Date: 9th June 2014 at 10:22am
Written by:

By Nadji Grizzle…

As we Gooners know all too well, Arsène Wenger is not exactly a stranger to the odd transfer blunder. Francis Jeffers, Philippe Senderos, Pascal Cygan, and Mikel Silvestre are amongst those whose signings left Arsenal fans scratching their heads, and leading some to question Wenger’s motives.

Amaury Bischoff tops the list of some Gooners for Arsenal’s most left-field acquisition, and many will wonder whatever happened to the player. The Portuguese player joined the club as a relatively unknown player from Werder Bremen and managed just a single league appearance against Portsmouth in his one-year stay at the club. He now plies his trade in the third tier of German football with Preußen Munster.

Bischoff has endured an injury plagued career, and found himself struggling to settle at his various clubs. He joined the club in 2008, after failing to break into the Werder Bremen first team despite impressing in the reserves. Further injuries stifled his progress, and he found life difficult at the Emirates Stadium as well. Wenger himself admitted to taking a gamble on the player, and Bischoff again failed to impress during his stint. After just one league appearance, and handful of cup and reserve appearances, Arsenal released him when his contract expired in June 2009.

From there he joined Portuguese club Academica on an initial two-year contract, but was sent on loan halfway through his first season. He managed just ten appearances in total before his loan to Aves in the second division, where he would eventually join permanently in 2011.

He went on to make 20 appearances before leaving for Preußen Munster in 2012. Now in the third division of German football, Bischoff seems to have placed his injury struggles behind him. He has managed 50 appearances for the club and has established himself as a key player for the Eagles. While his play hasn’t been spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, Bischoff is a decent midfield player, providing link up play and facilitating the team’s attacks.

At 27, I hope Bischoff will be given another chance to prove himself at a big club before his career reaches the latter stages. I, like many other Gooners, don’t know much about the player, but he was tipped to have enormous potential before his health problems. One would like to believe that there is a reason Wenger placed his faith in the player at one point, so hopefully Bischoff can end his career with a flurry. Until then, we Gooners will always be left to wonder what went wrong.

 

Comments are closed.