February 8th
Well, it may not be yesterday’s Sun exclusive but we got Arsene Wenger’s thoughts on Thierry Henry by lunchtime as I thought. The manager is confident in him staying, saying “I think he will stay. This is my opinion, what I truly believe deep inside. Rebuilding a team, going as far as possible and winning the Champions League with this club will have more meaning (for Henry) than with any other side. He will have achieved his sporting aims and marked Arsenal’s history like no other player ever has.”
There’s no doubt the manager and the player have talked, AW knows Henry’s ambitions and what it’s going to take to help him achieve them. We have a fantastic group of young players who have enormous potential but need experience to help them reach the highest level. We’ve seen more than one senior player shirk that responsibility this season and I wouldn’t be surprised if summer transfer targets have already been discussed. It’s not the money – he hardly needs his wages on top of the £9m boot deal he signed with Nike a couple of years ago. Arsenal will pay him handsomely, or more handsomely than they’re already doing. It’s all about the football and if the manager convinces him he can win what he wants to win at Arsenal then he’ll stay. I’m sure it takes a bit more convincing than this time last year but that’s AW’s job. If a deal is close I wonder how important the timing of any announcement might be?
Abou Diaby has played down talk of him being the new Vieira, saying “He played nine years at Arsenal and is a legend here. As for me, I still have lots to prove. Patrick is the example to follow, but I have proved nothing yet.”
Doesn’t he know that all our problems this year are solely down to the fact we sold Vieira and that unless we get a new Vieira soon it’s the end of Arsenal Football Club as we know it? The boy needs to take more responsibility. We might as well sell him now if that’s the case.
Theo Walcott scored on his debut for Arsenal reserves but the team went down 3-2 to Portsmouth last night. It was their first defeat in a hundred years and obviously Walcott is a jinx. Sell him and Diaby in a package deal, that’s what I say.
Wenger on Campbell – “We will help Sol to bounce back quickly, to focus and concentrate on the game of football, which is the best cure.”
Tony Cascarino on Campbell – “What Campbell did was professional negligence, for which he should have been fined. Deserting your team-mates during a match should result in you being packed off to the reserves, not given a holiday. To be blunt, a man who finishes work at 2pm every day has plenty of opportunity to sort out his problems on his own time.”
The Mirror is reporting that Alexander Hleb met with Hamburg director Michael Schroeder to engineer a move back to the Bundesliga after failing to impress at Arsenal since his summer move. I’m not sure too many people would really care if he left but if he is actively trying to get away he could at least wait until the summer which is the Arsenal tradition as set down by our former captain.
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Right, work. HURRAH!
