matuidi fits the bill. Well Desailly and Deschamps are great fans of mat. I dont remember who but one of em certainly said he along with m’bia are the best in france.
Overall, I tend to agree with James that I wish Flamini had stayed. But we all realize that in the real world wishing amounts to naught. Ok the Melo nonsense is over, so let’s not discuss it any further. In the Bhuddist tradition it is wise to forget the past and focus on the present. Is Matuidi ultimately the very best person for the job? Probably not, but at only £2.5 mill and the tender age of 22 what harm can there be to rotating him and Song and let the best CDM win? At least Arsene would be adding to the team in an area of the pitch that we all desire. Arsenal till I die!! At least that’s what my tattoo says. Dana from Albany NY USA.
I watched Matuidi quite a bit last year for SE. He’s an action player, puts in hard tackles, wins the ball quite well. Good positioning, didn’t tend to stray from his job in front of the center of defense, although he would make the odd late run/shot at the edge of the box, similar to Flamini. He seemed to have decent pace, although that is tougher to judge across leagues. I never noticed any particular aerial prowess, but no weakness either.
His passing had good range, he was comfortable and accurate long and short, and he primarily kept the ball on the ground. He has kind of an awkward style, similar to Adebayor’s passing style. He also seemed pretty one footed, I didn’t see him pass with his weaker foot almost at all, but he plays in a position where that isn’t as much of a problem, because of the extra time and space he has to work with. In his defence, I didn’t see any inaccuracy in his weak foot either.
Right now his primary advantages over Song seem to be faster acceleration, more accurate passing (although Song made great progress in his accuracy last season), and possibly greater top speed (although again, it’s easier to look fast in France).
Matuidi is an excellent tackler, although Song is as well, so I don’t think there’s a real advantage there for either. Song may be better in the air, especially at DM, Song is pretty good at getting up for the ball. But the French keep the ball on the ground more, so Matuidi didn’t really have many chances to impress. Positionally, they are similar, although Matuidi is probably marginally more disciplined, as Song likes to drift forward- especially when he plays with Denilson. But in a different team with a different manager he might drift more, as he is willing to sometimes get forward.
All in all, Matuidi is an excellent DM. I can’t compare him to Melo and I’ve only seen Inler a few matches, but he currently looks slightly better than Song or Denilson, and that’s with me trying to take into account the weaker opposition he plays against. He is an all-action, battling midfielder who can pass accurately enough to split defenses and spring the counter. I thoroughly enjoyed watching him at SE and if he moves I’d love to see him at Arsenal. Would he bring enough improvement to justify at 10mil price tag? I don’t know, I doubt it. But at 3.5 mil or whatever they’re talking about it would be hard not to take him. You can see the fight in him, similar to Coquelin, Flamoney, or even Nasri.
I still prefer Cana even though he can’t score if his life depended on it. At least Flamini could do that. My first choice would be to sell Ade and Senderos and get back Flamini.
To be honest man I don’t think it’s good idea first he is too young second we are looking for experience player by experience i mean have to be atleast 25 who always play in European football competition. So i think Wenger should look for another good player. There are a lot’s of player who are really good all we have to do is find them.
HEIGH MEANS NOTHING JUST LIKE IN A FIGHT. LOOK AT MAKELELE 1 OF THE BEST DM’S EVER HOW TALL WAS HE ? AND DIARRA THAT WENT TO REAL MADRID HOW TALL IS HE. ROY KEANE WASNT EXACTLY MASSIVE BUT HE COULD BLOODY TACKLE WELL.
i think matuidi is not good enough for arsenal and the premier league,song is better than matiudi ,song was taller,stronger than him ,and i think arsenal must have huntelaar or pogrebyak amd a new goalkeeper,arsene must have serjo asenjo or muslera they are amazing goalkeeper and a center back like micah richards or BREDE HANGELAND ,if arsene buy him he will be great for arsenal.
There are two problems in expecting experience of 25+ years. first if such a player is a calibre to make it at arsenal, most likely he wont come cheap, and you know very well arsenal is not for giving in. 2nd, at 25+ a player has very little response to remoulding -into the arsenal way to precise.
Remember AW once said we don’t buy stars, we make them. I do not think he was just feeling the air with those words. yes arsenal will from time to time see the need to buy big names, like reyes, ashavs, campbel but arsenal policy seems more aligned to bringing in young. iam sure if e.g adebayor had come to arsenal much younger he would be a deadlier finisher by now.
All this talk about experience is really annoying. I haven’t seen Mat play and i ddnt Melo either, not until d Confed Cup, n then he was pretty a nobody. Matuidi has played every single match for St Etienne barring injuries and we say he has no experience. Yes, because he plays in the French league. How many matches does a player have to play to have our ‘experience’? Our all time scorer had no experience when he was shooting at the clock for practice, years on Henry’s a Gunner legend. I’ld say we go for Matuidi, he comes well recommended. We don’t need a player who will cause fractures on the pitch, we need one who will fit Arsenal’s play. REMEMBER THAT EVERYONE!
I an “honest” arsenal fan cant really apss judgement as I haven’t really seen enough of him. Although he suffered injuries last year, so did fabregas, thats just apart of the modern game. I believe Wenger feels under pressure to complete hid young squad. I also doubt that Le Prof would buy someone in this climate unless he felt they could add something to the team.
Matuidi is nice, but I don’t know why we gave up on VELOSO!!!! He is way better than Melo, Inler, and Matuidi. I swear if we let Everton or even the scum Tottenham I will go fucking crazy.
y do arsenal always sign so many players that are not (no offence) strong enough, 4 time being try resigning patrick vieira, or sign M.Diarra, Cambiasso, flamini, keita, toure, veloso etc
yes.arsenal needs someone who can sit back to provide a good cover for fabregas.he is even more pacy than song and more accurate in passing,though he is 22,age is just a number but experience is about the number of games one has played not age. my friend in France told me, he was a regular at st Etienne.keep the faith gooners.