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Arsenal Signing Yassin Fortune Raises Questions Aplenty
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal have inked striker prospect Yassin Fortune to a senior deal, which is well and good, but what is the intent behind this signing?
As mentioned earlier today, there has been a lot of signing around the Arsenal camp. ‘Signing’ of course referring to the youth trio that have signed their first professional contracts. Aaron Eyoma, Yassin Fortune and Marcus McGuane have all crossed that line and we wish them the best of luck.
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However, it is the Yassin Fortune deal that should raise an eyebrow or two (or three).
Fortune was brought over from RC Lens along with Jeff Reine-Adelaide for around £2m and that made the hype go haywire. However, 99% of that hype was for Reine-Adelaide, who quickly made an impact in the preseason, has become an indispensable regular on the U21 side and has even pierced the Arsenal substitute bench.
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Very little was said about Fortune, who did not feature in Arsenal’s preseason and who, up until recently, had not even touched down at the U21 level. It left the impression that Reine-Adelaide was what Arsenal paid the bulk of the money for.
But Yassin Fortune was still here, drudging away at the U18 side. At 17 years old, there is no shame in that. Some people just take more time to develop.
However, with Arsenal in dire need of a striker, Fortune was inked to his senior contract. I have already speculated that this deal’s timing is probably nothing more than coincidental. But one of the questions that arises is, what if it isn’t?
If you look at Arsenal’s stock, it is threadbare upfront. Behind Giroud there is Walcott, who we can pretty much cross off the list, and Danny Welbeck, who is A. hurt and B. still not proven to be a striker. If worse comes to worse and Giroud goes down and Walcott and Welbeck are either hurt, which is always likely, or ineffective, also likely, then the next in line is Fortune.
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For a guy that has just now cracked the U21 side, it may be a bit of a stretch to consider that this may be Wenger’s stopgap plan, but we have seen stranger. Like that time Yaya Sanogo was purchased and put right into the Arsenal first team.
Another interesting question is what about Fortune’s progression pushed him to this deal. He has been surpassed in every way, shape and form, by Dutch wonderkid Donyell Malen, who is taking Arsenal’s U21 side by storm. So when it comes around that Malen gets his first senior deal, you’d have to imagine that he would take precedence over Fortune.
Which brings us to a positive scenario as a possible answer. The point of these wonderkids is to avoid horrible situations like we are in now, where the first team is desperate for help. So by inking Fortune, Wenger may be sending a message to Donyell Malen and Stephy Mavididi that competition is here.
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After all, nothing beats a little internal competition. Get them started young and it will continue to be a blessing well into their senior years.