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Arouna Kone
- Thread starter GrandOldTeam
- Start date
- Status
Eric Djemba-Djemba
Player Valuation: £60m
Always said he's one of the best strikers I've ever seen.
Steve Wigan
Player Valuation: £35m
Yep,fair comment. When his first touch is working well , Rom looks worth his transfer fee.
So hope The form he showed vs Watford continues,
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/14/everton-arouna-kone-interview-injury-cursed
Koné’s 86th-minute leveller against Watford was his first goal for Everton at Goodison. He has only one other, away in defeat at Newcastle United last season, having been beset by injury since his arrival for £5m two years ago. And not just any injury. The 31-year-old makes a gesture akin to a spoon scooping ice-cream as he explains how surgeons in Barcelona removed bone from his knee to enable the joint to move freely again after, as Martínez once succinctly put it, “a chunk of cartilage has come off in his knee”. That was November 2013, when the Ivory Coast international was warned it could be two years before he played regular first-team football again. To incite any reaction from a crowd at this juncture, therefore, is a relief.
“I promised myself during my long recovery period that I would show the fans what I am capable of,” says Koné. “I want to do it for myself too because I have my own goals, but I know I need to impose myself, to do it for the club and to remind the fans I am here. It has been the most testing injury of my career. It never reached the extent that I feared I might not come back from it but obviously there have been times when I had my doubts.
“Saturday was the first time since the injury that everything came together – my skills, my will and my ability. There were times last season when I was coming back from the injury and, just as I thought it was going well, I’d have a setback. I feel it will be different this time. At the moment everything is coming together and I am performing like I used to. I said to Romelu [Lukaku] when Watford went 2-1 up that we have to come back from this and equalise. Then when we equalised I told him we could win it. It was a shame we couldn’t do it but a draw wasn’t a bad result.”
Even without last Saturday’s reception fresh in the mind, it would be hard not to feel sympathy for Koné given how his Everton career has unfolded. His total number of first-team starts has not reached double figures before Saturday’s trip to Southampton. The former PSV Eindhoven forward is an unassuming, humble character who has cut short visits to his parents in Anyama, Ivory Coast, for the past two summers to rehabilitate at a clinic in Belgium at his own request. Last season’s reward was meagre – 16 appearances and more setbacks than goals. This season he and Everton need to see the benefits.
“The injury was to my cartilage and the meniscus,” he explains. “The meniscus was cracked and then it was excised. In hospital they made a trench shape in my knee to protect it. For the first six months afterwards I trained solidly from 10am to 4pm, seven days a week. I had to rebuild the muscle mass that I had lost and I had to address issues with my balance and stability. The third issue was confidence because you become slightly hesitant about using your knee in the same way you would have done previously after the injury. The first six months of the recovery was the hardest time I’ve experienced as a footballer and I’ve spent all of this holiday period preparing for my return.”
...
“I have been the front striker and I have played in the hole behind. In fact, I prefer playing in the hole because that role gives you opportunities to create chances as well as take them. If the front striker isn’t in form you can create space for him, you can take your own chances and bring others into play.”
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/14/everton-arouna-kone-interview-injury-cursed
Koné’s 86th-minute leveller against Watford was his first goal for Everton at Goodison. He has only one other, away in defeat at Newcastle United last season, having been beset by injury since his arrival for £5m two years ago. And not just any injury. The 31-year-old makes a gesture akin to a spoon scooping ice-cream as he explains how surgeons in Barcelona removed bone from his knee to enable the joint to move freely again after, as Martínez once succinctly put it, “a chunk of cartilage has come off in his knee”. That was November 2013, when the Ivory Coast international was warned it could be two years before he played regular first-team football again. To incite any reaction from a crowd at this juncture, therefore, is a relief.
“I promised myself during my long recovery period that I would show the fans what I am capable of,” says Koné. “I want to do it for myself too because I have my own goals, but I know I need to impose myself, to do it for the club and to remind the fans I am here. It has been the most testing injury of my career. It never reached the extent that I feared I might not come back from it but obviously there have been times when I had my doubts.
“Saturday was the first time since the injury that everything came together – my skills, my will and my ability. There were times last season when I was coming back from the injury and, just as I thought it was going well, I’d have a setback. I feel it will be different this time. At the moment everything is coming together and I am performing like I used to. I said to Romelu [Lukaku] when Watford went 2-1 up that we have to come back from this and equalise. Then when we equalised I told him we could win it. It was a shame we couldn’t do it but a draw wasn’t a bad result.”
Even without last Saturday’s reception fresh in the mind, it would be hard not to feel sympathy for Koné given how his Everton career has unfolded. His total number of first-team starts has not reached double figures before Saturday’s trip to Southampton. The former PSV Eindhoven forward is an unassuming, humble character who has cut short visits to his parents in Anyama, Ivory Coast, for the past two summers to rehabilitate at a clinic in Belgium at his own request. Last season’s reward was meagre – 16 appearances and more setbacks than goals. This season he and Everton need to see the benefits.
“The injury was to my cartilage and the meniscus,” he explains. “The meniscus was cracked and then it was excised. In hospital they made a trench shape in my knee to protect it. For the first six months afterwards I trained solidly from 10am to 4pm, seven days a week. I had to rebuild the muscle mass that I had lost and I had to address issues with my balance and stability. The third issue was confidence because you become slightly hesitant about using your knee in the same way you would have done previously after the injury. The first six months of the recovery was the hardest time I’ve experienced as a footballer and I’ve spent all of this holiday period preparing for my return.”
...
“I have been the front striker and I have played in the hole behind. In fact, I prefer playing in the hole because that role gives you opportunities to create chances as well as take them. If the front striker isn’t in form you can create space for him, you can take your own chances and bring others into play.”
He really does seem like a good bloke and a very good professional. I'd love him to come good and get 8-10 goals as our back up in the prem this season and maybe start against the likes of Barnsley in the cup and get a goal or two on a cup run. Let's not forget naismiths first horrible year or so before he started slotting and became a bit of a cult hero.
TheFinnFan
Finners
cmoon golden head! you have a potential to become a cult player.
Hellerad
j'accuse!
Well in Kone. You've been crap, but I suppose you've had excuses. Play with some heart and a little luck and I'll backpedal with the best of us.
Saying all the right things... will be happy to be proved wrong IF he starts scoring regularly.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Leggooo!! Cant wait for game tomorrow ☝☝ ☝☝ <a href="http://t.co/VAxDiGbmTX">pic.twitter.com/VAxDiGbmTX</a></p>— ArounaKone (@OfficielArounaK) <a href="">August 14, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Really hope he has a good game tomorrow. Looks to be enjoying his time at Everton for the first time.
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Really hope he has a good game tomorrow. Looks to be enjoying his time at Everton for the first time.
He's enthusiasticlly retweeting his good luck messages as well. The fans opinion clearly means a lot to him.
4737carlin
Player Valuation: £90m
Playing really well here today is Kone
Eric Djemba-Djemba
Player Valuation: £60m
Player of the season.
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