Bristol City: "£50,000 punt" Arnold Garita ready to stake claim and impress Robins boss Lee Johnson please log in to view this image Arnold Garita is yet to play a first team game for Bristol City BRISTOL City's Arnold Garita is fighting fit and itching to prove himself after making a full recovery from injury. Signed for £50,000 from French third tier club LB Chateauroux in January, the 20-year-old Cameroon-born striker has scarcely kicked a ball for City's Under-21 development side after going down with a knee injury. He underwent an operation in February and is only now back in training and able to impress new head coach Lee Johnson. Described at the time as "a £50,000 punt" by Steve Cotterill, the man who signed him, Garita was recruited to play in City's development squad. Johnson has seen the burly forward twice in training and admits it is still far too early to make an accurate assessment of his strengths and weaknesses. Johnson confirmed: "Arnie is back on the training ground and working with the rest of the players. He has only done a couple of sessions so far and I've hardly had a chance to look at him properly. "Judging by what I've seen so far, he will probably need a full pre-season with us before he is up to speed. Only then, will we be able to assess him. "He is a raw talent, but he is young, hungry and eager to learn. Now he is fit again, we can take a proper look at him over a period of time." http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristo...Garita-ready/story-29020714-detail/story.html
If it works out then it will be a good punt. Mahrez, Vardy, Kante and Payet Al paid off to name but a few
You can only ever judge retrospectively. If he leaves us having barely played at all, there'll be cries of 'well that was a waste of time; that's why you go for proven quality', but if any other player, similarly signed from obscurity, becomes a success, the same people say: 'How come we can't scout players like that?' Hopefully we can continue our good form and secure our safety with a few games to go so that we have the opportunity to give him some minutes, without it having any negative impact.
I remember seeing him warm up on the side of the pitch at West Brom. He looked totally knackered after a couple of sprints. He needs a pre season before we can judge whether it was 50k well spent or a waste of money.
BIG, strong and quick - if he can play at all, it's the steal of the century... Power and pace up front, when was the last time we had that (Scotty and Leroy..?)...
