Wenger watches Mputu's trial as young gun scores in the friendly

By Aries

As first reported on this site Tresor Mputu’s club,TP Mazembe, have been invited by Arsene Wenger himself to London for a series of friendlies, including Arsenal.

Mputu has already finished a ten day trial period at London Colney last November but as yet there are no official news. This is after Wenger himself stated that he was impressed with the player and the player’s agent predicting that the deal was as good as done!

This new “trial” was intended to give Arsene Wenger one last opportunity to have another close look at Tresor Mputu in action against strong opposition in as real a match situation as possible.

The friendly game took place yesterday in a climate characterised by bitter winter cold and very strong winds.


Arsenal fielded a reserve side but this didn’t stop them winning the game by a goal scored in the 53rd minute by Mark Randall with a shot from outside the area. Mazembe’s defence thought that James Dunne was in an offside position but the referee ruled their protests away.

After the match Arsene Wenger acknowledged the job done by the technical staff of Mazembe and the direction the club is taking.

“It is really rare to meet a similar club coming from Africa. I say it because I have many African players. The only thing which is necessary to correct is the vision in the last thirty metres of the pitch”.

And to show how seriously Wenger takes such trials he had even timed certain players during the game!

He said “The players have to be fully committed and not spend half of their time on the pitch walking. I timed certain players, they more walked than they ran”!!!

Tresor Mputu did not have a good trial. He carried a thigh injury with him before he came to London which the medical staff of Mazembe thought had cleared. It flared up again and this affected his performance.


According to the coach of Mazembe, Santos Muntubile, Mputu’s injury and the cold affected the overall performance of his team.

“We were affected by the cold, and then, Treasury Mputu played at only 20 % of his normal capacity, because of his wound in the thigh” he said to radiookapi after the match.

Mputu has a host of other clubs interested in his signature, including Standard Liege of Belgium and that is where Mazembe and Mputu are headed after their series of friendlies in London.