Arturo Lupoli was hailed as the Gunners ‘next big thing’ in the middle of the last decade- but never made it at Arsenal. Where is he now?
“Lupoli is scoring plenty of goals again for the reserves this season and he will score goals in any country, in any division, on any training ground – he is a proper goalscorer.” – Thierry Henry.
Sadly this prediction and vote of faith, made by the Frenchman in 2005 proved to be of false hope, for the young striker’s career has gone downwards quicker than Ashley Young after being clipped by a defender.
Lupoli signed a professional contract with Arsenal in 2004 from Parma, at the same time his compatriot Giuseppe Rossi headed north for Manchester United.
Rossi has gone onto forge a successful career- although currently severely hampered by injuries, but Lupoli may already have missed his chance at the big time.
He soon got supporters pulses racing after arriving at Arsenal, and as we have shown, Thierry Henry’s too, through his terrific strike rate for Arsenal’s reserves. In his opening season he played alongside a young Dane called Nicolas Bendtner. He bagged a superb 27 goals in 32 games, leading supporters to wonder if he would be fast-tracked through to the first team.
His style of play was described as like a ‘fox in the box’ – everything £10 million failure Francis Jeffers was supposed to be, with supporters seeing him a a cut-price route to success, to follow in the footsteps of a young Spaniard who had progressed from their academy called Cesc Fabregas.
It never really worked out for Lupoli, with him now playing for Italian Serie B minnows Grosseto- who sit 15th in Italy’s second tier.
It was a long-winding road for the Italian to get to where he is now, and he has never truly settled at any club, nor does it seem like he wants to stay where he is for much longer.
By 2006 he had only made one Carling Cup appearance, so Wenger decided to send him out on loan to Derby County. The Championship would be a division Lupoli would get to know well, for it would become his first of three loan spells in the division.
In 35 appearances he scored just seven times for Derby, finding the step up to competitive football a tough one, failing to show that he was ready for the fast-track into Arsenal’s first team as many had hoped.
Realising that English football would be tougher to crack than he had hoped, Lupoli was tempted into signing for Italian side Fiorentina on a Bosman in 2007, who by that time had re-emerged from financial meltdown and risen back up to Serie A.
After perhaps failing to settle to the English lifestyle, and showing no signs of cracking Arsenal’s first team, the temptation to move back home to his native Italy must have been difficult to resist.
Soon he found out the grass was not greener on the other side, he never played a single game for the Viola, loaned out immediately to Serie B side Treviso.
One goal and 17 matches later, he was back on the plane to England, perhaps realising his mistake, going for the promise of ‘regular football’ at Norwich City.
Again this really failed to materialise, he scored just four goals during his season with the Canaries, and in 2009 found himself at Sheffield United, netting twice in 11 games. Again neither club could be swayed enough to take a punt on signing him permanently, and his hopes of making it at the elite level were fast fading.
Would he even make it at all? Fiorentina agreed to sell him to lower league side Ascoli months later, again a spell which was relatively fruitless for the Italian. This led him to his current employers Grosetto, minnows who were in Italian Serie C1 when Lupoli signed his first professional contract with Arsenal.
His failure to make it was a disappointment for all concerned with Arsenal, who were so impressed with his early promise, when he had looked like a sure thing. His story shows there are no such guarantees, joining the long list of promising youngsters in English football who failed to live up to expectations.
As for what’s next for Lupoli? He is only 24, and would hope to have a decade left in the game in which to attempt a comeback at the top level.
It will be tough for him, and he could be hopping back to these shores soon to try his luck once again. He said in an interview as recently as last month that he would be open to moving back, describing his time here as ‘the best seasons of his career.’
As for a return to Arsenal? He best hope his next English club get a fortuitous draw in the cup.
Why did Lupoli never make it in England- did you predict he would be a future star?
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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