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Christopher Wreh

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Christopher Wreh
Personal information
Full name Christopher Wreh[1]
Date of birth (1975-05-14) 14 May 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Monrovia, Liberia
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1997 Monaco 13 (3)
1996–1997 → Guingamp (loan) 33 (10)
1997–2000 Arsenal 28 (3)
1999 → AEK Athens (loan) 11 (4)
1999 → Birmingham City (loan) 7 (1)
2000 → Den Bosch (loan) 7 (2)
2000–2001 Al-Hilal
2001 A.F.C. Bournemouth 0 (0)
2001–2002 St Mirren 3 (0)
2003 Persepolis 0 (0)
2003–2004 Bishop's Stortford
2004 Buckingham Town
2007–2010 Perseman Manokwari
International career
1995–2002 Liberia 36 (11)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Christopher Wreh (born 14 May 1975 in Monrovia)[3] is a retired Liberian international footballer. He was a member of the Arsenal side which won the Premier League and FA Cup double in 1997–98.

He won 36 caps for Liberia, scoring 11 goals, and was in their squad for the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations.

Career

A cousin of former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah, Wreh first played for Liberian clubs Young Kotoko, La Modelle International and Invincible Eleven, before being snapped up by French side AS Monaco as a youth in 1989. A centre forward, Wreh was mainly on the fringes of the Monaco side, and spent a period on loan at Guingamp, where he played in the 1997 Coupe de France final (which Guingamp lost on penalties). In the meantime, Wreh had made his debut for Liberia in 1995, and would go on to win 36 caps for his country, scoring 11 goals.

Wreh signed for Arsenal in the summer of 1997 for £300,000,[4] linking up with his former boss at Monaco, Arsène Wenger. Although fourth choice behind Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp and Nicolas Anelka, Wreh still played an important part in the Gunners' Double-winning season of 1997–98, scoring in vital 1–0 Premier League wins against Wimbledon and Bolton Wanderers, and scoring the only goal of the Gunners' FA Cup semi-final win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wreh went on to start in the 1998 FA Cup Final, and although he did not score, Arsenal beat Newcastle United 2–0.

Despite scoring in the 1998 FA Charity Shield against Manchester United, Wreh could not sustain his previous form and he played fewer and fewer games and that proved to be his final goal for the club; after the arrival of Thierry Henry and Davor Šuker at the club in 1999 he was squeezed out altogether. He had brief loan spells with Birmingham City (where he scored once against Grimsby),[5] AEK Athens and Den Bosch, but none of these were made permanent. He left Arsenal in 2000, having scored 5 times in 46 matches (most of them as substitute).

Wreh's career never reached the same heights as it had at Arsenal, as he became somewhat of a journeyman footballer. He initially signed for Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal, then returned to the UK in 2001 with brief stints at Bournemouth and St Mirren, but fitness problems meant he rarely got a game. After trying his luck at Bishop's Stortford, he played for United Counties League side Buckingham Town.

In 2007, he returned to football, signing for Perseman Manokwari of the Indonesian Football League.[6]

Honours

References

  1. ^ "Christopher Wreh". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Christopher Wreh". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  3. ^ "La fiche de Christopher Wreh". Ligue de Football Professionnel. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  4. ^ Williamson, Laura (9 February 2009). "You can't put a price on silver – Spurs have spent £150million more than their bitter rivals Arsenal but it's the Gunners that have won the big pots". Daily Mail. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  5. ^ "Grimsby 1 Birmingham 1". Sporting Life. 23 October 1999. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  6. ^ Horatio Bobby Willie (14 August 2007). "Liberian players flying high in Indonesia". Liberian Soccer. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
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