ArseWEB - number 23 Alberto Mendez-Rodriguez
(wears Mendez on his shirt)German/Spanish midfielder
loaned to AEK Athens 2nd Feb 1999, for rest of season
- Born in Nuremberg of Spanish parents, 24th Oct 1974.
- Signed: Summer 1997 from SC Feucht (German 5th division)
A complete surprise signing (see ANR from the time). - Arsenal debut: as sub - vs Birmingham City in Hokey Cokey Cup, 14h Oct 1997
Here's an interesting piece about Mendez from the Guardian
Mendez finds wobbly display is no bar to Arsenal
By Martin Thorpe. Saturday August 23, 1997
Arsène Wenger's talent for spotting talent has rightly attracted plenty of praise, but perhaps not enough. His £250,000 summer signing of Alberto Mendez from a German fifth division side revealed the far reaches of Wenger's scouting network. But that was only half the story.The Arsenal manager signed the SC Feucht striker despite watching him only once, against the might of ESC Rangierbahnhof Nurnberg, and even though the player was suffering from the effects of alcohol at the time.
Nothing new at Arsenal then. But a surprise for Mendez. "We'd long been guaranteed promotion, so we hadn't trained for a month," he said. "Instead we had already had plenty of unofficial promotion parties. I'd played but I was far from my best.
"The next morning our coach rang to say Arsène wanted to sign me and I told him that he too must still be under the influence. When I went to London for talks I told Arsène three times 'you've watched me just the once, I played badly and you still want to sign me. I just don't understand it'."
But Wenger had complete confidence in his powers of detection. "Alberto was terrible when I went to watch him," he agreed. "But I could still see he had potential. There is something very special about him." We wait to see what it is.
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