july 15th
Ok, let’s start with Vieira. Freddie Ljungberg has put the thoughts of most Arsenal fans into words and sent a message to the Arsenal captain. Freddie says “If I have a message for him it’s simple: let’s stay together and build something really special at Arsenal.”
The Times asks ‘Why would Vieira even want to go to Madrid?’, and it’s a pretty good question, while The Independent suggests that Arsenal selling Vieira would be a step backwards. They also have some interesting stats at the bottom of that article regarding Vieira, Roy Keane and Steven Gerrard. The Keane and Vieira stats are fine, but check out Liverpool with and without Gerrard.
Yesterday’s stories were made all the more interesting by the total lack of Vieira stories in the Spanish press who were more interested in reporting Real’s interest in Emerson from Roma. Even today the stories in Marca and AS (the two Madrid friendly sports dailies) are more or less rehashing what was in The Mirror yesterday. AS are reporting that we’re interested in Morientes as well, and that he might be used in some kind of deal involving Henry or Vieira. Zzzzzz. Maybe we are interested in Fernando, but not at the expense of either of those two.
The Sun has gotten in on the act now as well. After their shit-stirring two years ago when Mark Irwin was Marc Roget’s mouthpiece and published article after article about Madrid, and one criticising Arsenal’s summer signings, they now quote a source ‘close to Vieira’ saying that Paddy is unhappy with the signings and failure to strengthen the squad this summer. The source says “He thinks the current defence is lacking when it comes to winning the trophy he wants most — the Champions League. He feels let down that the club has not significantly strengthened their defence since last season. He believes Arsenal need a top-quality keeper to replace Jens Lehmann, a centre-back to play alongside Sol Campbell and a right-back.”
I don’t think that even merits comment. When a ‘source’ or a ‘friend’ or ‘someone close to X’ spills to the paper, it generally means it’s made up. Of course if it’s true then you might worry, but it’s not. It’s shit-stirring during a very slow summer. All in all it’s a big lot of nothing at the moment, agent speak, Perez speak Sun and Mirror speak, and let’s be honest, when those people speak, you take it was a very large pinch of salt.
Enough Vieira – some other stuff. Ray Parlour is in talks with Middlesboro, according to the Guardian. Looks like we’re going to sell all our central midfielders. Arsenal finally announced the signing of Manuel Almunia. Arseblog readers have known for some time he’s been signed now. Anyway, he’s going to play second fiddle to Jens Lehmann and let’s hope he’s worth the punt the boss has taken on him.
Finally for today, check out this site for cool t-shirts. The bloke who runs it is a Gooner and his most popular shirt is the Mrs Pires one. Picture here. Anyway, take a look. I’ve ordered mine, so I have. If you see Mrs Pires in the streets of Barcelona you can buy me a beer.
