Nasri, Bischoff, Ramsey and Vela – First Impressions

So far Wenger has brought in four new players into the club, including Carlos Vela returning from on loan. Each have their own different qualities, and, having seen each one play now except for the mysterious Bischoff, I will now give my first thoughts on the players.

Carlos Vela (£2.5m – back from loan):

I have followed Vela’s progress ever since his loan period at Salamanca in the 06/07 season, and have always been impressed with what I saw from him. He has always had explosive pace and trickery, and as a result has been played mostly on the left wing for both Osasuna and Salamanca. He also was played mostly on the left of a three for Mexico in the U20 World Cup. But he was originally a central striker, and recently has been brought back to play in that position for his country in the qualifiers he took part in. He has also been played there for Arsenal thus far, and the partnership he has made with Nicklas Bendtner, scoring 4 goals and creating several goals, proves that he was made for the role. I really think we will see quite a bit of him impacting off the bench, while a partnership up fron with Bendtner in the Carling Cup is a mouth watering prospect.

Amaury Bischoff (Free Transfer):

Bischoff is strange even for Arsenal’s standards. An injury prone, French born Portuguese U21 International from Werder Bremen’s reserves. Hmm… However, Wenger must have seen something special in him, something worth a punt that is fairly low-risk given the free transfer and almost certainly short contract and low wages he will have got given. I know nothing about him really, so I can not be excited by the signing. I will watch on with interest to see how he progresses though.

Aaron Ramsey (£4.8m):

I am really impressed with Ramsey. He looks fantastic when he has the ball, with good mobility and work rate. Ramsey is a very technical player, exactly like Cesc in many ways, and from what I have seen so far in friendlies, he looks to have the talent at 17 to be able to get several chances in the first team this season. Certainly he will add creativity that we missed last season when Fabregas got injured and we were stuck with Flamini, Diarra and Gilberto as midfield options. He is still very young but he is a signing for the first team squad, and I think he will slot in nicely at the Emirates.

Samir Nasri (£11.9m):

The only first team starter we have got in so far, Nasri looks like he will only improve the team in terms of goalscoring and creativity. For all Hleb’s technical ability, he was not the most consistent nor the most productive player – and the latter I can see being improved no end by Nasri’s arrival. From the glimpses we got at Stuttgart, added to my knowledge already, Nasri is a direct player who makes things happen. He has pace to burn and an eye for a pass, but is not afraid to shoot on sight if necessary, as we saw with a volley against Stuttgart. I think he will make big strides this season.