Nuri Sahin: part of an extraordinary revolution at Arsenal « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. 800,000 visits last month

By Walter Broeckx

Well the silence from Arsenal is deafening and that is usually a great sign.

But on the internet and in the English papers, the rumours are spreading like mad that Nuri Sahin will join Arsenal on a one season loan spell from Real Madrid.  If those rumours are to be believed he should be announced any day now.

So what do we know about this Turkish-German player?

He was born in Lüdenscheid (Germany) on 05 September 1988 and is 23 years old. He is 1m79 (or 5ft10in) and plays in midfield and is a left footed player.

So what could we find about him? Is there a better place to search than with people who have seen him play at Dortmund?

He became a first team player at Borrusia Dortmund at a very young age and is still the youngest goal scorer in the Bundesliga. Nothing seemed to stop his march to glory. He made his first appearance for the Turkish national team but then he suddenly had a bad spell. Dortmund sensed he needed a break and send him to Feyenoord Rotterdam. He won the KNVB Cup with Feyenoord that season.  In those years Wenger named him one of the best talents in the football world.

He then came back to Dortmund and became one of the central players of the young team under manager Klopp, a team built with lots of own youth players that won the Bundesliga in 2011.  Real Madrid came along and off to Madrid he went. He won the league with Real Madrid but only played a handful of games so he will not have been that happy in Madrid.

How do they describe his playing style? He likes to play in a central role and is not afraid of going in the challenge.  He has a great long ball and has an eye for an opening before anyone sees it. Some could say a bit like Cesc.  (Is that putting pressure on him?)

His education in Germany also has resulted in him adapting the German way of life and playing football. He always is hard working, in training or in a game, he always gives himself 200% one could say. He likes to float around midfield, but most of the time plays a central part and he can defend rather strong. He is called a real fighter on the field.

I think Podolski will know him from the Bundesliga and an incident between them in a game between Cologne and Dortmund where they stood nose to nose.  A bit like Vermaelen and Van Persie once in the Ajax tournament.

He could become one of those typical Wenger buys.  Didn’t  make it at a the  “big team” and then coming to Arsenal to give a fresh start on his career.  We all know Wenger has a hand in turning such players in to real big players.

The talent is there, if he gets match fitness and sharpness he could become a big player for Arsenal this season. And who knows maybe for years to come if the loan can become a permanent deal.

A couple of additional bits from Tony

From what I have seen Sahin is an authoritative  play maker par excellence, always getting into places where he can have the ball in order to start the attacks.  He has the ability which we saw from Song a few times last season for making extraordinary passes exactly to the right player in the right position at the right moment.

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Which is very interesting because when combined with a willingness to hold onto the ball until the right moment comes, and the ability to move it to the right man at the right time he is seemingly like Cazorla.

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Also interesting is that his arrival would give us Cazorla, Arteta, Diaby, Wilshere Rosicky, Oxlade Chamberlain, and Ramsey all able to mix and match it in midfield.

I would urge everyone not to be put off by the fact that Real Madrid are willing to let him go.  In 2010/11 Kicker magazine and the German players’ union both made him player of the year.   Real Madrid constantly do what Man City have done – overload their playing staff to cover every eventuality – something that FFP is due to try and stop.  But it can mean that some highly talented players simply don’t get a game.

If this deal goes through as we expect, Arsenal will now have only about 3 players left who were regulars in the team two years ago.   What we are witnessing is a total revolution both in the playing staff and the style of game.  A revolution similar to the one Wenger introduced when he first came to the club.

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