Arsenal: Yaya Sanogo The Next Vagrant Gunner’s Striker?

Arsenal had a string of very unsuccessful strikers who are now all free agents. Is Yaya Sanogo the next to join this pool of unwanted hitmen?

There was a period in the drought era when Arsene Wenger was trying his hand at every potential solution at striker for Arsenal. After Emmanuel Adebayor showcased how talented he was, he skipped town and in his stead came Robin van Persie.

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The Flying Dutchman ran the team, but behind him were the wonder-twins, Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh.

Bendtner came to Arsenal when he was still a teenager and there was every reason to be excited about him. Yet his continued stay at the team was always a question mark as he could never latch onto anything more than the odd goal and numerous loans failed to sort him out.

He was later joined by fellow wonder-twin Marouane Chamakh, who arrived in 2010.

Combined, these two could-have-been strikers scored 32 goals in nearly 150 appearances. They were promptly replaced by Olivier Giroud, but only departed the club when the coast was clear and Giroud was clearly the man for the job.

Since that time, Bendtner has wandered to Wolfsburg and Chamakh to Crystal Palace but the game just isn’t in their favor. Adebayor has even joined their vagrant band of former Gunner strikers as the three amigos who just can’t score anymore (or ever, in Chamakh’s case) but still want to be strikers.

As it stands, the three are free agents, having failed at most post-Arsenal endeavors, and while Chamakh is on trial at Palace and Bendtner might join Norwich City, it still feels a bit odd that so many former Arsenal strikers are wandering about the football landscape looking for work.

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It got me wondering. Is Yaya Sanogo next?

Wenger has stood up for Sanogo and said he has a future at the club, but what else is he supposed to say? Everywhere Sanogo has gone, he has looked completely incapable (except for that hat trick at Charlton) and he is now 23 years old.

At 23, Bendtner was on loan at Sunderland (actually scoring a few) but, granted, already on his way out of the club. Adebayor, however, was just hitting his stride at Arsenal at 23. Even Chamakh was just hitting his prime at Bordeaux. He would go on to score 32 goals in his two seasons following his season at 23 years old before moving to Arsenal.

It doesn’t look good for Sanogo. There is no reason we should see him at all this year. With Lucas the secondary striker and Chuba Akpom the future one, Sanogo should be nowhere near the first team unless in utter desperation.

Next: Arsenal's Top 10 Prospects

All three of these strikers that Sanogo may be joining once had some pretty solid prospects in their career. Chamakh probably the least of the three, but Sanogo would be the least of the four. There was that initial optimism when he first signed, but since then we have seen nothing but clumsiness and an inability to finish.