Can foreign
players ever recover from a slow start to life in English football? It
is a question I have been asking myself since I was playing.
Every
year, when a raft of new signings arrive from overseas, a saying is
trotted out with great regularity that is used to mask underwhelming
performances from individuals. You will be familiar with it: ‘Give them
12 months to settle in.’
The
theory is that it takes each foreign import a year to get to grips with
the frenzy of the Barclays Premier League but, once they have done, you
will see their form going up and away. Where, though, is the evidence
to support that?
Arsenal midfielder Ozil has a ‘crack in his knee’, which may rule him out for up to 12 weeks
Two individuals got me thinking about this, namely Angel di Maria and Mesut Ozil.
Let’s make the comparison with both men, first and foremost.
Both arrived here from Real Madrid, both cost astronomical fees and both men tend to operate in the same areas of the pitch.
They are both left-footed but prefer playing centrally.
Di
Maria has scored three goals in five appearances since his £59.7million
switch in August and will be the headline act at The Hawthorns on
Monday night. He has looked every inch a superstar and no apologies have
been needed with regard to his form.
Ozil,
by contrast, finds himself enduring more frustrations this weekend. A
‘crack in his knee’ may rule him out for up to 12 weeks but, even when
he returns to full fitness, I find it hard to see the German leaving his
unconvincing efforts of last season behind.
Arsene
Wenger made me think in April when the Arsenal manager made the bold
claim that Ozil, his biggest ever signing at £42m, was ‘fantastic’ and
he ‘would put him on the list to be player of the season next season’.
Wenger does not usually tend to be so assertive.
Even
before he had a knee- ligament problem diagnosed while he was away with
Germany, Ozil had not looked like delivering the same stylish displays
of his time in Madrid.
Look
back at all the great imports to the Barclays Premier League and you
will realise they were operating at near-enough full throttle from a
very early stage. Arsenal supporters should appreciate that more than
most.
Take
Dennis Bergkamp. It is a myth to say he did nothing in his first
campaign at Highbury. Yes, it may have taken him six games to score his
first goal but he added another 15 in 41 appearances, the last of which —
an 84th-minute winner against Bolton in the final game — took Arsenal
into Europe.
Thierry
Henry was another. Did he need a settling-in period? If he did, it
could be measured in weeks and nothing longer. Once he broke his duck in
his eighth game, the goals flowed freely. He finished the 1999-2000
season with a haul of 26, including one sequence when he scored nine in
eight matches.
Keep
thinking of names and you will see a pattern emerging. Didier Drogba?
Helped lead Chelsea to the title and the League Cup in his first season
with 16 goals; Gianfranco Zola arrived at Stamford Bridge in November
1996 and, by May 1997, the Football Writers had named him Player of the
Year. Jurgen Klinsmann won player of the year in his first season and
Eric Cantona won the League in his first season at Manchester United.
Gianfranco Zola arrived in November 1996 and, by May 1997, he had an individual award to his name
Not all
players struggle when they arrive in England; Here's Zola (left) picking
up the Football Writers' Player of the Year award in 1997, with Jurgen
Klinsmann (right) getting the same award two years before
Ozil played at the top level in Spain with Real Madrid, but hasn't replicated his form consistently in England
Cristiano
Ronaldo may have been too eager to try tricks and go down too easily
when he initially joined Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon, but
anyone who didn’t believe he was going to the top straight away was a
fool.
From
a personal point of view, the best foreigners I worked alongside — Sami
Hyypia, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez to name a few —
were all contributing in their opening weeks and months. You could see
at Melwood with how they trained and prepared there would be no issues.
The
player who forced me to think again was Robert Pires. I didn’t rate him
immediately but then, in season two, he took off and was sensational.
Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra were slow starters at Manchester United
but they joined in January, only played 11 games each and had found
their true form by the start of the next campaign.
Eric
Cantona (left) helped United to the title in 1993 and went on to become
their star player, while Klinsmann also had a fantastic start to life in
the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur
Di Maria has replicated the form he left Real Madrid with in the Premier League, scoring three goals
That’s
why I was so interested in Wenger’s comments about Ozil coming to the
fore, as I just hadn’t seen any evidence to support that before he got
injured.
I remain sceptical that he will have such an influence when he returns, too.
If
you don’t adapt to this league early, the likelihood is you never will.
Andriy Shevchenko and Juan Sebastian Veron are fine examples of men who
arrived as giants — they were stars of Serie A — but never recovered
from those teething problems.
It’s
why I look at Tottenham, who travel to Manchester City on Saturday
afternoon, and wonder how it will end for the men who arrived 12 months
ago, during the record-breaking transfer of Gareth Bale (someone else
who has had no issues with a new league in his first season) to Real
Madrid.
Thierry
Henry (left) took eight games to score but ended the season with 26;
Dennis Bergkamp (right) became an Arsenal great and had a fine season
despite taking his time to score his first goal after his move
Juan Sebastian Veron is a fine example of a player never getting used to the demands of the Premier League
Of
all the players who arrived during that £100m spree, only Christian
Eriksen looked good. But with Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Erik Lamela
you can never see it turning, irrespective of Spurs paying a fortune to
sign them. They are not the first and won’t be the last.
Liverpool
will also be hoping their new foreign stars start to perform in the
next few months or they will be in the same situation.
Should
a player get in rhythm straight away, however, the signs can only be
positive. That is why Di Maria and Diego Costa won’t fizzle out after
their flash starts. They have set a classy tone.
Didier Drogba (left) with the title in his first year in 2005, will Diego Costa (right) be holding it in May?
Barkley should head to U21 finals
There
has been plenty of talk of full internationals joining the Under 21s in
the summer after Gareth Southgate and his squad qualified for the
European Championship.
Arsene
Wenger and Roberto Martinez have already come out and stated it
wouldn’t be beneficial to their players to play and that’s no surprise
as they will always look after their clubs’ interests rather than the
national team’s.
That is a big problem in this country. My view is it’s not a black-and-white case.
Ross Barkley (left) and Jack Wilshere (right) are two senior players who still qualify for the Under21's
Fully fledged regulars for club and country — like Jack Wilshere and Raheem Sterling — would benefit from a free summer.
But
for players like Calum Chambers, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ross Barkley,
Luke Shaw and John Stones — squad players at the moment for the
seniors, who won’t play 40-50 games this season — it would benefit them
and the squad.
That sort of tournament experience could be vital for the senior European Championship in 2016.
Full internationals Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (left) and Raheem Sterling could play for the Under 21s next year
This week I'm looking forward to...
...seeing
how Younes Kaboul performs on Saturday afternoon. The Spurs defender
was involved in the embarrassing 6-0 defeat at Manchester City last
season, in a game which was the beginning of the end for Andre
Villas-Boas.
Now Kaboul returns to the Etihad, this time as Tottenham captain.
A
lot of people were surprised that he was given the armband by Mauricio
Pochettino but he was excellent in the last away game, the 1-1 draw at
Arsenal.
The
Frenchman has pace and power but lapses of concentration have cost him
in the past. He cannot afford any slip-ups against one of the world’s
best — Sergio Aguero — on Saturday.
Younes Kaboul returns to Manchester City after the 6-0 mauling last season as Spurs captain
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