august 13th
07.37 – Vieira’s off to Madrid/Juventus/Man Utd. Pires is off to Valencia/Inter Milan/AnyfuckingwherebutArsenal FC. It’s been a difficult summer for Arsenal fans. The Vieira false alarm, constant speculation, story after story about how broke we are and how we can’t afford to keep the players we have let alone buy any new ones.
Well, yesterday Arsenal made the two most important signings of the summer. Forget your Kewells and your Klebersons, your Verons and your Duffs. The best midfielder in the world, and the most creative, goalscoring midfielder in the game finally signed their new contracts.
Patrick Vieira has signed an extension keeping him at the club until 2007, while Robert Pires signed a 2 year extension to his current deal which will keep him at the club until 2006.
Vieira: “I’m very happy here at Arsenal and it’s always been my intention to sign a new contract with the club. I’m delighted to have sorted everything out. I’m really confident about this season as we have a great squad here, with great team spirit and fantastic talent.”
Pires: “I love being a part of this Club. I have a great relationship with the Boss, the players and all the supporters, so I’m very pleased to be continuing my time here”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said “I never had any doubts that both Patrick and Robert would sign new contracts with the Club. However, I’m so delighted that we have finally confirmed their signings, they are both very important players who will be instrumental in achieving our goal of winning more trophies this season and in years to come.”
Don’t underestimate how important it is to keep these two players. There isn’t a club in the world that wouldn’t snap either up given half a chance. There’ll be some noses out of joint in Madrid tonight, that’s for sure. It’s a signal that the club remains ambitious, competitive and focussed on winning major titles. As much as they might love the club and the fans, both Vieira and Pires have personal ambitions that players of their class should have. They want to win the Champions League. I don’t doubt that if they felt Arsenal couldn’t give them an opportunity to win it, they would move. A red letter day for the Gunners, that’s for sure.
Typically, at the time the story was beginning to break (from Bloomberg feeds which nobody really believed at first), arsenal.com was down for maintenance. Whoever is running that website needs a good kicking. The biggest story of the summer, the one every single Arsenal fan has been waiting for, and they’re down for maintenance. They are the Igors Stepanovs of Arsenal websites.
There has been no mention of Sylvain Wiltord though. Considering he cost the club somewhere in the region of £13m, it seems unlikely the club will let him go for nothing. It’s possible he’ll sign a new deal, but it’s just as likely he’ll be sold somewhere before the Champions League deadline on September 1st.
Anyway, today is a day to stick two fingers up at those who claimed our best players would leave. They’re staying. Now we’ve got a championship (or two) to win.
