For the time being, Gedion Zelalem will develop away from Arsenal, but the club made sure to lock up the midfielder’s long-term future before allowing a temporary move to the Netherlands.
According to Telesport, Zelalem has signed a new contract with Arsenal ahead of a move to Dutch second division side VVV Venlo. The report says Zelalem was expected to be targeted by Borussia Dortmund and Hoffenheim if Arsenal allowed his contract to expire this summer, but the Premier League club took the step to prevent losing the midfielder for nothing by giving him a new deal.
VVV Venlo is currently atop the table in the Dutch second division and is pushing for promotion to the Eredivisie. The position is a favorable one for Arsenal, the report says, as the club was looking for Zelalem to play for a team pushing for a move up rather than battling a potential move down.
Zelalem could reportedly make his debut as soon as Friday as VVV Venlo takes on FC Oss.
The Dutch teams always have crazy cool names. Especially “go ahead super Eagles”. Who came up with that?
According to wikipedia they were originally known as Be Quick, but changed to Go Ahead in the early nineteen hundreds. They added the Eagles in 1971 as the eagle is on the crest of the city of Deventer where the team is based. The play a stadium called De Adelaashorst, The Eagle’s Nest or the Eryie for you Game of Thrones fans.
Another good name is Achilles ’29. Also, FC Twente plays in a stadium called De Grolsch Veste (which loosely translated would be the beer fortress).
Does this team name remind anyone else of Dr. Vink from Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Now they can sell him in the summer and not lose him on a free transfer, if he really shows growth they can give him another shot at first team mins. Seems like a win win
Unless he’s a 90-minute player every single game at Venlo, this seems like a weird decision. Obviously Arsenal must still value him and see great potential, but how long can he keep doing these loans?
He turns 20 on Thursday so playing in the Dutch 2nd Division is still loads ahead of his American counterparts playing in the USL or NCAA. If he gets regular minutes over the 2nd half of the season its a good move. Actually seeing the field should help with a possible transfer in August of Arsenal decides to let him go as teams will have more actually film of him.
Well, they are still loaning out Joel Campbell. I think he’s on his third loan spell from Arsenal. Because of injuries he got some starts last year and did okay, but failed to score much. So, I guess Wenger is willing to be patient in order to have a deep team in the future.