Date: 16th April 2015 at 8:30pm
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Former Gunner and french youth left-back David Grondin was quite the journeyman; he made his solitary Premier League appearance in Arsenal’s 0-0 draw at home to Liverpool in January 1999.

He joined the club in July of 1998 as a youth player from St Etienne for a fee of £500,000 and made his first-team debut in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Derby County in the Third Round of the Worthington Cup (now the Capital One Cup). He also featured in the Fourth Round defeat at Chelsea as well as the Champions League match at Panathinaikos.

Gronin was sent on a series of loans on the back on of 1999l; he was loaned back to St Etienne for the remainder of the 1999-2000 season, Cannes in 2000-2001, and then to Arsenal’s feeder club Beveren in 2001-2002. He astonishingly failed to make a single league appearance for St. Etienne, but made 31 and 29 for Cannes and Beveren respectively, scoring three goals for the latter.

In January of 2003 he joined Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic on loan initially, eventually signing a permanent deal until the summer of 2004. He made a total of 27 appearances for the club before joining Stade Brest in 2004.

One year and 35 appearances later, he joined Excelsior Mouscron in Belgium. He would finish his career in Belgium, joining KV Mechelen in 2008, Mons in 2009, and Brussels in 2010.

The left-back failed to really hold down a place in any side unfortunately, hence his frequent voyages. Grondin is a prime example of just how difficult it is to break into a side as youngster, especially at a club the size of Arsenal.

Grondin is now 34 and retired.

 

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