Loan watch: Vela fails to shine in defeat
Seven young Arsenal players are on loan at other clubs until the end of the season in order to gain experience. They are Mark Randall and Kieran Gibbs, who are at Burnley and Norwich respictively, Jay Simpson is with Millwall whilst Fran Merida, Carlos Vela and Pedro Silva are all in Spain with Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Salamanca. Vincent van den Berg is with Go Ahead Eagles. Keep up to date on their progress here…
Carlos Vela played 84 minutes as Barcelona snatched a 1-0 win right at the death thanks to Xavi’s late strike after good work from Giovani Dos Santos.
In the first half, Vela didn’t have much space and was constantly crowded out by the Barcelona defenders. He had one half chance that he hit wide.
He didn’t fare much better in the second, as he was stranded in midfield. He was fouled by Eric Abidal but his team-mates wasted the resulting free-kick.
It may not have been the most convincing performance from Carlos and I expected to see more of him tonight, but you have to realise how young he is and the fact that he was playing against Barcelona away. It’s another part of the learning curve for him though and hopefully he’ll put in a decent performance in the next game.
Two other youngsters currently on loan in Spain are Fran Merida and Pedro Silva. Fran’s Real Sociedad side drew 1-1 at home to SD Eibar and Pedro played 90 minutes as Salamanca lost 2-1 to Sevilla’s B team.
Towards the end of the 2nd half, he got the ball in some space, and you could see his class. In 2-3 years, he’ll be linked to Barca and Real after playing with Arsenal.
I can’t wait for him to be with us next year.
I thought Vela did ok for the circumstances. Osasuna didn’t see much of the ball, and Vela didn’t get much support when he did have the ball. He showed good pace and technique, especially considering the water-logged pitch, and was cynically fouled before he could do any damage. He needs to learn to release the ball faster, but it will be much easier in Arsenal, where players are always available to get the ball.