Happy Friday to you. Some bits and pieces to get through so let’s get through them, these bits and pieces that must be got through.
Where to start? Ok, Emmanuel Adebayor. Arsene Wenger has spoken to French TV about the future of the Togonian and says:
If he does not want to stay, he will leave but I think that he will be still at Arsenal this season.
Interesting the way the boss makes it Adebayor’s decision. From everything I’ve been told Wenger wants to move Adebayor on. The fact that he’s more or less confirmed that the Bordeaux striker Chamakh is a target tells you everything you need to know there.
And does Adebayor even want to stay? He knows his relationship with the fans is delicate, at best. He knows he never won them back after last summer, he knows his displays in the semi-finals last season were not accepted and he then has the BBC interview to contend with where he threw his toys out of the pram and made false claims about Cesc being booed.
Does he have the balls to stay? We’ll see. If he does, if we can’t find a buyer, then so be it. It won’t please everyone but there’ll be nothing much we can do about it, only to hope that he works hard, scores goals and doesn’t laze about the place like he did last season. However, I can’t help but think that the best thing for everybody would be a transfer, some money in our pocket and a fresh start for all concerned.
Now, as displeasing a character as Adebayor is to many, I would posit that Barcelona chairman Joan Laporta is far, far worse. A disgusting, sleazy individual, he’s been talking about Cesc, saying:
Cesc Fabregas has the Barcelona DNA in his body and we know that he wants to play for this club. At the moment he is the leader at Arsenal and a very important player for them. But Cesc is wanted by me, by the coach Pep Guardiola and by the sport director Txiki Begiristain.
We are concentrating all of our efforts on it, but at the same time we have a lot of respect for Arsenal.
Lying cunthound. Not about Cesc having Barcelona DNA (how cringeworthy a phrase is that?). Not about how he wants Cesc. But about having respect for Arsenal.
The man clearly has no respect for Arsenal whatsoever or he would keep his stupid, fat mouth shut. How can you say you respect another club and their player in the same breath as saying you’re concentrating all your efforts on trying to sign him?
Of course it’s not the first time Laporta has tried to do his groundwork in the press, it won’t be the last, but right now he needs a big fucking can of shut up juice. You know, I’d make him beg before I sold him a bag of clothes pegs, God knows what I’d make him do if I had something he really wanted. Perhaps he’s a bit miffed with us after we sold him Hleb for £12m last summer (I believe we sealed the deal with a cunning 45 second compilation of Hleb’s best bits), but I’m getting rather tired of the disrespect he shows our club.
Some more positive news, Jack Wilshere has signed a new long term deal with the club, complete with by-the-book endorsement from the manager. Interesting that both Ramsey and Wilshere have signed new deals recently. Ramsey only signed last summer, Wilshere signed professional terms in January of this year. Perhaps it’s a move to extend the protected period of their contracts, perhaps it’s to assure them of their Arsenal futures and kill any speculation if they go elsewhere next season on loan.
Any vague hope of signing Felipe Melo despite his new contract extension at Fiorentina seems to have gone after his agent confirmed it would be better for all concerned if any deal waited until after the World Cup. Fair play to the Italians, I suppose, they’re trying to ensure they get the maximum return from their player.
Apparently no decision was taken on Jabba’s proposed rights issue. There was a board meeting yesterday but no official statement has been forthcoming. Although I’m pretty sure we’ll hear something about it sooner rather than later. Anyway, let’s hope they spent more time talking about potential new signings than they did about the obvious attempt for the fat Uzbeki to slug his way further into our football club.
The second game of our Austrian training camp has been confirmed. We’ll be playing Haladas Szombathely in Hungary again. The match is on 27th July. Thanks to Kev for that. And apparently we’re going to play Valencia on August 8th in the Mestalla (cheers, fats!!!!).
And that’s about that. Michael Owen to United, heh. Really? Football is very odd sometimes.
Till tomorrow.
