may 19th
08.51 – It looks very much as if the FA Cup final was David Seaman’s last game for Arsenal. Arsene Wenger wants him to stay as goalkeeping coach and cover for next season, not convinced that Seaman can play the amount of games a Number 1 keeper should play.
Seaman disagrees, thinks he should still be number 1, and according to Bob Wilson he’s likely to go elsewhere. Wilson says “It is highly likely that David will go to another club. He wants to continue his career at the top.” Makes you wonder why he’s going to sign for Man City then. Former Gunner Alan Smith writes a nice piece in the Telegraph about the whole situation as well.
Personally, I think AW is right. It’s impossible to take anything away from Seaman, he’s been a magnificent servant to the club, a top class goalkeeper and has played his part in our successes over the years. But, he’s going to be 40 soon, he’s spending more and more time injured each season and while the save against Sheffield United was outstanding and his cup final save pretty good as well, it doesn’t disguise the fact he’s had some problems with his game in recent years.
Arsenal have to make the change sooner or later, if AW doesn’t buy somebody this summer and Seaman ends up injured for 50% of the games, it’s not Seaman that will get the flak, it’s the boss. It must be a hard decision to call time on such a great career, but it now seems as if it’s a case of ‘Come in Number 1, your time is up.’
I hope he decides to stay at Arsenal as coach and back-up. I don’t think his ego will let him do that though, and instead of going out at the top, remembered for his great saves in the FA Cup and his achievements at Arsenal, he’ll be remembered for taking another pay-day at a lesser club and probably having a hatful of goals smacked past him next season. Shame.
Likely replacements include Paul Robinson, Rustu Recber and Tomas Sorensen as the boss looks to strengthen things up at the back for next season.
AW gave a speech at the post-match celebrations the other night, telling the players “We want you to stay together. We need you around to challenge Manchester United again.” He also talks of Thierry Henry’s new contract “Thierry signing is a big boost for the team and we needed that. I expect the other players in the same position will follow Thierry now and that they will sign up in the next two or three weeks.”
Dennis Bergkamp will be offered a new 1 year deal, while according to Matt Dickinson in The Times, Wenger is willing to sell Ray Parlour (the only interesting part of a fairly bitter piece). Other departures could include Super Oleg Luzhny, Kanu, Francis Jeffers and possibly Giovanni van Bronckhorst. We’ll do a full run-down of who we reckon could/should come and go later in the week.
Arseblog members can find 4 new FA Cup final wallpapers in the members section. To find out more about becoming a member, click here.
So that’s it. Another season over, only a long hot summer of no football to look forward to. What the hell are we going to do?
