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A tale of two wandering Gunners starlets whose paths cross again this weekend

26th August 2008 By Latest News Leave a Comment

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Two, in-form Arsenal 'old' boys will come face-to-face again at Carrow Road this weekend – their names once again up in lights after disappearing virtually without trace last season.

The ups and downs of Arturo Lupoli's strike career have already been well-documented.

For having spurned the chance to extend his stay at the Gunners in favour of a long-term contract with Serie A giants Fiorentina last summer, so the 21-year-old found himself farmed out on loan to Treviso in Serie B last season where both form and fortune deserted him.

He would not score a single goal from open play for his new, short-term employers – little wonder that his face was etched with such delight after his two strikes in four, extraordinary minutes earned the Canaries an unlikely point from the Bank Holiday weekend trip to Cardiff.

Lupoli was back on football's radar – and everyone from the Viola to The Emirates would have taken note of his late heroics.

His story, however, is not without parallel. For as Birmingham City were maintaining their 100 per cent start to the new Championship season with a comfortable home success against Barnsley on Saturday, to the Tilton Road End had a new hero – 22-year-old former Arsenal starlet Quincy Owusu-Abeyie.

Born in Amsterdam, but Ghanaian by nationality, for two years Quincy was part of the same Gunners Youth and Reserve set-up as Lupoli.

But whereas Lupoli would return to his native Italy in search of first team football with Fiorentina, the Blues winger could be found at Spartak Moscow – before being farmed out to Celta Vigo, just as the Canaries' new hero was dumped in Treviso.

Neither would play a game for their respective, full-time employers last season; both are now back in the Championship on loan – determined to use their return to the first team spotlight as a chance to kick-start their stalled footballing careers on the doorstep of the Premiership.

“I think there's the platform here, it's all good man,” Quincy told the Birmingham Evening Mail, having made an impressive home debut for the Blues. He will be one for the scoutng note-book as Alex McLeish's big, blue machine rolls into Norfolk this weekend.

“It was a great experience in Moscow and Spain and I'm happy to be here, that's the most important thing,” he added. “I had a good time, but I have been away for a while and now I'm back. I just have to concentrate on what I'm doing here and being successful with Birmingham.”

Having made his Champions League debut aged 18 for Arsenal, the winger faced a familiar dilemma – aged 21 was he then ready to step up to the plate and claim a regular starting place in Arsene Wenger's all-star line-up?

And if not, did either club or player want to be a bit-part; simply hanging round the place and blocking the path of, say, a Kieran Gibbs to first team glory?

What is interesting to the Quincy story is the way that he always saw the switch to Spartak as a way to get back to English football; that's where players of his ilk want to play. It is the same thought process that will have been at work in Lupoli's mind as Glenn Roeder beat a path to Fiorentina's door this summer – give me a Championship stage upon which to shine and re-ignite my hopes of becoming a Premiership star.

In the modern reality, whether or not both do that on the back of a successful promotion campaign with a Birmingham or a Norwich will not bother their money men; their 'Mr 15 Per Cent'.

Lupoli bags ten goals by Christmas and interest will be sparked anew; just as if Quincy turns out to be Kevin Phillips' No1 supply line.

“I got an offer from Spartak and spoke to my agent and just thought 'Why not?' said the new Blues star, as he made his move out of North London.

“For me I thought maybe I should go away for a while, do well and play Champions League and keep working. Then I felt if I did that, I could get back to England or somewhere else.”

Blues will arrive at Carrow Road having made their best start to a new season in 11 years – with little or no sign of the Premiership relegation 'hangover' that cursed the Canaries. Phillips' arrival from neighbours West Bromwich Albion has clearly eased any goal-scoring fears.

Birmingham can extend their perfect start to the season at St Mary's tonight where they face Southampton in their second round Carling Cup tie.

Quincy and Co will again be favourites to win – as they are to take the Championship title come next May. Such early expectations can bring their own pressures – hence the 22-year-old's desire to dampen such high hopes ahead of the trip to Norfolk this weekend.

“I wouldn't say that we're favourites already. There's a long way to go, a lot of games left. We are looking strong now, but we have to stay strong up there also, in the head,” he said.

“Mentally you have to be strong, that's the key to it.”


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