Arsenal's Situation

PHB

Nobody's talked about this but this is a nutjob situation.

Cole:

England star Ashley Cole has hit out at his treatment by Arsenal, with the full back saying he wants to head for a new challenge abroad.

Cole is believed to be smarting at Arsenal's failure to reward him with a lucrative new deal despite proving himself to be one of the world's top defenders.

He was fined £100,000 last week for his part in the Chelsea tapping-up affair, having met Blues and their manager Jose Mourinho at a London hotel earlier in the year.

It was believed that his decision to meet Mourinho was due to the fact that he had not been handed a decent contract by The Gunners.

The defender has yet to decide whether he will appeal against the fine, with his thoughts seemingly on his football future.

Cole claims he cannot see himself signing a new deal at Arsenal and may well attempt to forge a career on the continent.

"If they offer me £100,000 or £200,000 a week now I would not accept it," he told the News of the World. "It is not about the money, it is about being treated right.

"The damage has been done. I love this club but I suspect there are people at this club who do not want me to pull on a Gunners shirt again.

"I still won't sign for another Premiership team as I could not see myself playing against Arsenal.

"I would only want to play abroad."

Looks like he might be on his way out.

--

Freddy:

Freddie Ljungberg has warned Arsenal that he will quit Highbury unless the club match his own ambitions.

A miserable week for the North London outfit has seen Ashley Cole express his discontentment at the club, while Ljungberg has now intimated that he is not ready to ink a new deal.

The talented Swede, 28-years-old, believes Arsenal need to show more ambition in the transfer market and not continue to rely on youth - for which Arsene Wenger is famed for nurturing.

Ljungberg's current deal expires at the close of next season and it is a stark ultimatum that has been issued by the free-scoring midfielder.

''I won't re-sign if the club's ambition does not match mine,'' Ljungberg told the Sunday Express.

''The biggest thing is the Champions League but I can't see how we can achieve that if we are bringing in 18 and 19-year-olds, then expecting them to play 30 matches at the top level.

''What I am saying is not about money - it is about ambition.''

Seems he is annoyed about buying youth

---

Henry:

Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard has confirmed his interest in Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.

Spanish sources have insisted for a number of weeks that Barca were intent on mounting a bid for the French star.

Both Arsenal and Henry have continually stressed for loyalty to each other, but like Real Madrid did with Patrick Vieira last summer - Barca will look to strain that relationship to the maximum.

Rijkaard has further fanned the speculation flames by admitting Henry was on his list of potential summer targets.

The Dutchman was asked about Vieira, with some reports claiming he could mount a bid for the Gunners skipper, but he replied: "No, I am only interested in Henry."

Barca are claimed to have already lodged a €24 million (£16 million) bid which was rejected out of hand earlier this month, but it is being reported that they are gearing up to double that offer within the next few days.

Barca really really want Henry

---

If Cole leaves, will others stay?
Will Vieira stay after losing one of their best players?
What if Henry wants to leave after that?

I know to an extent this is scare mongering, but there is something going on in Highbury.

smemon

tbh im just glad its deflecting all the attention away from manu.

cole will probably go to spain/italy this summer and vieira will go to madrid again if henry leaves arsenal will be in big trouble.

gandalf

I expect Cole to go, Clichy is a more than able replacement in the wings.

Henry well what do you expect he is one of the best forwards in the world I expect to see offers like these. But Arsenal turned down a £50M offer from Chelski last year so there is no way €48M will land him.

Typical summer of newspaper fluff for Arsenal fans, but a smemon says at least it takes the spotlight off Manchester Buccaneers

Makaveli

I don't think Barca have the finances to offer £32million for a player. They would probably be looking to trade a player or two in a deal like that.
Although I can't see it happening at all, but Henry at Barca would be scary. You never know with football I suppose, Eto'o is having a bit of a sulk at the moment and may end up leaving for Chelsea if rumours are to be believed. That would provide cash to buy Henry. Wouldn't like that though, Henry must be what, 6 years older than Eto'o?

PHB

Doesn't matter, Henry is 5 times the player Eto is.
Eto has had a fantastic season, but any of the top world strikers, Henry/Ruud/Shev/Ronaldo would be getting way more goals than him with the service he gets

Pepe LeFrits

Cole can go. More transfer funds for Wenger.

Jivin Turkey

Makaveli wrote:

Wouldn't like that though, Henry must be what, 6 years older than Eto'o?

Only 3 actually. Eto'o has been around for a while before he hit the big time.

Cole going could be alright for them as they already have an adequate replacement and it would generate a lot of revenue for other players.

Draupnir

the whole place looks to be falling down right now and Id hate to see that happen because the premier league will turn back into a bore fest if Arsenal disintegrate.

United wont be particularly good next season unless there are a couple of purchases and Chelsea will walk away with it again.

a tough one for me to make, but id be happier to see them all stay, for some reason I think its starting to go belly up for them at Highbury.

gandalf

TBH I can see Barca having a far better chance of landing RvN than Henry.

Makaveli

PHB wrote:

Doesn't matter, Henry is 5 times the player Eto is.
Eto has had a fantastic season, but any of the top world strikers, Henry/Ruud/Shev/Ronaldo would be getting way more goals than him with the service he gets

True, but it was his first season at the club and we know he can play well in Spain. There is a possibilty that the Spanish game wouldn't suit Henry, although I doubt it. I still think Barca would be better off holding on to Eto'o though. If they could add Henry it would be a major bonus, but I wouldn't sell Eto'o just to bring in Henry.

Gangsta

Spanish football is slower and which makes it a lot more technical that english football. Henry has great technical ability as well as his pace so him moving to barca would be scary although it won't happen. Cole will leave and if it's this summer we'll have lots of cash for players to come in. Freddie is right we need players with experience to win the champions league and above all, a striker who can head the ball :eek:

Pepe LeFrits

Draupnir wrote:

a tough one for me to make, but id be happier to see them all stay, for some reason I think its starting to go belly up for them at Highbury.

good thing they're leaving Highbury next season then eh

besty

i read in the sunday times today that pires isnt signing a new deal now. its great to see those arses in self destruct mode

Gangsta

Contracts have been and still are a huge problem for Arsenal because they simply cannot afford what the players want. Hopefully we can hold on until the new stadium is built and give the players the contracts they deserve easily.

Cianan2

Hope Henry goes to Barca. You say they'd get the money to fund it if they sell Eto'o to Chelsea, but why not do a ££+Eto'o for Henry?

mr_angry

Heh. Why don't we bring out the "Vieira to Real" threads from last season and see how they went. There seems to be a suspicious pattern in the media of "Arsenal about to lose star player" that never actually happens. Well, with the exception of Anelka which also happened to be the best bit of financial business we ever did.

jank

LOL every year this happens and Arsenal usually comes back stronger then before.

The papers have to critize Arsenal some how and all the "speculation" is the best way for it to happen.
Im well used to it at this stage and tbh I dont give two flying ****s what could happen or who could leave or what the **** ever.

Cole will probably go and clichy is more of a replacement for him. We have seen the best of pires so if he goes it wont be too bad (Reyes on the left)

Arsenal have 25 or so million to spend and if cole leaves it will add another 20 or so. Im looking forward to postivie new signings this summer for Arsenal.


Seriously though who believes that ****e in the paper anyway?

Gileadi

Cianan2 wrote:

Hope Henry goes to Barca. You say they'd get the money to fund it if they sell Eto'o to Chelsea, but why not do a ££+Eto'o for Henry?

im sure barca are confident that they could make more money on selling eto to chelsea considering their hyperinflated transfer fees of the last 2 summers

arbeitsscheuer

mr_angry wrote:

Heh. Why don't we bring out the "Vieira to Real" threads from last season and see how they went. There seems to be a suspicious pattern in the media of "Arsenal about to lose star player" that never actually happens. Well, with the exception of Anelka which also happened to be the best bit of financial business we ever did.

Agreed. This is the first bit of sense I've seen in this thread (the second bit of sense belonging to jank ).

TBH, Gael Clichy is an adequate replacement for Cole, and Ashley's sale would bring in some much needed transfer funds. Besides, Cole and his agent Barnett have been complete'y untrustworthy in this whole fiasco, and it provides stark contrast to somebody like Thierry Henry, who has never given us Gooners any reason to doubt his loyalty and commitment to Arsenal.

Indeed, if you were that way inclined, you could argue that Wenger has been vindicated in his penchant for signing overseas players ahead of British Islanders - Pennant cost a million and brought us nothing but trouble... Cole a home-grown player supposedly playing for the team he supported as a boy has destroyed the special relationship he had with the club and the fans... Jeffers I don't even need to f**king talk about (Wenger's worst signing IMO)... Upson, Wright and Stephen Hughes showed no patience and willingness to fight for their places...

Compare that to Clichy - 2nd fiddle to Cole for 2 seasons now, but never complains and always gets on with the job.
Senderos - Suffered crippling injury and what I would imagine is the ultimate humiliation: Watching Pascal Cygan get into the team ahead of him. Also never complained.
Aliadiere - Ditto for above, with Kanu substituted for Cygan.
Lehmann - Complained a bit when Almunia took his place, but nowhere near as much as I expected, TBH I thought he'd leave during the January window but he knuckled down and fought for his place.
Bergkamp - Despite having his wages slashed with every year he remains committed to the cause, and never complains. A model professional and Arsenal legend.

I could go on, but that's enough to make my point.

Remember when foreign players were first flooding into the Premiership, and everyone was worried that "they have no loyalty, just after the money, don't care about the history of the clubs" blah blah f**kin blah... Bullsh*t.
Seems that the English players are just as guilty of lookin after the pound signs in their eyes ahead of club loyalty, if not more so.

Anyway, I've had my rant...