On the day pre-season begins the Adebayor saga rumbles on.
The Mirror says the deal was ‘completed’ last night but there are complications as Adebayor is holding out for a ‘loyalty bonus’ because he never asked for a transfer. I don’t really need to talk about how incredibly dense that is, do I? And if he’s still holding out for a loyalty bonus then how can the deal be complete?
I’m not even sure why things like that are in contracts. There was the same discussion last summer, also involving Adebayor, unsurprisingly. When it was clear his agent was touting him around Europe there was no question of the player actually handing in a transfer request lest he be denied this sum of money. And the last time Arsenal encoutnered this was with the husband of 20% of Girls Aloud.
The reason his move to Chelsea was so complicated was because he, amazingly, after going to meet Chelsea and everything else, wanted a loyalty bonus. So you can see Adebayor is in good company there. Greedy and utterly deluded.
The other story that emerged was in the Mail, City apparently furious that Adebayor’s people had offered him to Chelsea. I wouldn’t be surprised if his agent did that, to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if his agent stuck up flyers on lamp-posts with tear-off telephone numbers, but I doubt there’s real interest from Chelsea.
There were reports on Sky Sports yesterday about how Adebayor was at the training ground to say his goodbyes, the infamous clearing out of the locker, but how much truth there is to that I don’t know. What I do know is that the longer this goes on the worse it is for everyone. Adebayor needs to accept that his Arsenal career is over, that City are the only club prepared to offer him the money he think he’s worth even if that means no Champions League football and that scuppering the deal over some outrageous ‘loyalty bonus’ is going to make him even more unpopular than he is now.
Onwards to better things though and the squad for today’s game – hah, you like that? – TODAY’S GAME – against Barnet was announced. As expected it was a mix of youngsters and some of the players who returned earliest to pre-season training. So Gallas, Almunia, Djourou, Arshavin and new boy Thomas Vermaelen will be on show at some stage, as will Tomas Rosicky.
He last played for Arsenal on January 27th 2008 and has battled a very, very serious knee problem ever since. There were genuine fears that he might not play again, the injury was so unique doctors had no idea how to treat it, but here we are 18 months later and he’s back. Cesc Fabregas says of him:
He’s the type of player you enjoy playing alongside and as a guy he’s amazing. He didn’t deserve his injury but I am sure he will come back stronger. I wish him all the best because everyone here at Arsenal loves him a lot. Technically he is one of the best in the world and physically I am sure he will be really strong because he’s been working really hard. I am happy because soon he is going to be back and I can’t wait to see him playing again.
If he can stay fit there’s no question at all that he adds quality and depth to our squad. And I do hope his injury worries are behind him. You can talk all you want about how hard it must be for a professional football to be injured, picking up your big pay cheque, but if you love to play football, whatever your standard, missing any period of time through injury is hard to take. To be out for that period of time, to have gone through all that uncertainty, must have been wretched, so fingers crossed he can play a big part in the season ahead. Welcome back, Tomas.
The game is live via Arsenal TV online this afternoon, kick off is 3pm.
In other quick news Theo Walcott talks about how we need to start grinding out results while Bordeaux’s Marouane Chamakh says he’d happily play for Sunderland or Blackburn but Arsenal would be a dream, kinda like saying if I have to eat Aldi frozen lamp chops I will but I’d prefer the Kobe beef.
Right, that’ll be that and on the day that’s it in it here’s to football once again. Although you do come across some infuriating characters you’ve gotta love the game and the Arsenal.
