Will he stay or will he go?

Not Henry, no, Thierry I’m afraid pales in significance to another whose future is in some doubt, that someone being Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. With his contract due to run out next summer, the man who’s the reason behind the amazing style of football we play, has confirmed he’ll see out next season, at the least. Of course, this is no great relief, I already knew that much. Wenger’s not one to up and leave when he has a contract and he said as much himself:

I have never broken a contract in my entire career and I will not break a contract now. So I can tell you categorically that I will be at the club next season.

And next summer I will sit down with the board and see.

Now this has caused a bit of a crisis among Arsenal fans as though he likes to leave it late, last time his deal was running out, he put pen to paper on a new one the season before. It’s the season before again and the way in which what Wenger’s said has been interpreted is that he won’t discuss terms on a new contract until next summer, which further puts his future at the club in doubt. I’m confident he’ll stay though and at the reason he’s leaving it so late is because he doesn’t know what situation the club will be in at the end of the season. I think he wants to see some progress from his young players and is still waiting to see of what will happen with the whole Kroenke thing. I don’t think he’s planning to leave though.

He’s begun grooming a new generation of Arsenal talent and I’m confident he’ll want to see that through. We might be a little off form of late in terms of competing for the title but the array of potential in the squad surely means once it all comes to fruition we’ll be one of the most feared teams in Europe. I think Wenger will want to see the current generation through before considering departing and even then when he does leave the club it’s likely to be because of retirement, old age having got the better of him.

I’m not worried yet, at least. Arsene always leaves it late, so there’s no great surprise there and I understand his reasons for doing do. I’m confident he’ll stay but if he doesn’t, I’m unsure of the consequences. I guess it would all depend on his replacement. It would certainly cast a great deal of uncertainly over a number of players in the team and could mean an end to Kolo Toure’s and Gael Clichy’s for under quarter of a million. It’s not a nice thought and so it’s one I won’t entertain any further, not until it happens at least and I’ll reiterate, I think that will be a while yet. The hope is that he’ll stay, and stay for as long as he can but the inevitable truth is that he won’t be around forever. I just hope he’s here as long as possible and his departure date is as far away as possible.

• Johan Djourou has hinted he could go out on loan following the interest of Birmingham so as to gain some experience but won’t make it a permanent stay if he does. I can’t see it happening unless we bring in another centre back as you need four. Of course, Gilberto can always play centre back if injuries were to arise. If someone comes in I reckon Djourou will go out on loan though.
• Padrew’s after Philippe Senderos. It’s true, he lacks concentration and is suspect defensively in some areas of his game but he’s a decent third/fourth choice and has potential. He also gives us height at the back and is a good header of the ball, something we lack at the back sometimes. Could go if Wenger wanted to bring someone else in (aka Micah Richards though that’s wishful thinking more than anything else) but I’m not sure he’d be too happy in the Championship, especially seeing as he could make the starting line up of a Premiership side fairly easily.
• For those who dislike Ashley Cole, you might find it funny that publishers ditched his plans to re-published an updated edition of his biography, ‘My Defense.’ Though it’s apparently shit it’s one I’ve wanted to read just to see how shit it is and out of interest. I wouldn’t dream of buying a copy though. Maybe I’d steal one, to cheat Cole out of the sale.
• Aliadiere is definitely a man off to Middlesbrough and the move will be completed when he returns from holiday. Not sure on the price, I was hoping for £3M, as he’s easily worth that but it would seem we let him go for a price more in the region of £1-£1.5M which would be a good bit of business for Boro.

Transfer deadline’s not for another three months

I’m sorry I’ve not written a lot about the Arsenal of late. My apologies. You haven’t missed much mind, I can assure you. Much talk concerning Arsenal has been bollocks, to put it bluntly and there’s been little of note to report. First off, I suppose I better get the whole Man Utd situation out the way. They’ve already signed Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson if you didn’t know already and that’s been cause to worry for many a gooner. Chelsea have also snatched three players. We’ve only managed to grab one, in Lukas Fabianski. My response to that and in particular to the Nani/Anderson signings and reaction from Arsenal fans to that is to follow.

Ferguson’s done very well with his signings, it’s true. Nani and Anderson, though I’ve not seen much of the latter and less of the former, sound very much like excellent acquisitions. What I’ve heard of both would suggest they’ve all the potential to be something quite special. Still, though I think it a good move getting the transfer business done rather early, as I doubt Ferguson will look to further improve his squad drastically over the summer, it’s worth remembering that there are still some three months before we reach deadline day. Added to that, Wenger probably wants to see some players on their way so as to judge just how much he has to spend in total before making all of his purchases. So I’d wait until the window ends before we jump on Wenger’s back telling him to splash the cash to compete with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Also, we don’t know the size of our transfer budget and can only speculate on how big or small it will be. Though it’s unlikely we’ve as much to spend as the rest of the top four and indeed, possibly several other clubs, we still don’t know exactly how much we do have to spend and if we don’t have much, it’s hardly the fault of Wenger and he can only make do with what he has, something, fortunately for us, he does very well. While our transfer budget might not be as large as other clubs, we’ve a consolation to all that and his name’s Arsene Wenger, easily the best manager around to get by on a smaller than most budget.

That’s what consoles me about all this, that while Man Utd are spending £17M odd on their Nani’s and Anderson’s, Fabregas cost us nothing at all, Clichy was got for a measly £250K, Toure £150K, Eboue £1.5M, Nicholas Anelka 500K (if you want a past example) and Denilson, one of the latest talents to emerge, £3M. Not all the figures maybe correct, I’ll agree, but thereabouts. Indeed, the reported £10M and £6M that respectively saw Thierry Henry and Robert Pires arrive, would be considered a lot, for Wenger, but look at how they turned out. There’s many more I could name too.

I don’t think Fabregas or Denilson to be lesser prospects than Nani or Anderson. That’s not to put the latter two down, it’s just that Wenger can sign equally impressive talents who don’t yet have the reputation that would justify such high price tags. Now obviously it would be nice to be able to spend as much as any other big club, but in the financial situation we’re in, and that’s not a disastrously bad one, I’m thankful Arsene’s in charge.

In regard to bolstering the squad with some much needed experience, let us not forget the deals Wenger made last season. Tomas Rosicky, William Gallas and Julio Baptista (albeit, that was on a loan) are all rather experienced footballers. Okay, so there’s Denilson too but I’d never suggest that Wenger deny a promising youngster should the opportunity to snap one up arise. Rosicky, I thought, had himself an impressive first season. It’s a new league for him and I think he’s shown real promise of adapting and we’ll see an better Rosicky next season. Gallas, although used to the league, still needed time to settle in with a new team and injuries didn’t help. Both should endure better second campaigns with the club. I’d expect the boss to go for someone else with a bit of experience to his name as well, whether that be Ribery or another. I do think Wenger’s got the right idea and knows he has to balance out the squad with experience now and replace the old guard and that’s what he looked to do last season and could well do again this season.

• Couldn’t go without mentioning the latest in the Henry to Barcelona saga, latest word being that Barca are preparing a £17M bid in addition to Samuel Eto’o for his services. It’s rubbish of course, but it sparked much debate as the question was asked, were we offered that deal, should we accept? Though die hard Henry fans said no, the general consensus was a ‘yes, we should bite their hands off’ response, myself included in that sentiment. Henry’s by no means indispensable, especially at thirty and we’d be foolish to turn down a ready made and younger replacement with a nifty cash bonus on top, as would Barcelona be foolish to make such a bid.
• Young Bolton centre back Kyle Bartley is said to have turned down offers from other clubs to sign for the Arse. He’s supposedly a promising player though I don’t admit to having seen him play.
• Rosicky’s been linked to Atletico. Not sure why he’d want to join them when he’s at Arsenal so it must mean Wenger wants him to leave. Not sure why he would want that either though as Rosicky had a very promising first season for us and looks set to only get better. We might be on the market for another winger but in all likelihood we’ll be losing Freddie also so it doesn’t mean we should look to sell another. A deal involving Fernando Torres coming our way is talked about. Not sure we need him myself.
• David Dein will apparently be offered a chief executive role at Newcastle, but you have to move on, as good as he was for us.
• Jeremie Aliadiere’s set to be signed by Middlesbrough. The fee we’re getting in return is a supposed £1.5M. Quite a bargain for Boro. I was hoping we would have gotten double that. Sorry to see him leave but at his age, he’ll be looking for first team opportunies as he’s not good enough to get that with us.
• Charlton want Song on another season long loan, which could happen, providing Wenger doesn’t think we need him. Were he to stay he’d surely only be fifth choice and would be behind Gilberto, Fabregas, Denilson and Diaby in the pecking order. Saying that, we’ve lost Flamini so Wenger might want the extra cover. But should we get desperate, Hleb and Rosicky are both capable of playing in the middle.
• Sevilla might be in for Jose Antonio Reyes which would be a good deal for both parties involved. Whatever happens, I don’t think he’ll remain an Arsenal player.
• Wenger is lining up a double move for Newcastle’s Michael Owen and Martins. That he’s attempting to sign one would be at least plausible but there’d be no need to sign both. We’ve enough strikers as it is and we wouldn’t need two more even if Henry did leave, which is unlikely.
• Italy reports seem to suggest we’ve signed Fabio Quagliarella of Sampdoria for some £10M. No idea whether there’s any truth in that or even who this Fabio fella is.