Ok, I have decided that unless we hear something directly from somebody at Arsenal about Thierry Henry and Barcelona then I’m going to ignore all the speculation in the Spanish papers and the de facto press releases FC Barcelona issue to them to do their business.
Henry has said countless times he won’t be leaving, he even said it at that press conference in China last week which sparked the latest round of stories, and we all know the position that Arsenal are in means that we simply cannot afford to lose a player of his quality. So, unless Thierry comes out and says “I’m leaving, cheerio” that’s it as far as I’m concerned.
Now, last night I got a piece of transfer news which I saw late last night on ANR (who really need to do something about their hosting as the site is down again. Perhaps moving off a solid fuel platform might help, lads) The player linked is Florent Malouda and although he’s been touted as a Liverpool signing it appears we’re the club that’s in for him. All I can say is the news came to me from somebody in a good position to know these kind of things but as we all know there’s margin for error in terms of transfer rumours. I’m not sure Malouda would have been high on my shopping list but let’s just wait and see what happens. Didier Drogba wouldn’t mind if he joined Chelsea.
Regarding the white kit and the speculation that the picture released yesterday might have been photoshopped: Well, I can tell you that the kit is 100% the real deal. That’s as much as I can say about it. Nike’s fucking pathetic attempts to garner credibility for it with this Herbert Chapman campaign are insulting though. The majority of fans made it quite clear that they did not want a white away kit but as always what the fans want is a mere aside to some marketing man’s (or woman’s) latest great idea. Vote with your wallets, folks. Just don’t buy it.
Arsenal will be without Gilberto Silva for the start of the season as he’ll be away on Copa America duty with Brazil. He’s been selected as captain of the team which is a real honour for him and he deserves it.
Cesc could start tonight for Spain against Lichtenstein. Regarding his comments yesterday about how he might leave if Arsene Wenger left next summer, I wouldn’t be too worried. The fact is that Wenger is the only manager he’s known in his professional career, he’s somebody who has put a lot of trust in him and given his career a kick start he probably thought he’d never get at such an early age so it’s natural that he’s loyal to the man. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about Arsenal and for all the paper talk of exodus how often does it happen that a huge number of players leave if a manager gets sacked or decides to move elsewhere? Not very often.
Anyway, that’s the lot.
