Marouane Chamakh – right man at the right club at the wrong time?

Chamakh signing for Arsenal.

Marouane Chamakh was seen as one of Arsene Wenger’s most exciting signings in the summer of 2010 arriving from Bordeaux – Tall, physical, an aerial threat, brilliant header of the ball, holds the ball up well, creates space, wins penalties, quick for a player of his stature, brilliant work rate and not to mention, free. Just the kind of player Arsenal were missing who could provide a different attacking dimension to their game.

With injuries to Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner, Chamakh entered into the fray straight away and impressed with 10 goals and 2 assists in his first 21 games for the club – and the Moroccan wasn’t even known for his goals in France! It seemed more and more that Wenger had pulled off one of the bargains of the century with the target-man showing no signs of adaptation problems to the fast paced league, that is the Premier League.

Chamakh celebrating a goal.

In no time, Chamakh became a fan favorite not only with his performances but his genuine love for the club:

“I’m playing now in the club I’ve loved since I was small. For others, it’s Real or Barca. For me, it was always Arsenal.” – Marouane Chamakh.

As the first few months went by, Chamakh was however, overworked and eventually ‘burned out’ – this was natural as coming from a different country and league isn’t easy, especially if you play nearly every game. Adding to this, the Premier League doesn’t have a winter break like most European leagues, playing a role in Chamakh’s fatigue. Luckily enough, Chamakh’s burn-out coincided with the return of star striker, Robin van Persie. So, the Moroccan got some well deserved rest.

But, in the whole month of January 2011, Chamakh didn’t get a single Premier League start and played a total of a mere 211 minutes in mostly cup games against lower league sides. Questions were asked why but Chamakh soon came out and answered them:

“By the start of January I felt that I had completely lost my edge.” – Marouane Chamakh.

However, since the new year (2011) began, Chamakh didn’t get a single Premier League start until the last game of the season against Fulham (A) and didn’t feature a single minute against Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16.

Since his goal against Aston Villa at Villa Park in November 2010, Chamakh had only scored 1 goal for the remainder of the season which was against English minnows, Leyton Orient, in the FA Cup. After 10 goals in his first 21 games for Arsenal, Chamakh only managed the solitary goal in the other 23 games he played in the season, albeit most were off the bench for a few minutes.

An increasingly familiar sight: Chamakh warming up on the sidelines.

The 2011/2012 season was more or less the same – Chamakh got minimal chances to play, barring a few rare starts in the cup games, Champions League and a solitary Premier League start against Stoke City, mustering up only 1 goal in 19 games. Majority of his substitute appearances were under pressure as well as Wenger mostly calls Chamakh from the bench when Arsenal need a goal, which more or less, have had no effect. From being potentially one of the bargains of the century, the Moroccan is now considered deadwood and is wanted out by a majority of Arsenal fans. What happened?

Chamakh is a confidence player – he does well when he plays consistently, as he did at the start of his Arsenal career and the entirety of his Bordeaux career. Coming off the bench mostly under pressure for a maximum of 15 minutes every alternate game didn’t help him. The formation which is a 4-2-3-1 at Arsenal currently, doesn’t help his cause either as it’s suited for only one striker and it’d be pretty hard for most strikers in the world to get game time given Robin van Persie’s electric form for Arsenal since 2011.

Chamakh does offer a fresh alternative though, even if he can’t make the expected impact most fans would have liked to see – his cameos last season against Fulham (H) and Norwich (H) are proof of it where his aerial presence has led to goals while in the 2010/2011 season, his movement, particularly against West Brom (A) and Fulham (A) have led to goals, though such impact is barely recognized by fans.

A possibly lethal partnership? What could have been.

Playing Chamakh and van Persie together may have had more of an effect – however, Wenger has barely opted to experiment with this combination. One can only imagine that if Chamakh got the same amount of games as the likes of Andy Carroll or Fernando Torres, he’d be high up in the goalscorer ranks at Arsenal.

“I am 27. I need to play. I cannot stay like this forever. If I played more, of course I would have more confidence and score more goals.” – Marouane Chamakh speaking of his frustration on the bench in December 2011.

Chamakh, now 28, should leave Arsenal in the summer of 2012, not because he wasn’t good enough but for the sake of his career. He was unlucky to join Arsenal at a time where the formation was just tweaked to suit one striker only as well as the fact that the usually injury prone, van Persie hasn’t faced any injuries since 2011 began and has established himself as the best striker in the Premier League. Chamakh is better off in a team which plays to his strengths, week in, week out – he’s 28 with only a few years left at the top and should consider a move away with Fiorentina, PSG and Bordeaux all reportedly interested. After a great start to his Arsenal career, it’s all gone wrong for the Moroccan: he was the right man at the right club…but only joined at the wrong time.