Even the most avid Arsenal fans have to lose their minds when asked about Thomas Eisfeld’s time at the club.
The midfielder’s arrival at the Emirates Stadium from Borussia Dortmund on the last day of the January 2012 transfer window went slightly under the radar, but it is to be expected with the eyes of the world really focused on Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll’s respective bumper movements.
Thomas Eisfeld spent over two years with Arsenal | Jamie McDonald / Getty Images
Eisfeld has described the whirlwind one day he joined the club he had always dreamed of playing for, adding that he could not really believe Arsenal wanted to sign him.
“The deal was pretty last minute,” he told the Mirror. “I was on a plane over, the medicine was then sitting in Arsene’s office.
“Obviously, as a young player, it is very, very exciting to meet someone of Arsene Wenger’s caliber. Especially because I then played for Dortmund during the 19 years. I had not had much to do with the first team yet, I had trained with them only two or three times. “
But in more than two years at the club, Eisfeld failed to make a single Premier League appearance for the Gunners.
However, he produced an eye-catching display in a League Cup victory over West Brom in 2013, made the opening and looked lively all the time, and the performance led to Wenger paying him a compliment that has stuck in his mind ever since.
Thomas Eisfeld moved from Arsenal to Fulham in 2014 | Harry Engels / Getty Images
“I read at the time that Arsene Wenger had compared me to [Robert] Pires after the match “, he added. “It was obviously very, very special, but I’m really not one who reads too much in the media about games or performances.
“I have always known that football is a very forgetful environment – one day you are the hero and the next time you can be the villain, so I tried to stay away from it. But I remember the Pires thing very much because it came from Arsene Wenger, who for me is such an important person in football. “
Although Wenger praised the child’s performance in the League Cup, Eisfeld was unable to cement his place in the first team line-up and eventually move to Fulham.
“We had Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey when Mesut Ozil joined as well, and they had all proven that they could perform at a high level,” he said.
“I had a very good conversation with the guys at Fulham, including Felix Magath who was the manager at the time, and got the feeling that I would play there much more regularly. In hindsight, the move to Fulham may not have been the best.”
Thomas Eisfeld left Arsenal after failing to cement his place in the first team | Jamie McDonald / Getty Images
During Eisfeld’s incantation with Arsenal, he shared a locker room with now Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.
He believes that the Spaniard has always shown the qualities needed to become top manager and that Arteta will turn things around at the club if he has the time.
“From my point of view, it was always clear in the locker room that Arteta had the ability to move on and either become a manager,” he said. “He is an intelligent individual, extremely committed. He was always one of the earliest guys in the training field, he would do things extremely diligently and correctly.
“Obviously Arsenal had a lot of change after Arsene Wenger, but I think Arteta has got what it takes if he has had time to bring the club back to the level they belong to.”
