Feature: Former Arsenal midfielder's career frompeak to bottom

Published on: 01 August 2014
Feature: Former Arsenal midfielder's career frompeak to bottom
Emmanuel Frimpong

A player, who was once described as “a winner” by Arsene Wenger, has surprisingly run out of luck and now finds himself as a free agent after spending over three years at one of the biggest clubs in England, Arsenal.

Emmanuel Frimpong joined Barnsley Football club in January 2014.

However, after just four months at the club, Frimpong was released from his contract after Barnsley were relegated from the Championship.

Frimpong currently finds himself club-less, and obviously wondering what went wrong along the way.

The 22 year old has had to face a handful of injuries in his till now short career. In August 2010 he suffered from anterior cruciate ligament injury which kept him out for nine months.

Following his recovery, he was promoted from Arsenal’s reserve team and made his Premier League debut for Arsenal against Newcastle in August 2011.

He had a total of 16 appearances for Arsenal. A player who was willing to work hard, young and as fresh and exciting as Frimpong was, it was a shame that he was seen warming the bench more than he was seen on the pitch.

Despite being less involved, he managed to make a Champions League appearance against Udinese.

Most of his time at Arsenal was spent on loan at numerous clubs in order to get playing time, which he got.

It was evident why many clubs were wowed by him. At such a young age he had made several appearances in the Premier League and even appeared once in the Champions League. He was seen as a player willing to shine and give it his all against any team.

In January 2012 Frimpong joined Wolverhampton Wanderers for a loan till the end of the season.

He made five appearances for the club, but in his fifth appearance he ruptured a cruciate ligament in his right knee which ultimately ended his season and he was returned to Arsenal.

Following a brief six week long loan at Charlton Athletic, Frimpong joined Premier League side Fulham on loan in January 2013 for the remainder of the season.

However, from then his performance dropped significantly. Once against he managed to only make six appearances for Fulham, with an average performance score of 56.

There was a clear drop in his defensive abilities, winning just 44% of his tackles and enacting over twice as many fouls as he suffered.

Though he still had the will and charm in him to play effectively, such a poor tackle success rate for a top flight fast paced game was unmistakably not enough.

The first half of the 2013-2014 season was spent by him at Arsenal, gathering dust in the storage, only needed if absolutely necessary.

He then eventually moved to Championship side Barnsley, hoping to get a bit of playing time and re-polishing his game.

Frimpong played against Sheffield Wednesday on his debut, playing quite impressively for 30 minutes after which he was sent off for a second yellow card.

This pretty much set his future at the club. He still managed to make a number of appearances for this club, featuring nine times. However, he did not play for Barnsley after the end of March.

He was reportedly more interested in the ladies up North than he was on things going on at the pitch.

According to the media, one of the greatest dilemmas for the Ghana international was how we was supposed to ‘draw girls’ if he played for Barnsley, posting this on instagram before deleting the post a few moments later.

The youngster has been a part of many such controversies which were often seen as ‘jokes’ by him.

He posted a mocking ‘taxi for David Moyes’ picture, and also posted an edited picture of striker Nicklas Bendtner holding the Fifa Ballon d’Or.

He was once fined £6,000 by the FA following rude comments made on twitter directed at a Tottenham Hotspur fan. He even created his own brand known as ‘dench’.

I guess karma does do its work on people who deserve it. Admittedly enjoying laughing at the prospect of other players, Frimpong has given the world enough reason to laugh at him.

Maybe it was his reported lack of interest with football prospects, lack of skill, scars from injuries, or just sheer bad luck that hindered his career, Frimpong has now found himself without a club, ultimately halting his career unless another side is willing to buy him and give him an another chance.

The only question that now remains for the football starlet is ‘what now?’

By Lamine Nasir:

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