Ok, the dust is beginning to settle a little bit and we’re beginning to get a clearer picture of what life without Thierry Henry will look like.
Yesterday Thierry gave an interview to Arsenal.com about why he left the club and it’s a strange read, I have to say. While I have no doubt his affection for the club and the fans is absolutely genuine the evasiveness and way he doesn’t answer some questions leads to me think he’s got a career in politics ahead of him. The most difficult parts to read are his alleged reasons for leaving and basically it all boils down to David “Mr” Dein, if you believe that.
Thierry claims he told Arsene he was going to stay but then when “Mr” Dein left he had to reconsider his position. Come on, who ever heard of a player leaving a football club because their favourite director was leaving? My take is that Thierry wanted to leave for his own reasons and this became a convenient way of doing it. Like Frank McLintock I think he probably should have been more honest about it and I think that people would have appreciated that a lot more. As I said yesterday even if “Mr” Dein’s departure had an influence it’s very sad but I think he just fancied a new challenge and Barcelona was too tempting to turn down this time. I think he’d have gone even if “Mr” Dein was still at the club.
The Mail reports that Arsene Wenger let him go because he felt he was holding back some of the young players an had become an intimidating presence in the dressing room. There’s no question he’s got a big personality and as others have pointed out in the past he had senior men like Keown, Adams and Vieira to keep him in check a bit. Without them perhaps he got a bit too forceful. There is probably a hint of truth in this particular story but I don’t think that’s the main reason he’s been let go.
There are various reports this morning suggesting that Nicolas Anelka is being lined up as the successor to Henry. In purely footballing terms he’d be a good addition to the squad and whatever reservations people have about him coming back to the club will have to be put to one side. One rumour suggests that Anelka was at the club this week to begin negotiations. We’ll wait and see. It’s also suggested that a board meeting this week could discuss and decide the future of Arsene Wenger. We’ll wait and see on that one too.
We certainly can’t lose sight of the fact that we need more to add to the squad than a striker though and we have to remember we need to ‘add’ to the squad, not just replace those who have left. With the Henry money, the Reyes money, whatever little bit of money they can find down the back of the sofa, plus the moneys received from the sales of Muamba, Larsson, Stokes and Aliadiere (and possibly Flamini) the manager has got the resources to make himself busy in the market in the next couple of weeks.
In Spain AS have linked us with Fernando Torres but his club are said to be frustrated by the fact he doesn’t actually want to leave. I have to say the one thing that has affected me most about this is the fact that Thierry gets to live in a fantastic town like Barcelona and as I sit here looking out my window at the grey skies I have to say I do miss the summer there and the buzz that this would be causing amongst my old football mates. They would be taking the piss out of me and I would be calling them cunts. Heady days, my friends, heady days.
And while most Arsenal websites have rightly measured the impact of Henry’s departure, one in particular celebrated it. Perhaps unable to forgive Thierry for making him so, so wrong all those years ago.
Steve Stammers, a journalist with a good record of Arsenal stuff, talks in the Sunday Mirror about TH’s departure.
In other news Stewart Robson thinks Adebayor can be the new Drogba and that Jermaine Defoe might be a good replacement for Thierry Henry. There’s no way Adebayor can mutate into a hideous fucking beast like Drogba and Defoe is, you know, a bit shit. I’ll have some of whatever he’s smoking. It’s probably just bits of old tire though.
The Sunday Mirror links us with Italian U21 star Alberto Aquilani. He plays for Roma. I don’t know any more about him than that.
And that’s it really. The debate goes on and on and will continue to do so. In the meantime I’m going to have me some breakfast and get the Sunday papers. Have a good one.
