Well, the Henry thing rumbles on with a lot of people very unhappy with the comments he made in the France Football article. In yesterday’s blog I was unhappy with the ambiguity of Henry’s statements and these comments do little to make me, or any Arsenal fan, feel better. He says:
Last season, people were announcing all over the place that I was leaving. Some people wrote that it would happen for sure but at the end of the day I stayed at Arsenal. It could be the same this year.
Could be? Not exactly the ringing endorsement you want and frankly, if those comments are accurate then they are not becoming of the captain of Arsenal Football Club. However, before we all go off the deep end let’s remember that the France Football article is inaccurate when it claims Jerome Anderson had meetings with Barcelona and there are suggestions that this article may have been commissioned by FC Barcelona in order to destabilise Henry’s position at Arsenal.
I still think we need a definitive statement from Henry about his position though. At the moment it appears like he’s trying to put himself in a position where he is sold by Arsenal rather than him saying ‘I want to leave’ as if that will make things better. The bottom line is that if Thierry wants to leave he should come out and say so and stop treating us all like chumps. While it would be upsetting to lose a player of his quality and someone who has given so much to Arsenal over the years it would be far preferable to him acting like a cunt all summer so we’re forced to sell him late on without time to find a replacement.
The ball is very much in his court now. Any further vague statements about where he’s going to play football next season are not acceptable. As captain of this football club he has a responsibility to behave in a manner which fits that honour, not in a way that demeans it and drags the club through the back pages of the tabloids all summer. He said last week that nobody is bigger than Arsenal and he’s right. However, it does seem as if he’s doing his best to remain in the spotlight and the centre of attention when he should be concentrating on getting fit and playing football again.
I just wonder if the relationship between Henry and Wenger is the catalyst for all this. Did Henry’s ego take a battering when he was dropped for the Sp*rs game and subsequently missed a whole month? Was the manager trying to give him a kick up the arse? Did he not care to be kicked up the arse and does he fancy the hard work ahead to get himself back to the top of his game? I guess we just have to wait and see but like Vieira before him, Thierry is in real danger of tarnishing his image. If you read Arseblog regularly you know how much I think of him, how I’ve defended him from criticism (especially last season), how much I think we need a fit and motivated Thierry Henry again, but at the moment everything that surrounds him leaves a nasty taste in the mouth and that is a real shame.
In other news The Sun is reporting that, in order to keep Henry happy, we’re trying to sign David Trezeguet from Juventus. Firstly, signing a player just to keep another player happy is bad news. Secondly, I’m not sure that Henry and Trezeguet work together anyway. And thirdly, Trezeguet is not really that good anymore. He peaked at Euro2000.
Real Zaragoza want Philippe Senderos apparently. I hope we don’t sell. With the ACN next winter we lose Toure and Eboue, Gallas has yet to convince and Djourou could go out on loan this season. I know he had a hard time last season but I still think he’s a player with a lot to offer the club.
Lyon want £17m for Malouda. Really, no joke. I swear. You can understand why Arsene Wenger is reluctant to splash the big cash when £17m buys you a lump of averageness like Malouda.
Not much else happening. No doubt there’ll be more about Henry tomorrow but at least that’ll be overshadowed somewhat by the release of next season’s fixture’s. I bet we get Sunderland away as our first game? Whadda you reckon?
