Gervinho Finally Playing for the Gunners?

Gervais Yao Kouassi, more commonly known as Gervinho, is a 24-year old Ivorian international who shot OSC Lille to the Ligue Une title last year with 15 goals and 11 assists. With his contract running out at the end of next year, Lille will make sure that they do not let the offensive all-rounder walk away for free. Arsenal seems to be the front-runners in signing the speedy, technically gifted forward.

He can play up top, right behind the forwards, or in the attacking midfield role, but is more successful as a winger, where he can often find himself one v. one against defenders using his speed and technial abilities. He started his professional footballing career in 2004 when he came to Belgium from the Ivory Coast in the youth system of KSK Beveren.  Beveren gave Gervinho his opportunity to make it as a professional footballer, like it has done for many Ivorians. Yaya Toure (Man City), Yapi Yapo (FC Basel), Arthur Boka (VfB Stuttgart), Romaric (FC Sevilla), Emmanuel Eboue (FC Arsenal) are some of the Ivorians that have came through the club to go on bigger clubs throughout Europe.

After a year in the youth system at Beveren, he would earn a spot in the first team and played with them for two years before his transfer to RC Lens for 650.000 Euros, where he would spend another two years. Add another zero to that transfer fee (6.500.000) and that is what OSC Lille had to pay for the young Ivorian at the time. He would prove that he is more than capable of playing at the highest level and even made the Ivorian national team, where he would play in the 2010 World Cup. 

His exposure at the World Cup expanded his opportunities to play football at an even higher level. Immediately, Gervinho was linked to Arsenal who has been trying to sign the attacker for several years now. This may be the summer they complete the deal, but he is worth 16.000.000 Euros, according to transfermarkt.de. He plays a lot like Thierry Henry does as a winger, receiving the ball by the sideline and using his sheer talent to force it in the middle where he can create mismatches to either shoot or make the final deadly pass for a goal.

Is this the summer where Gervinho will find himself wearing the Gunners jersey?

Player to Watch: Mamadou Sakho

On March 8, 2011, I had previously posted that Mamadou Sakho had renewed his contract at French Ligue Une side Paris Saint-Germain until the summer of 2014. The 21-year old centerback who played a total of 50 matches for PSG and 4 for the French National Team this year, has been rumored to be on the shortlist of many English clubs including Arsenal, Tottenham, and Liverpool.

In the previous post regarding Sakho, I had mentioned that his current market value was at 13.500.000 Euros, which was a team-high. Roughly three months later, his stock has risen 2.500.000 to see him at 16.000.000 currently, which makes him more than 3.000.000 Euros higher than second best Nene. The Parisian club may beg to differ with transfermarkt.de's assessment, as he could be coined invaluable to the team. Playing in 4358 minutes for Paris this year, made him the third most used player in the squad, only several minutes behind Christophe Jallet and Nene.

The left-footed centerback that has played for France's national team at every level starting with U16, is now pushing his way into the regular line-up for Les Bleus at the senior level. He more than likely could also see his way to England in this summer's transfer window, as many Premier League clubs have confirmed interest in the experienced youngster (150 total matches for PSG). As previously stated, his contract runs out in 2014, but PSG will surely look to cash in on him before his contract runs out... the question is when?