Yeah, Arteta even addressed this.
They signed him to play deeper indeed, Arteta admitted it, we saw his on Edu’s board from the All Or Nothing doc, and Sambi himself said that’s his position when he arrived.
Arteta also admitted that didn’t quite worked out and he felt more comfortable player further ahead.
Unfortunately, he just doesn’t do anything particularly good at either end of the pitch. He isn’t good at tracking back and defending, he isn’t particularly energetic, doesn’t make smart runs into the box.
He did show some good bits of passing early on and looked like he could carry it a bit, also liked to shoot from time to time. All of that is gone now.
Very meh player. Would look to loan him out if we sign a midfielder.
I expect him and Marquinhos heading out in January myself and 2-3 other players coming in.
He’s an eight right? Like a straight up eight in a three man midfield. He can carry, can pass, can run but not super defensive and not super creative. This is not the right system for him. It might not be the right level for him.
Frankly, I don’t even know what he is. I do know odds are not in his favour to make it here.
He should leave, and ideally be willing to step down.
He has big teams following him in Italy still but I would be careful who I’m picking.
Juve, Milan and Roma have all been linked before but I’m not sure he starts in any of those midfields.
My fear is him being picky with his next destination.
I hope I’m wrong but I can see him trying to force a move to one of the big Italian teams.
Worst scenario is him going on loan in January to one of them and barely get any time.
A bad spell there could make him hard to move next summer.
I hope if any of them come in January for him we tell them it’s sale or not, no returns.
That’s what I think he should do actually. Go there, play plenty and see where it goes. Good stage to showcase your talent, if he’s all that he’ll eventually have another run a big club.
I think it was him who poisoned Xhaka to get into the team but unfortunately he made the mistake of licking the spoon after making his dastardly concoction. Shit footballer and shit at devious plans.
I’m taking a massive L on this guy. I really thought he would have provided a decent squad option. He played more than I think he was supposed to play last season and did not impress.
But after talking a decent amount of shit about how he wanted to play (which is really like no big deal) he still doesn’t play well? That’s pretty poor.
In terms of fee, it was low risk / high reward. The fee was modest for a player who was rated very highly.
My only issue now is that we continue to rely upon him when it’s clear he isn’t going to make it here.
Lot of technical attributes but he has terrible mental discipline. Hate it when he’s caught on his heels because he’s watching the game rather than trying to be a part of it.
If we had Tielemans, for example, starting in midfield tonight then this squad looks miles different. Sambi is a huge weak link and we need to upgrade him as a priority.
