The season of 1997-98 is the one where English football followers, and specifically Arsenal fans, got to know just who Christopher Wreh was. In all fairness, Wreh will mainly be remembered as one of the Arsenal manager’s, Arsene Wenger, less than successful youth signings.

However, it was in this season that Wreh showed glimpses that he could prove his worth with the north London club. Due to the fact that crucial players, specifically Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp, were both unavailable it meant that Wreh took on the responsibility of trying to score the goals in the duos absence. He scored some crucial winners in the Premiership, which went a long way towards Arsenal winning the league that season, and also scored the winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Wolves. He then went on to collect a winners medal in the final against Newcastle that season.

After this season had finished, Wreh, who was 23 at the time, would have thought to that he can firmly establish himself as an Arsenal player. It was not to be for the Liberian born player. He could not sustain the pressure, if anything, of playing for a big club. The season of 1999/00 saw the arrivals of Thierry Henry and Davor Suker to Arsenal, so Wreh ended up playing fewer and fewer games. As you can imagine, the ‘L’ word came in to play at this point. Wreh, as predicted, was indeed sent out on loan. He went on quite a journey because he had brief loan spells at Birmingham City, AEK Athens and Den Bosch. At most of these clubs it was his fitness problems that meant he rarely got a game.

It seemed like Wreh’s career post-Arsenal was going to create a unique piece of history. At the time it seemed like he was going to be the first ever freelance footballer. Due to his lack of games at the clubs mentioned above, more worldwide destinations were being lined up for Wreh. These were Darlington, Brann Bergen, Beijing and Luton. He did not actually end up collecting a lot of air miles because these moves never materialised. This was mainly due to his excessive wage demands or his weight.

Half of Christopher Wreh’s recognition as a footballer during his time at Arsenal came from the fact that he is cousins with the AC Milan star George Weah. It was Weah who had first persuaded Arsene Wenger to take Wreh on at Monaco- the club where both were involved in before being re-united at Arsenal.

Whilst he was playing professionally Wreh was continually tagged with being unfit and a player with weight problems. He must have enjoyed the different cuisines too much at the numerous cities he played in. Wreh’s career ended in 2005 and now he is concentrating on a musical project, called Soul Rebels.