Arsenal
Emmanuel Frimpong: A Future Arsenal Legend?
Emmanuel Frimpong has what it takes to become a legend with the Gunners. Here we look at his career so far and asses his strengths and if he has what it takes.
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Emmanuel Frimpong has what it takes to become a legend with the Gunners. The young Ghanaian midfielder has been at Arsenal since the age of 9, and is already loved by the majority of Arsenal fans.
Frimpong made his debut for the Arsenal first team coming on as a substitute for Tomas Rosicky in a 0-0 draw with Newcastle on the opening day of the season. He then made his Champions League debut against Udinese in the qualifying round, coming on as a substitute for Thomas Rosicky again and then made his first Premier League start against Liverpool due to Alex Song’s suspension. Unfortunately, despite a lively display, the youngster was sent off for a second booking following a rash tackle on Lucas.
Frimpong was then limited to 6 appearances in the Premier League, but got to play in the Carling Cup quarter finals at The Emirates where he faced Manchester City. Frimpong is known for his energy and enthusiasm on the pitch and this game optimised that side of his game, with a youthful Gunners side narrowly losing 1-0 to their more experienced counter-parts.
Manny has a great relationship with most of the younger Arsenal players such as Jack Wilshere, Benik Afobe and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. But one man he seems to dislike is Piers Morgan, after the pair had a war-of-words on Twitter.
The 20 year-old has also taken over as the role as ‘Joker’ in the dressing room since Emmanuel Eboue’s departure, and has been called a young Michael Buble for his singing skills. In a lot of Q & A’s, many of the players will say the funniest person at the club is Frimpong. But he is not just a joker, he is also a hard man almost like a young Patrick Vieira, who isn’t afraid of getting into a challenge and will do anything to win the ball back for his team.
Wolves
On January 1, 2012, Emmanuel Frimpong joined Wolves on loan for the rest of the season and made his debut the next day in a 2-1 loss against Chelsea. He then played against Aston Villa, which was probably his most inspiring performance to date. He was running everywhere like he was training for the marathon, tackling everyone until his last breath, but the most inspirational was when he ran the ball from the half way line, took it past 2 players and took a shot which went out for a corner.
He got up, waved to his fans to get up off their feet and got every single Wolves fan were on their feet cheering them on for the corner, and they scored from it. Within a week, Wolves fans made a banner for Frimpong saying “You’ve Been Frimponged”. If I got that reception after a week of being at a club on loan, I’d be honoured.
Frimpong only played 5 games with Wolves before he ruptured a cruciate ligament in his right knee during a 2–1 win at QPR, and had to return to Arsenal as he was ruled out for the season. Mick McCarthy thanked Frimpong for his time there, and went on to say that he will be a star for Arsenal in the future.
International career
Although deciding to join Ghana over England, Frimpong played for both countries at youth level. Frimpong opted to join England’s Under-16s in 2007. In March 2008, he scored a 71st minute goal for England against Germany Under-16s in the Montaigu Tournament to give England a 1–0 win. In 2009, Frimpong said, “no matter what, I will always play for Ghana because at the end of the day, from what I believe, I am a Ghanaian.” (source: Arsenal.com)
In August 2010, Frimpong was called-up for the England Under-19 squad to face Slovakia the following month, though he was later forced to withdraw from the squad after suffering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
In August, Frimpong had planned to attend a friendly match between Ghana and Nigeria at Vicarage Road in Watford, but the game was postponed due to the 2011 England riots. Later that month, Frimpong received his first call-up for the England Under 21s on September 6, but it was announced by the Ghanaian FA that Frimpong has pledged his future to Ghana.
Personally, I’d love to see Manny succeed at Arsenal. He’s been extremely unlucky so far with injuries in his career but if he can recover from his latest set back and come back stronger, he could go on to become a true Gunners great.
