One for the future? Thomas Eisfeld
Guest blog – by George Nixon.
One of the benefits of this pre-season tour is the ability to get a good look at players who are likely to feature prominently at the club in the future. One of those is Thomas Eisfeld the young German who joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in January 2012.
Eisfeld was avirtual unknown and not one of the more well-known youngsters to come from Borussia Dortmund’s academy. He was part of the German U15 side as their Captain but unfortunately for him as he progessed developmentally, he did not have the chance to break into the Black and Yellow’s senior squad. With the likes of highly rated 18 year olds, Leonardo Bittencourt and Mustafa Amini along side him in the Dortmund youth set-up and Goteze, Leitner, Großkreutz, Sahin, Kagawa, and Gyndogan in front of him, his path to the Dortmund first team was always going to be a hard road.
But he also had a problem that hindered him and its something Arsenal fans are all too familiar with – injuries. In late 2009, Eisfeld suffered an injury to his anterior cruciate ligament which could have had a disastrous effect on his fledgling career. Fortunately for Arsenal, Eisfeld has shown great determination to fight back and work his way back to form. In the first half of the 2010/2011 season, the attacking midfielder was BvB’s second highest scorer in their Under-19 squad, behind Marvin Ducksch having found the net 6 times in 12 appearances as well as 1 assist in that time. Not bad return from a midfielder.
At a time when fans were calling for grizzled veterans to support the club, Wenger in addition to the loan for Henry, brought in an injury prone German youngster who’d made 0 appearances for the senior team, “Who is he?” was the cry from the Emirates faithful. No-one outside of Dortmund, and even then only the most ardent followers of their youth team, knew who this kid was. As it turns out Arsene Wenger and his scouts may have unearthed another diamond; a player who very well may be a future star for under €500,000. A typical Arsenal bargin.
Eisfeld’s debut for the Arsenal reserves, came in a 2-0 win against Swansea at Parc y Scarlets. Starting on the right of an attacking trio in Arsenal’s usual 4-2-3-1 formation, Eisfeld sat behind striker Zac Ansah., And the kid impressed from the start with his incisive passing, and very tidy in possession. The games’ first goal came via the German youngster, with nifty one-two exchange with Serge Gnabry. Eisfeld’s shot would be saved but put away on the rebound by Ansah. Throughout the game Eisfeld showed his quality and was involved in a lot of the key moments in the game. It was an impressive debut from the new signing, and possibly a sight of things to come.
Anyone expecting Eisfeld to immediately make an impact and take off like Mario Goteze and Nuri Sahin (who departed for Madrid) should temper that. Even though, Wenger has likely found a diamond in the rough, the ‘rough’ should be the focus. He is not yet quite the finished product and will need time to develop. But given the development factory Dortmund has going on there should be no doubting his pedigree.
What Eisfeld does bring is a solid set of skills especially good technique with amazing vision on the field. He couples that vision with decisive passing and his Captaincy of the U15 at least means he is familiar with the concept of being a leader – something we need. Many peope with knowledge of the 19 year old rate him highly and had his path not been blocked by so much talent in front of him would’ve likely featured for Klopp at BVB.
The 19 yeard old looks to have the skills to make his mark in the Premier League. He was selected to travel with the team to Asia and didn’t fail in seizing the opportunity. Against, Malaysia XI, with Arsenal trailing 1-0 going into the last 5 minutes, Eisfeld, an 80th minute substitute by Arsene Wenger, Eisfeld brilliantly finished a shot on a nifty pass from Nico Yennaris.. In the final game of the 3 game tour, against Kitchee FC with Arsenal again trailing, Eisfeld came on in the 70th minute. Eisfeld scored his second of the tour slotting home a pass from Gervinho. In the end it was the young German who was one of the big standouts in the tour.
The Asia tour was a chance for players to how their worth to the team and whether or not the warranted chances with the first team. Every time he got on the pitch, Thomas Eisfeld took that opportunity and showed that Arsenal may have done what they do best – find a possible star hidden away on another team’s depth chart.
Eisfeld adds to the growing contingent of Germans plying their trade for the Red and White Army. And while it’s likely he will feature prominently on cup teams this season. He is definitely one to keep an eye on for the future.
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