After they left Arsenal: Petit, Overmars, Anelka

 

 

 

Continuing the series on players who left Arsenal and what happened next

Emmanuel Petit

Manu’s main career in terms of length and number of appearances was at Monaco (222 games), and he played with Arsenal for three years (85 games), followed by Barcelona (23) and Chelsea (55).

He cost £2.5m and left for £7m, and in his autobiography in 2008 he said that Llorenç Serra Ferrer (the Barca coach) didn’t know what position he played when he joined the team.  Mr Wenger had moved Petit from centre back to defensive midfield, but at Barca he returned to centre back.

Marc Overmars

Marc joined Arsenal for £5m from Ajax in 1997 and played 101 games for us scoring 25 goals.  He then moved to Barca for £25m playing 99 games between 2000 and 2004 before returning to his original pro club Go Ahead Eagles for whom he played 24 games (although he had previously retired from playing on medical grounds).

There is a hint on one web site that he is still associated with Go Ahead Eagles, but I am not sure if this is so – if you know do let me know.

Nicolas Anelka

Nicolas is one of the players I would put in the list of those on whom the Arsenal fans have turned. He joined for just £500,000 and won the PFA Young Player of the Year in 1998/9.  I believe the name Le Sulk came from the Sun, and it was a tragedy that it was taken up by some supporters (although I don’t recall hearing it too often at games).  He played 72 times, plus 17 times as a sub, and scored 27 goals before going to Real Madrid for £22m in 1999 – an astonishing profit.

He won the Champions League with Real Mad in 2000, before going to PSG for £20m and then moved to Liverpool on loan and then to Man City where he scored 37 goals in 89 games.

In January 2005 he moved again this time for £7m to  Fenerbahçe with whom he won the league in 2005. In 2006 he joined Bolton for £8m and was their top scorer with 11 goals.  He signed a four year deal in 2007 but in January 2008 went to Chelsea for £15m.   With Chelsea he has played 116 times and scored 47 goals.

The left back situation: maybe Arsène doesn’t need to buy

Walter Broeckx on Refs and Scandals

Untold Arsenal on Twitter is in the top 1% of all Twitter sites for followers @UntoldArsenal

All the Arsenal players who are now coaches or managers

5 Replies to “After they left Arsenal: Petit, Overmars, Anelka”

  1. About Marc Overmars he is in fact a director at his first and last club Go Ahead Eagles. What a strange name for a Dutch team by the way.

    But in June he has had talks with Ajax to come back to them in a directors function.
    About his last game at Go Ahead Eagles it seems that he came on as a late substitute but got tackled twice and had to leave the field injured … once again.

    I always liked him a lot to be honest.

  2. And Overmars also managed the sunday amateur team where he first started his career as a youth player last season. A team from the highest amateur division in Holland

  3. The profit Arsene made on Anelka (Selling Price 44 times the Cost Price in one year) must surely be the all-time, all-nation record!

  4. Arsenal always sell out before the players decline. All of the players that Man Utd sell (excluding Ronaldo) were well past their best but Arsenal just give into the money..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *