august 23rd
10.53 – Before Vieira and Pires signed on the dotted line, Arsene Wenger spoke about the problems of players in the final year of their contracts. I’ve tried to find a link but haven’t managed it. Paraphrasing the man, he said that players with a year to go find it hard to focus, there are clubs on the phone to them and their agents from September, in January they are trying to decide who to sign for and in the final months of their existing contract, all they’re thinking of is the new club and the move ahead.
So, what to do with Sylvain Wiltord who seems reluctant to sign the deal that Arsenal have offered? He wants 4 years, Arsenal have offered 3. He wants X amount per week, Arsenal have offered Y. Much as I like Wiltord – I think he’s an important player whose contribution is overlooked by too many – I think Arsenal need to get a definitive answer from him. If he’s not going to sign, we’ve got to try and sell him. Not just because of what AW said about players in this situation, but because we spent £13m on him and now he’s going to walk away for nothing.
I suppose the big problem is that apart from Chelsea, nobody else seems to be buying. Still, I think if clubs across Europe were made aware of his availability at £4m or thereabouts, there’d be somebody interested. Arsenal just can’t afford to let him go for free, but Wiltord is the kind of player who will happily see out his contract and then toddle off to pick up a big singing on fee elsewhere. The other thing is that if something is going to happen, it has to happen within the next week or so (although I’m unsure of the transfer deadlines across Europe, maybe there’s more time) – because the deadline for the Champions League is Sept 1st. If we sell him in January it’ll be for chump change. It’s now or never. A tough one for AW.
Dennis Bergkamp says this will definitely be his last year. “This season will be my last. I want to make this the best season that I have ever had because I will never have another chance. So I have got to take it.”
Thierry Henry is a gift from God, according to ex-Gunner Emmanuel Petit. “Last season Thierry was exceptional in every way and, in my opinion, he kept Arsenal afloat. If you look back, he was the determining player in most of their crucial results.” Some good stuff from AW in that article as well.
“My team-mate Jermaine Pennant has gone off on loan to Leeds and I thought that may be a good option for myself. But I spoke with both Arsene Wenger and Pat Rice last week and they told me they didn’t want me to go on loan because they needed me here” – David Bentley speaking on his icons.com site (registration required).
Despite the prospect of losing Sol Campbell for a number of games, Arsene Wenger says he won’t be buying a defender. “I still think that the players we have, which include Toure, Sol Campbell, Martin Keown, Pascal Cygan, Philippe Senderos, together with one or two other young players like John Halls, can give us cover. At the moment, we look defensively stable.”
Hmmmm. I’d feel better with an established centre-half added to the ranks, but I’m quietly confident in Kolo and if Senderos can make progress towards the first team then we should be ok. I haven’t been able to find out if Sol will be fit for tomorrow’s game or not, fingers crossed though.
Ok, have a good one. Till tomorrow.
