Apparently we're taking M'Baye Niang on trial - a bit odd, as he's already played a lot in Ligue 1, so I'm surprised Caen would be willing to let him go anywhere on a trial basis. They did get relegated though, so they'll probably cash in.

I've never seen him, that I can remember, but from what I've heard from those that have, he's an absolutely massive talent.

Looking at the numbers, his finishing ability looks pretty shocking though - only 2 goals from about 30 shots last year!

And that is still way better than Rosicky...

We've had triallists playing pre-season before. Eboue, Né, Toure, and that hopeless French defender I can't remember the name of...

Philippe Christanval?

I know nothing about him other than what has been written in our links with him but why would we just take him on trial if he is that big a talent?

I have no idea if it's related, but there's some mention on his wiki that his contract with Caen may have been void. That was 10 months ago, so would have thought it'd be sorted by now.

Arsenal trialists include-

Yaya Toure
Kolo Toure
Kolbeinn Sigthorsson (Ajax forward now)
Stefan Savic
Guilherme (Young Brazil keeper)
Ryo Miyaichi
Steven Naismith
Saad Ul-Mukhaini
Brek Shea

asajoseph wrote:

Philipe Christanval! Remember now...

haha that's a blast from the past.

That guy was quite unlucky with his injuries throughout his career

8 days later

We've reportedly agreed a fee for this bloke. City might muscle in though, cos they obviously need another centre forward. Although, tbf, we've got shit loads of forwards too.

Apparently our first offer was 'not derisory, but short of what was expected'.

He's average as fuck. Signing him would actually make our squad poorer.

The answer is so lame that I'd embarrass myself to post it. Name me a single player that the rest of the top four are signing that they had to take on trial first?

City want Niang on trial too, with a view to signing him. Do I win a prize?

It's lame indeed.

Kolo and Yaya haven't done too badly in their careers and they were on trial with us. I suspect Ryo will have a good career as well.

A trial is a good way for our coaching team to learn more about the player. What's he like in training, strong and weak sides of his game, attitude, etc. They won't have to rely on some third party opinion in deciding whether or not it's worth signing the guy.

Alex Song first came here on a trial. And loads of other top players have gone for trials. It's just another way of scouting potential recruits.