By Ian Grant
Arsenal have told Juventus they must stump up £15m to buy Ashley Cole, according to the Independent. Cole has also appealed against the £100,000 fine imposed by the Premier League over the “tapping-up” scandal.
If anyone has doubts whether he wants to go, should read the page long interview in the Observer Review section – which runs contrary to the News of the World quotes. But there again NoW journalist Bob Beasley is believed to be a Chelsea fan.
An Irish accountant and Leeds fan I met on the train this morning had an interesting take on it. He surmises that Arsenal may want to sell their asset and have taken this course to get the full value. (?)
Talking of Chelsea, among the vitriolic pieces attacking their morality, the International Herald Tribune says questions are being asked about Abramovich in high places in Russia about the amount of time and money he spends on Chelsea instead of his provinces.
Meanwhile, nearer to home – at the Camden Green Fair in fact, the environmental activists’ tent which included Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, CO2 Balance and the anti-SUV vehicle coalition were discussing the amount of atmospheric carbon, that Abramovich’s Sibneft creates with its 500,000 barrels a day. One university is working that out. And by default – how many tonnes of climate damaging carbon it has taken to create the modern Chelsea.
Interesting transfer speculation by Tim Rich in the Independent. He says Arsenal targets are Portuguese keeper Ricardo, Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt and Stuttgart’s Alexander Hleb. Although he says of the latter, that the 24 year old Belarussian, is fragile and moody and would go for half the £12m asking price, if Arsenal put in an offer, given Stuttgart didn’t qualify for the Champions League. The piece also says Stuart Pearce, must persuade Shaun Wright-Phillips that Eastlands, rather than Highbury, is his spiritual home.
To balance that out there is the Cole saga replacing the annual Vieira saga and Ljungberg, who says he won’t renew his contract if Arsenal continue to buy raw 19-year olds.
And finally for today – back to the Independent which has a list of the best available goalkeepers. It says Gregory Coupet, 32, who plays for Lyon and France would welcome move to Arsenal. Sebastien Frey is set to leave Parma and Antti Niemi 33, Southampton & Finland – for sale after relegation is injury-prone but has plenty of Premiership experience and linked with Arsenal.
Meanwhile a weekly news review
PLAYERS
Arsenal confirmed Edu has signed a five-year contract with Valencia. He joined Arsenal in January 2001 from Corinthians, making over 100 appearances and gaining five honours.
Sol Campbell suffered an ankle injury ten minutes into the game against the US. The hard pitch was criticised. He said: “I will have an MRI scan to see what the extent of the problem is. Hopefully it won’t be ligament damage or anything too serious [he was right]. I twisted my ankle in a divot in the first few minutes and I just couldn’t do what I wanted to do. I wanted to play through it, but it was too sore and I had to come off.”
Thierry Henry and Diego Forlan (Villareal) shared the European Golden Shoe for scoring 25 goals each in their respective leagues.
Henry was celebrating after the birth of his first child – a girl named TEA – a traditional French name – pronounced Tay-ah. His Renault Clio was up for sale on internet auction webiste, eBay.
Patrick Vieira held a party in Vence, France, to celebrate his wedding to Cheryl Plaza.
Gilberto Silva has boosted Arsenal by pledging to sign a new contract at Highbury when he returns from holiday. He said: “I think when I come back from the holidays we can talk about that. But I think we will sort it out. I enjoy it here – I like this club.”
The Daily Star says Arsenal are ready to offer Philippe Senderos a contract to keep him at the club until 2010.
Arsenal have released Iceland international Olafur-Ingi Skulason along with Adam Birchall, Jordan Fowler, Danny Karbassiyoon and Frankie Simek.
Jens Lehmann told Kicker magazine “I am sure I will stay at Arsenal. I am not looking at other options at the moment. Wenger said he was happy with me a few weeks ago and told me to have a good summer.” Wenger is said to be lining up a bid for another goalkeeper, including, Southampton’s Finnish goalkeeper Antti Niemi (see above), but Lehmann is not worried.
Robin van Persie received his first Netherlands call-up since August 2004 when Marco van Basten announced his squad for two World Cup qualifiers. He subsequently won his first cap and was praised by Van Basten for maturing over the past year under Wenger’s guidance.
WENGER
Reuters reports that Wenger said of Chelsea: “They [Chelsea] have enhancement of performances through financial resources which are unlimited. For me, it’s a kind of doping. It puts pressure on the market that is not very healthy. They can go to (Liverpool’s) Steven Gerrard or Rio Ferdinand and say ‘how much do you earn? We’ll give you twice as much’.”
Wenger also warned that any attempt to take the Cole case beyond the football authorities and to the civil courts “would create huge chaos”.
ODDS
William Hill [prior to the announcement] offer 5-4 that Cole will still be an Arsenal player next term – but just 4-7 that he will have departed by then.
They make the title odds for next season: 10-11 Chelsea; 11-4 Arsenal, Manchester United; 20-1 Liverpool. And they have Martin O’Neill at 16/1 to be the next Arsenal manager.
MISCELLANEOUS
Research at the University of Durham suggests that where opponents are evenly matched, the red effect can make the difference between winning and losing. The research team studied four one-on-one events at the 2004 Athens Olympics -boxing, tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling where combatants were randomly assigned to wear either red or blue. The researchers found that 16 out of the 21 rounds of competition had more red than blue winners.
Smallweed in the Guardian points out Arsenal wear red because of Italian Patriot Guiseppe Garibaldi. Arsenal borrowed shirts from Nottingham Forest who wore red in sympathy with Garibaldi who toured England wearing red.
Arsenal have set up a soccer school in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Every Saturday morning, the 120 teenagers from deprived areas, and hand-picked by community police officers for the programme will be taken in batches to the King George V School in Kowloon, where they will train intensively for three hours under the guidance of Arsenal coaches. They have also opened their first Arsenal Soccer School at SMK La Salle, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
TRANSFER SPECULATION
The News of the World says Arsenal have held talks with 21 year-old £14m rated Brazilian striker Robinho. The Brazilian is quoted as saying: “Arsenal have been in touch with my people and they have made me aware of the offer. I am very proud they are looking at me. We will continue to talk.”
However the Sunday Mirror poured cold water on that idea quoting Robinho as saying: “The Arsenal scouts were there to look at the soccer in general. Not only Santos and not only me.”
And he added: “I prefer to stay at Santos and win the Copa Libertadores. I want to give my best to help Santos become champions. What will be better for everybody will be better for me as well.”
The People however say Arsenal will open negotiations this week with Atletico Madrid for £20m rated forward Fernando Torres, 21. Torres wants a move after Atletico failed to qualify for Europe and playing with Henry and Reyes, appeals.
However the Star on Sunday say Arsenal want £5m rated Andy Johnson.
Wolves’ Glenn Hoddle is lining up season-long loan deal for Arsenal right back Justin Hoyte. Hoddle also wants to take Jeremie Aliadiere on loan. Other papers say Blackburn and West Ham want Hoyte on loan and that Ryan Smith is set to join Palace for the whole of next season.
One paper says Arsenal want Sporting Lisbon’s Pounds £4m rated Ricardo, 29 – who scored the winner in last summer’s quarter-final shootout after saving from Darius Vassell. And Arsenal are expected to make a firm move after Portugal’s World Cup qualifier in Estonia on 8 June.
One paper says Real will ditch Michael Owen who will go to a Premiership club for £11m, as they want to bring in three including Robinho, Ibrahimovic and Reyes. The same paper says David Beckham will sign a new two-year contract worth a staggering £15.6m to stay at Real until he’s 32.
The Sunday Mirror says Arsenal are monitoring Liberian international centre back Jimmy Dixon, who plays for Swedish club BK Hacken. The 23-year-old is also a target for Dutch giants Ajax. Hacken director of football Carl Fhager said: “If Jimmy continues to dominate every game as he now does, there will be interest in him.”
And West Brom boss Bryan Robson is considering making a £1m bid for Arsenal keeper Stuart Taylor, 24.
According to the Sun, Arsene Wenger wants £10m rated Jermaine Jenas.
The Evening Chronicle says: “Arsenal will move for Newcastle United goalkeeper Shay Given should they fail to sign Chelsea’s Carlo Cudicini.”
OLD BOYS
Gerard Houllier has signed a two-year contract to lead French champions Lyon and will be assisted by former Arsenal midfielder Remi Garde. Reports say Sylvain Wiltord could quit the club.
Martin Keown, 38, may retire from playing. Keown said: “I don’t know yet, but perhaps the next year would be wasted if I carried on playing because I need to get into the coaching world and start learning my trade.”
The Times says Tony Adams may be offered the chance to coach at Feyenoord on work experience next season.