By Ian Grant
The deal for 16 year-old Monaco left back Armand Traore is still on-going – not done and dusted, Wenger said last night.
Reminiscent of 16 year-old Lincoln City defender Jack Hobbs – on the verge of a £500,000 deal after impressing on trial with Liverpool? Arsenal should have had him but for an argument with Lincoln over a sell on fee.
Which leads to the Beast. Most papers and wire services are taking the line the Beast (Julio Baptista) is staying put – doing a personal deal with Barcelona – for a lesser fee next year, but for Spanish citizenship, with Saviola being offered as bait.
But some papers in Spain – and the Daily Express in the UK yesterday (Tony Banks) says Baptista’s statements are seen as posturing for a higher salary at Highbury.
One website goes so far as to say Wenger is upping the bid to £17m, for the Brazilian.
Seville’s President , who stands to lose a lot of money, adds to the feeling that this is not over when he said we shall see what happens.
So there’s some life in the story yet – particularly as the Sun today reports that David Dein flew to Spain to seal a £12.5m deal for the Beast, last night. (If he plays with Dennis Bergkamp – a case of Beauty and the Beast?)
There was a story in some of the early editions yesterday that Chelsea’s Premiership odds had shortened and Arsenal’s lengthened (to the same as Man U’s).
Not surprising now that Chelsea’s financial advantage over Arsenal (squad values and wages, pre-Beast) is over £200m with the addition of Crespo, Del Horno and Wright-Phillips.
A lot of fans from other clubs I talk to are now agreeing about a salary/transfer cap. The Mourinho generated talk about the FA/Premiership favouring Arsenal ignores the fact that they ignored the Football Task Force’s recommendation for a cap. No papers have come out and said they are favouring Chelsea – and Man U for that matter.
On to other news: Illustrating the difficulty of reporting transfer stories, the same broadsheet, the same day, had these two paragraphs:
‘Arsenal were in talks with Real Madrid last night about signing Guti, the Spain midfield player. At 28, Guti is seen by Arsene Wenger as someone to provide the experience he needs, with Patrick Vieira having joined Juventus and while younger players at the club are developing.’
And 12 hours later: ‘“Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, categorically ruled out a bid for Guti, the Real Madrid midfield player, last night. The player’s agent had suggested that his client would be interested in reinforcing a Highbury midfield depleted by the sale of Patrick Vieira to Juventus, but Wenger was unequivocal. “These things are either yes or no, and it’s no,” he said.’
American full back Frankie Simek , 20, is having trials with Sheffield Wednesday after being released by Arsenal.
Jay Bothroyd is on the verge of clinching a move to Germany. He is on a week long trial with Hertha Berlin.
The E.Standard says Sol Campbell faces a battle to be fit for the start of the season as he tries to overcome a calf muscle injury. He didn’t play against Weiz.
Arsenal won 0-5 with Thierry Henry scoring two of the Arsenal goals while Mathieu Flamini, David Bentley and Dennis Bergkamp were also on target. It was on Arsenal TV – but why are Mac users excluded?
Wenger said it was a good workout – everyone got a game. Henry was getting sharper. Reyes’ injury isn’t serious. On Alexandre Song the triallist from Bastia, he said he’d make a decision after the end of the trial.
And finally the Sun reports that the Arsenal captain’s namesake won a race in Congham. At a world snail racing contest, Thierry Henry won by finishing the 13” course in 3 minutes 22 seconds.