Marouane Chamakh - Signing all but confirmed

This morning the moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh pretty much all but confirmed that he will be playing at The Emirates next season. The 26 year old Moroccan has been heavily linked with Arsenal for the last few years. It is thought that we have beaten off interest from Liverpool, Tottenham, West Ham and numerous other clubs. Chamakh helped Bordeaux to the title last year, and has also been part of the Bordeaux squad that exceeded expectations in this years Champions League. He has scored 81 goals in 293 games for Bordeaux, and a further 27 goals in 57 games for Morocco. He has spent 10 years at the French club, and his contract is up at the end of the season, which paves way for him to leave on a free transfer.

Chamakh may however just look like a skinny, skillfull striker that may struggle with the physical side of The Premier League, but do not be fooled. At 6'2 he is a decent sized boy and he can hold his own. He is a dominating presence in the air, and is able to hold the ball up. After spending the last 10 years in the French Ligue One, he will be no stranger to the physical side of football. French football is very similar to The Premier League, and rarely does a player from a French club come to England and struggle to make an impact. He will also be used to the way Arsenal play football as Bordeaux play decent football themselves. Bordeaux have players that pass the ball around such as Gourcuff, who I would also like to see follow suit and join Arsenal. Chamakh is quick, strong, good in the air and has a great work ethic. These attributes are very much needed in todays game, he will certainly bring something new to the plate.

You may however look at his goalscoring record for Bordeaux and think that it is pretty dismal for a striker. It is true, he is not a 30 goal a season striker, but he will bring goals to the table, whether it be by him scoring them or assisting others. He also has a great knack of rising to the big matches. He has scored in 3 of the last matches against Lyon, along with a further 14 goals this season. If we can keep Van Persie fit, I'm confident that the dutchman and Chamakh will be able to form a formidable partnership upfront. They would compliment each others styles and it would allow Van Persie to play football rather than be competiting for balls in the air, which Chamakh loves to do.

This season we were left very thin up front with injuries to Van Persie and Bendtner, and also with Eduardo struggling with form, we were left with Arshavin to lead the line. Personally I would have signed Chamakh in January, because its evident from yesterdays blog that the decline we have had at the end of this season has simply been because we havent been able to score goals to win games. Eduardo has chipped in with 3 goals in 30 odd appearances this season, which is far from good enough. We could have done with an extra face up front to bag a few vital goals. However this was not the case, so hopefully if all goes well Chamakh will be an Arsenal player next season.

Thanks for reading, comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.