may 14th
08.59 – Let’s start today with the news that Patrick Vieira wants to stay with Arsenal. Erm…heard that one before actually. But in a fairly lengthy piece in The Sun, he talks about his and Arsenal’s future. He’s laid the gauntlet down to the club a bit though, challenging them to demonstrate their ambition.
“I know I’m in a good position with only a year left but the club want me to stay and I want to stay so that is a good start. If the boss says we will fight to be at the top, of course I will be with him. I trust him because he has been great for my career. If he believes in the future, that is good enough for me. If I agree with the boss then I will sign for two, three, four or I don’t know how many years. In my mind there is no thought of going anywhere else.”
And he has put paid to talk that Arsenal’s French players have been urging AW to sign specific players, in particular Valencia striker John Carew. “..as captain, I can talk about so many things about the team. But I would never tell him who to sign. Everyone should know his place.” Thank God for that, Carew is un burro.
Bob Wilson reckons David Seaman should not retire and keep playing. Which gives me a chance to use this picture again. I know he’s been a great servant to the club, but there comes a time when we have to look to the future. As well as that, 40 is just too old to play top level football in my opinion, no matter how good a player you are.
Dennis Bergkamp has made it clear he wants to stay for another year at Highbury. “I am confident that I want to stay. I still haven’t found any reason to retire. I still feel great physically and mentally. I always said that Arsenal would be my finishing point and I still can’t see a reason why that cannot happen.” I guess it all depends on the finances, but a player like Dennis has got to be worth keeping around, even if his role in the first team might be more peripheral next season.
Gordon Strachan reckons winning the FA Cup would mean more to the likes of Chris Marsden and Brett Ormerod than it would to the Arsenal players. “The top players will still treat it like a trophy to be won – that’s why they are top players. But there will be much more excitement for your Marsdens and Ormerods than the guys who have won World Cup medals.” Not sure if that’s true to be honest. The Arsenal players, World Cup winners or not, will be determined to finish the season with some silverware after the disappointment of the league season.
Remember if you have any transfer rumours, or find anything on the web, hear something on the radio etc, you can add to the growing list over on the transfer rumours forum (registration required). So far, names we’re linked with include Carew, Harry Kewell, Jermaine Defoe, William Gallas, Thomas Sorenson, Rustu and Zinedine Zidane. Oh wait, the last one might not be 100% accurate. We should have quite a list by the end of the summer.
Here’s one for you though, a friend of a friend sort of a thing from here in Spain reckons Barcelona want Kanu. Being pretty poor, they can’t go splashing the cash in the trasnfer market this summer and realising Arsenal would take £150 and his wages off the wage bill, Raddy Antic is set to make an offer. So there you go, it’s off to the Kanu Camp for the big Nigerian.
