What does Arsene Wenger see in Julio Baptista? I think I echo the surprise of every Gunners fan when Arsene Wenger let Patrick Vieira go in the summer of 2005. At the time, he indicated that he would use all of the Vieira proceeds plus a few quid more to bid for 'The Beast' Baptista.

Initially, the bid failed, with Julio preferring to remain in Spain, ostensibly in order to qualify for a European passport. Nonetheless, Arsene continued to chase the player with the Beast eventually arriving at Arsenal courtesy of a swap with Jose Antonio Reyes. Wenger sold Baptista to the fans as a powerful and versatile footballer who can operate both in midfield and as a striker. Not forgetting that early on in his career, at Sao Paulo, he was actually a defensive midfielder in the same vein as Gilberto.

The truth is, Baptista has not been a good buy. Carling Cup games aside, he has only played a handful of games and has been a non-event in most of his appearances. Which really begs the question – what did Arsene see in the Beast? Was he really intended to be a direct replacement for Vieira? Was the £13m Wenger paid money well spent, or was it a waste in the Franny Jeffers mould?

On paper, the Beast is the kind of player Arsenal has been lacking since Thierry Henry made that infamous “fox in the box” comment. Baptista is tough, direct, intimidating and as was proven at Sevilla and Real Madrid, he can score ugly goal-poaching goals. Against Reading at the Emirates Stadium, his run and goal showed everything that made him such a big appeal to Wenger and sold us as fans on his abilities.

Baptista has been discovered to be very slow both on his feet and in his reading of the game. He also lacks that killer first touch or that killer pass. He has shown on several occasions that despite his size and presence, he cannot effectively dominate the opposition penalty box the way the more lightweight Peter Crouch or James Beattie can. Neither can he effectively head the ball – both in an attacking sense to score goals and in a supporting sense to instigate attacks.

In effect, certain fan forums have even commented that he has little to offer to an Arsenal side dependent on speed, movement, passing and guile. Baptista, it is commented, has none of those qualities. For a Brazilian, he is nowhere close to the archetypal South American forward football fans have come to expect. Yet, let’s not forget he is an international. And for a player with 18 caps to his name and close to 50 goals in La Liga, he has been an extreme disappointment to the extent that many would like to see Baptista banished and Reyes recalled.

To be fair, Wenger hasn’t played Baptista enough to really judge him. Every player requires at least a season to settle down and make his mark. Even Henry’s first season was a non-event as far as the Arsenal faithful bred on Ian Wright were concerned.

The problem is that since the departure of Vieira, Wenger has needed all his players to step up - especially his senior players, among whom Baptista, with 18 international caps, must rank. The season has already questioned the capabilities of Jens Lehman and Aleksandr Hleb, while Tomas Rosicky and Cesc Fabregas haven’t contributed enough goals from midfield. And with an Arsenal attack seemingly toothless in the face of a crippling injury list, Baptista has to deliver on his potential if he is to stand any chance of being welcomed into the Arsenal ranks. In this respect stands the reason why so many Gooners want to see the back of him.

Personally, I am not one of them. Or maybe I should say that I personally am not happy to see Arsenal jettison a player who has the potential to play the kind of ugly football the team occasionally needs.

I maintain that despite the stubborn adherence of Wenger to play pretty football with wide men forever cutting inside, Arsenal need a Plan B built around not hesitating to play the long balls, or the up-and-unders and using wingers to spread the play wide and cross from the touchline. Wenger needs a forward of Baptista’s size and quality to attack crosses and high balls to cause havoc in and around the box with attacking midfielders like Cesc snapping up good second balls. To be certain, opponents fear Baptista’s size and presence. You can see it in the way they close him down immediately when he tries to attack the occasional high balls or crosses.

But half the reason why Baptista has not been effective is that Arsenal players do not believe in crossing high to the far post. Almost all of them prefer to pass on the ground or hit low crosses in. Furthermore, as in the case of Emmanuel Adebayor when he plays up front, the lone striker is isolated with the Arsenal midfield preferring to remain a safe distance away from the opposing goal – probably hoping to pick up the second ball and then find room to pass again rather than take a shot.

But for now, with Arsene dead set on playing a team that depends on the speed and guile of Henry and the passing of Fabregas, Baptista will probably be banished back to the Bernabeu.

What are your views on the Beast? Send them to Sportingo.