When Rafa Benitez first signed David Ngog for £1.5 million back in 2008, my initial thought was that the price tag was a bit much for a player I expected to slot into our reserves. Upon signing him however, Rafa declared that Ngog would be used as a first team player throughout the 08-09 season. This came as a bit of a surprise to me due to the fact that he was only 19 at the time and didn’t have really have a huge reputation for being a top footballing prospect while at PSG.
For the next two seasons he was thrown into the deep end though and had to deputise for our main goal threat, Torres, a lot more than expected due to the Spaniard’s persistent injuries. He’s managed to put in a decent shift so far and although many fans opinions on him are still split, he’s definitely shown that he has some serious potential. This isn’t an over the top knee-jerk reaction to his well taken goal against Arsenal or his positive start to the season by the way, it’s an acknowledgement that with the right amount of game time and in the company of world class players like Fernando Torres, David Ngog could develop into a well respected, top international striker.
At times last season he admittedly frustrated fans with his wastefulness in front of goal and the fact that he was too easily pushed off the ball. But the aspects of his game which were criticised never had much to do with a lack of technical ability, but more about things which will be cured simply by more experience. Things like timing his runs better and being more composed in front of goal are problems that many young strikers encounter, but for many of them it’s just a temporary shortcoming. As for being able to hold up play better, Ngog has come back from his summer holiday looking noticeably stronger and has so far been able to deal with physical challenges a lot better than he did in previous seasons. If he can continue to bulk without losing any of his pace then he will have the ingredients to become a very effective striker. When you also consider that he’s a gangly 6ft 2 it’s a mouth-watering prospect thinking of how in future he could possibly be dominant aerially at the same time as terrorising defenders with his pace.
David Ngog also has a very impressive goals per starts strike rate and I’m expecting him to really make a name for himself in this season’s Europa League campaign. It may not be the competition we wanted to contest this year but the amount of future stars it will help unearth will turn it into a positive by the end of the season. I also expect players like Dani Pacheco, David Amoo and Martin Kelly to really impress in this year’s Europa League and to be knocking on that first team door by time we get to the second half of this season.
Whether or not we are able to buy a new striker before the end of this transfer window, I believe this season will be a big one for the development of David Ngog. There’s too many games to play for him to not get a chance and with him already showing signs of maturity, I expect him to firmly establish himself as one of the Premiership’s top young players this season.
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Agree completely, N’Gog certainly looks like he has bulked up a little in the summer. with time, he’ll develop more composure in front of goal (I remember him trying a header from the edge of the box when clean through in a game late last season, when Torres would have simply let the ball drop over his shoulder)… that being said, the boy definitely has technical class, as his goals against Arsenal and his second goal against Rabotnki were Torres-like in their execution.
In my opinion while many were screaming for us to re-sign Mikey Owen, I think we made the right decision in sticking by David N’Gog. He’s already looking like a fantastic bargain at only £1.5million.
Yeah, I totally agree as well. He is beginning to look like he might be a steal at £1.5 million, especially in light of Balotelli moving to Man City for a ridiculous amount for such a young and inexperienced player.
Good read.
One good strike against the Arsenal and all of a sudden he goes from someone who should be shipped out on loan for a season to to our saviour should Torres get injured.
If Ngog is going to be our 2nd choice striker again this season then Torres can’t miss many games.
The lad has ability but is no way a player to lead our front line in the absence of Nando. He maybe one for the future, but which team would he walk into as their 2nd striker???
I couldn’t agree more, I honestly thought even last season he was going to turn out to be a very good striker and I also think Lucas will prove to be a very good midfielder in the next 3 years or so.It was very hard for a 19 or 20 year old to fill the boot’s of the world’s best finisher and he was alway’s going to be criticised unless he was an absolute world beater at 19 but given time I think he has all the attributes to make it.
First off lets make an important point, this website is making some very good points, as well as making some very good reads as well, not all the time both of these go together. Well done you.
Anyways Brown nosing aside, I think That Ngog should change his name to Danny Fitzpatrick and declare that he was born in Huyton. If this was the case every body would be raving. I also personally think that actually this first part aside in the future he will probabaly end up at somebody like West Ham. Anyways untill that happens. COME ON FITZY LAD!
Y.N.Y.A
Lewis