With all the in-depth preparations underway for Saturday’s game against Barnet it appears to have gone fairly quiet in terms of news. Most of what’s out there centres around Freddie Ljungberg.
The Independent reports that his wages are proving a stumbling block to his move to Fiorentina. £70,000 a week is a bit rich for their tastes although they are, apparently, trying to negotiate sponsorship deals to make the deal more attractive to Freddie. However, The Sun reports that Manchester City held talks with Freddie and his agent on Tuesday night and a £6m move could be on the cards. There’s the added attraction of playing for fellow Swede Sven, if that kind of thing makes any difference to him.
Marca’s front cover today suggests that Arsene Wenger will take Cesc to Barcelona when he becomes the new manager at the Camp Nou in 2008. But it doesn’t stop there. Wenger, being a man too clever to close any door fully, will also listen to whatever offers Real Madrid will make in retaliation. It’s funny, isn’t it? Arsenal fans haven’t heard a peep from Arsene Wenger for the last few weeks, bar the usual guff about welcoming new players, but Marca have an inside track in which they know exactly what he’s going to do a year from now.
Marca also reports that after meetings between Reyes, his agent and Arsenal, that we’ve agreed to sell him to Madrid for €10m. Given the fact Madrid just spunked €30m on a centre-half yesterday I think we should twist their arm a bit more. I mean twist it in that way bullies twist your arm and make you say things like “I love Leeds United” and you say it because you think your arm is about to break and then you develop a hatred of all things Leeds and watching them nearly go out of existence is hilarious and makes you think ‘Serves you right for twisting my arm, you cunt’.
Spare a thought for poor Gilberto. He’s charging around Venezuela as Brazil captain but he’ll miss the final of the Copa America against Argentina on Sunday due to suspension. Bummer.
Talk of Bakary Sagna’s arrival has led to rumours of Justin Hoyte being a target for Reading.
Not much else happening. Hopefully we’ll get an idea of what kind of squad will face Barnet and possibly a few words from Arsene. Until tomorrow.
