Quincy learns lessons the hard way

14 April 2012

Quincy Owusu-Abeyie sat in his Amsterdam home two years ago contemplating life among the unemployed. The Dutch-born son of Ghanaian parents was just 16 when he was released by Ajax, and his file after nine years at the club might well have read, "Talented - but he's trouble".

Quincy is the first to admit his reputation. "I had problems with the coaches at Ajax - and it was my fault, not theirs," he said.

"It was me, I was the problem. The coaches would say something to me and I always had to say something back. I couldn't blame Ajax for letting me go. And my experience there made me grow up. I realised I couldn't be the same person I was at Ajax."

Clubs in Holland were reluctant to offer him a way back into the game and he knew he would have to look abroad. A trial with Arsenal was arranged by his advisors and, to his surprise, they took him on. "To be given a second chance, that was great," said Quincy. "But to get it at Arsenal, the English club I supported as a kid, well I didn't believe it. What a second chance to get."

One person not surprised by Quincy's success is head of youth development Liam Brady.

He liked the sound of Quincy having "talent". If that was proven, he felt, the club could work on everything else. The skill was indeed evident and it was then that Quincy was told what was expected of Arsenal players.

The advice he ignored at Ajax he opted to take at Highbury.

And he showed just how well he has absorbed the information when he impressed in an intense and highly physical FA Cup fifth-round replay against Sheffield United this week.

He came on as substitute for 17-year-old Italian Arturo Lupoli and proceeded to leave the Yorkshire club's defenders chasing shadows.

"He was outstanding," said manager Arsene Wenger of the 18-year-old striker.

"I used to be too elaborate when I had the ball and I am more direct now," said Quincy, who at times last season looked like he was auditioning for a part in Riverdance with his fancy footwork.

"I still do the step-overs but when they count," he said. "Whatever the coach tells you, you must do it."

His preferred role is wide up front on the left from where he can cut inside and make full use of his natural right-footed strengths. If that is reminiscent of Thierry Henry, it is no coincidence.

"I knew about Titi [Henry] even before I came to Arsenal," he said. "My father always called me in to watch him when he was on television playing for Monaco. He said he was a great young player - and he was right. And when I stayed with a friend in London, who lived out by Heathrow, he was always saying I played like him."

On the streets of Amsterdam, in his formative years, Quincy's role model was Patrick Kluivert, now with Newcastle, and Arsenal can only benefit from an amalgam of those two tremendous talents.

It might be assumed that a headstrong youngster dumped by the club he supported would have been left bitter and twisted by his fate. But Quincy still feels grateful.

"What happened there was down to me and I can't turn my back on them and say they are a bad club," he said. "I was there nine years and it was Ajax who started me off with ball skills and technique."

On the evidence of Tuesday night, Quincy must have listened at least some of the time to his Ajax mentors.

Quincy learns lessons the hard way

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