EMMANUEL EBOUE is known around his club as a bit of a joker.
But he is deadly serious when he looks you straight in the eye and announces that if Arsenal can sign two players this summer they will win back the title next season.
It is a bold claim to make, but one that sits perfectly with a remarkably confident young man who is still upbeat after a campaign that for himself and his club could hardly be described as the easiest.
But as the Gunners prepare to face Chelsea in a game that could decide the destination of the title this Sunday at the Emirates, Eboue clearly believes that the balance of power in London is about to swing back to his corner of the city – having been hijacked for the past two years by those wealthy upstarts from SW6. A season of struggle, strife and sometimes painful learning will, he says, pay off next season.
A fit and fully rested Thierry Henry will be back, thirsting for goals. But, Ivory Coast defender Eboue adds, the wow factor will return if manager Arsene Wenger can work his usual transfer-market magic and add a couple of names to the line-up.
The full-back, whose wild, cackling laugh has become a familiar sound around the London Colney training ground, said: “Next season we will win the Premiership because we have worked hard, and I believe that hard work has to pay off.
“Thierry is a big player. He has scored so many goals for Arsenal. If this season he had been fit, it would have gone so much better. He is so important to Arsenal.
“But we need more – maybe two more big players. Then we will win. We can be better than Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. All the young players have come on. We have played and trained together for a good while now, and it is a joy. But now we have to go on and win.”
The devout Christian, who made his name as he won a place last year with Lauren sidelined by injury during the memorable run to a Champions League final, added: “I want to win trophies for Arsenal. This season for me has been disappointing because of injuries. As a team we were too young this year. But we have learned. And we will still have big players around us like Thierry.”
Few would question Eboue’s talent on his performances so far. Certainly his ability as a fast-raiding attacking right-back places him among the best in the top flight.
However, for many, doubts remain.
Sometimes Eboue’s tackles are a trifle rash while the flash of temper which saw him clash with Wayne Bridge in the Carling Cup final and get a three-match ban is something that the player – a portrait of charming amiability off the field – is adamant he will prevent from happening again.
Eboue, like team-mate Toure and Tottenham midfielder Didier Zokora, is a graduate of the Jean-Marc Guillou ASEC Mimosas academy in Abidjan, his country’s capital.
One of 13 brothers and sisters, his announcement that he wanted to concentrate on football instead of school did not go down too well.
Eboue’s grandmother was the main figure in his early life, his dock worker father having died when he was 14 and his mother Kouassi being largely absent from his world until they were reunited recently.
He said: “When I said I wanted to play football, my grandmother said ‘no, you have to go to school, get a job’. But I talked to her for weeks and eventually she agreed. I was at the academy for two years and then Jean-Marc said he wanted me to go to Belgium with Beveren. It was difficult there at first. It was very different, cold and raining all the time. But I enjoyed it. And when the chance came to come here I knew I could not turn it down.”
Typically of Wenger, he threw the youngster in at the deep end in an FA Cup tie against Stoke just days after his £1.5million arrival in January 2005.
Eboue, though, really came through last season, and his progress was rapid until ankle problems dogged him this year. And the odd ban of course.
But Eboue insists he is working on his temper: “I have told the boss that in future I don’t get involved. He warned me and I’m trying. The problem is I hate losing, but I must control it.”
And then comes that big, warm laugh. Nothing fazes Emmanuel. He has come a long way, after all.
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