I was at Fulham away when he was treated terribly by the away support. I thought it was clear that he had ability and just needed time, but the cretins at the Cottage that day really had it in for him.
The most improved player ever at the Arsenal was one Thierry Henry BTW. People often forget how poor he looked when he first arrived and how many people were still convinced that his finishing would never be good enough to make it as a striker even 2-3 years after we bought him.
Given that he was arguably the best player in Europe for a while there that's a pretty significant improvement AAR.