One of Arsene Wenger’s first ever signings for the club was an unknown 18-year-old left-back called David Grondin.
Wenger signed Grondin for £500,000 from French club Saint-Etienne, as part of Wenger’s youth development project. The full-back was dubbed as the best young defender in French football, and he emerged through the ranks in France in much the same way as Anelka did, when at PSG.
Arsene Wenger had the intention of signing Grondin so he could learn from veteran defender Nigel Winterburn, and eventually replace the Englishman.
This never happened. It may have been down to the fact that Grondin just never fulfilled his potential as a youngster, or it could have been because we had future England left-back Ashley Cole rising through the ranks at the same time.
Grondin made one Premier League appearance, two League Cup and one Champions League appearance for the Gunners, before being loaned back to St Etienne in 1999/2000, Cannes in 2000/01 and Arsenal’s feeder club Beveren in 2001/02; he joined Dunfermline Athletic in January 2003.
The Frenchman had spells in France and Belgium before finally signing for Belgian club RAEC Mons.
David Grondin was amongst the many players at Arsenal who just didn’t make it, and seem to disappear from the top-flight of football altogether.
From arsenal-opinion.com
No comments:
Post a Comment