Mbaye Niang: Fact, Fiction & Fun

So I'm fairly bored and haven't written anything about Arsenal for a while. I usually blog when I'm angry or just have a lot to get off my chest but this is a more cheerful one. I thought I'd write a little bit about our new 'signing'. As first reported by @AFCAMDEN (one of few actual 'ITK' people on Twitter, even if he denies it), Arsenal are set to take young French striker Mbaye Niang (17) on trial from Caen. For a player of such potential at a club of Caen's size, it's strange that he'd go anywhere on trial and not just be for sale at a considerable price, so I'm assuming we've agreed a deal subject to him impressing on trial. That's the only logical explanation I can find - the only other potential thing we may want to look at is his fitness. Anyway, seeing as there's sweet Football Association online about Niang, I thought I'd write a little piece on the player we can expect to arrive in North London - using the world's most reliable tool for judging player ability - Football Manager (blogspot doesn't have a sarcasm font). Just for a bit of fun.

Fact

A quick bit of background - Niang is French, 17 years old, 6ft tall, plays for Caen and by the age of 16 had both played for Caen in Ligue 1 and already represented France at U21 level. Promising.

Fiction

Anyway, I'm manager of Arsenal on Football Manager and legendary scout Gilles Grimandi first alerted me to this young French striker in the summer of 2012 (sound familiar?). With RvP banging them in, I had no room in my side and didn't want to 'kill' Niang, so decided to let him develop at Caen and monitor his development at a distance. By the summer of 2015, a young Niang had reached the stage where if I didn't buy him now, he'd be too expensive (even by a GunnerPunner-run Arsenal's standards, where we are the height of financial prudence). At the age of 21, Niang had already scored 58 league goals in 90 games for Caen and made his full international debut for France. He cost me £16m, which seemed a lot, but turned out to be the best £16m Arsenal have ever spent.

Niang is now 'worth' £35m and, at 26 years old, spearheads my attack. He is the lone striker in a 4-1-2-2-1 formation that has led my Arsenal side to 4 league titles in a row, 3 consecutive Champions Leagues and a domestic unbeaten run which is now at 109 games (take that, Wenger). Niang is fast, tall, strong and yet a good dribbler and very good technically. He has scored 124 league goals in 165 league games plus countless more in Europe, including one Champions League semi-final against Lyon where he scored 6 in one game. 

At the tender age of 26, Niang has already won 24 separate competitions. Personal awards include Premiership Golden Boot, World Player of the Year and Golden Ball runner-up (3 times, to his team-mate at Arsenal). Oh, and he has 63 goals in 61 caps for France.

As I said, I know it's not real, and I know Football Manager often gets players completely wrong. But it's just a bit of fun and I can see Niang, at least stylistically, as having the potential to be the type of striker we need. I've always believed that our style of play is most effective with a more physical striker up top, but obviously that player would still need the technical skills required to play for Arsenal and within our system. I hate it when big strikers are labelled 'the new Drogba' but sounds from France and indications from FM suggest that, in playing style at least, Niang is up that street. His actual talent, potential and eventual ability remain to be seen but it excites me to see that the club are not afraid to move for big talents who have already established themselves at club level. I'd say Niang is probably at the same developmental stage that Chamberlain was at when we signed him last summer in that he's still very young but has already broken into the first team at a sizeable club. Here's hoping that the fiction you've all just read comes true. Imagine that...