Vincenzo Morabito is a name we’ve heard a lot in recent times.
He was the man who Alexander Hleb went to meet for an ice-cream but at no stage discussed a transfer to Inter Milan with. No sir. He’s also the man who said that Roma’s Alberto Aquilani was ‘speaking to Arsenal’ back in May. Now Aquilani is on the verge of signing a lucrative new contract with the Italian club. There’s a surprise.
Now Morabito is talking about Adebayor and some reports put him down as Ade’s agent. But where does that leave Stephane Courbis? Or indeed Darren Dein who has grown very close to Adebayor in recent months. Indeed some speculate that Adebayor could ditch his existing agents and take on Dein Jr as his representative. That’s a whole other story though. The point for today is that Morabito has been talking. This is what he said:
Arsenal are looking for Adebayor’s replacement. Until that search is over, the negotiations won’t reach the final stage, but I am fairly optimistic. What are the chances of Adebayor coming to Milan? I’d say today we are between 70 and 80 per cent.
As I’ve been saying over the last week or 10 days there’s so much information being leaked to the press from all sides it’s impossible to know what’s true, half-true, vaguely true or absolute bullshit. You have to think that Morabito, being Italian based, is working on behalf of AC Milan who want to sign Adebayor. But as Cesc said yesterday Arsenal like to do their business behind the metaphorical bush while all the others are happy to squat in public.
The article says that AC have offered £28m for Adebayor. That’s a lot of money. That’s the sort of money that would make you say ‘Ok, he’s an important player but he’s not Pele. £28m for a guy who’s had one good season? Much as I like you Mr Adebayor, and I do like you, that’s hard to resist’.
But we have no idea what sort of figures are being offered at the moment. What we do know is that there appears to be a team of people surrounding Adebayor trying to engineer a move to either Spain or Italy. It also appears as if Ade isn’t doing a whole lot to stop them. You look at what Gael Clichy said in yesterday’s blog and you can see how easy it would be. Maybe this is all posturing by the Adebayor camp to try and get more money out of Arsenal but let’s not forget he signed a new contract, with a healthy wage increase, just last summer.
Should we give him a new deal again? Wasn’t the deal last summer one given on faith? Sure, he’d shown signs of development and that he could improve but when even Arsene Wenger says he thought he might get 15 goals it shows you how far he exceeded expectations. Does that mean he gets a new pay increase or that he’s simply earned the one he got last summer? Doesn’t he need to do it again to prove he’s a really top player who should be earning really top money? I think so.
The Sun says he’s looking for £120,000 a week. Heh. I think no matter how highly you regard Adebayor you’d agree that that is way beyond the realms of possibility. I’d say that figure is an exaggeration, perhaps you could knock about 34.8% off it, but I suspect that there’s some truth to the story that he’s looking for money. If that’s all that’s behind all this scheming then it’s a bit sad, to be fair. Let’s wait and see what happens.
Do you want the latest from Spain? Well, it seems that the new ‘trident’, or front 3, at Barcelona next season is going to be Arshavin – Adebayor – Messi, according to Sport. But don’t worry. Arshavin’s arrival doesn’t close the door on Hleb, apparently. Yeah, right. El Mundo says little or nothing this morning bar a deal for Arshavin was done two months ago. So a quiet one in Spain.
Ahead of tonight’s Euro 2008 semi-final between Spain and Russia Cesc talks to Guillem Bollicky who, in his usual way, tries to stir the shit a bit about players possibly leaving Arsenal
Guillem: Leaders like you, in other teams, ask for more from club owners and managers during the summer.
Cesc: I am nobody to be asking them to do things. I want to be part of a competitive team, that is my only ambition
I do love his attitude but that final part is crucial. We have to provide him with a team and an environment that is competitive. I think we did it last season but fell away due to that bad spell post-Birmingham. We’ve got to do it again this season and the pressure for silverware is as intense as it’s ever been under Arsene.
Those sentiments are backed up by the boss who says he’s not stressed about all the speculation regarding Adebayor and Hleb. He says:
I don’t know why I should be nervous. It’s like when you take a penalty, if you are nervous it doesn’t help. I will approach it with my usual calm. My biggest challenge is to make sure I have a competitive team next year no matter who it is.
So at least the manager and the soon-to-be captain (please please please please please please) are singing from the same hymn sheet. I think July is going to be a very interesting month.
Away from us it was a top semi-final at Euro 2008 last night. Turkey gave the Germans the proper run-around I thought and with a squad so decimated too. They found themselves on the wrong end of a late winner this time around though.
I’m really looking forward to Spain v Russia though. Two attacking sides filled with exciting players. It’s gonna be an absolute bore, isn’t it? They’ll cancel each other out. I hope not though. Cesc v Arshavin. My heart says Spain but my wallet, due to the money I put on them before the tournament, says Russia. There’ll be a review of last night’s game and a preview of tonight’s the Eurocast coming up before lunchtime.
Right then, that’s it. Early start this morning. Till later.
