Alex Hleb is on record as saying that Arsene is the coach from God, the best manager he’s ever had.
And he does love his mate Cesc.
So why would he want to go ?
Because, at 27, he knows Arsene would not keep him around after he is 30 ?
Because he wants to be the youngster in a team of South American senior citizens at the San Siro ? Because he wants to play in front of 12,000 people at Catania?
Because it’s a lot more money? Because Italian clubs write their contracts offshore so the players don’t pay so much tax?
In three years, Hleb has won no trophies at Arsenal. He joined to play with Vieira, just as Rosicky joined play with Pires, not to replace him. Both Frenchman had left before their new seasons started in 2005 and 2006.
Does Hleb think he won’t win anything playing in a youngish team that can’t hold onto a lead ?
BTW, has Arsene been threatening to report Inter to FIFA for about two weeks? Why not report them as soon as it happens?
The “Webster clause” has never been invoked. I’ve heard it’s complicated. Indeed, I even heard that a footballer who wants to buy out his contract has to appear before a tribunal and explain how he has been maltreated.
Obviously, a mutiny by Flamini and Hleb hurts a developmental manager like Arsene Wenger far more than it would hurt a chequebook manager like Rafa Benitez.
The sacking of David Dein left Arsene isolated. The exit of Flamini and Hleb leaves Fabregas isolated.
As I’ve been saying, this is a massive summer for Arsenal Football Club.They can’t wait till August 31 to sign players now.
My first piece on Hleb was : ANR Breaking News : Hleb’s gone, let’s get Kranjcar and that was 15 days ago.
I’m shocked this morning to see that Rafa is in for Seydou Keita, the £10 million Mali midfielder who caught my eye at Sevilla this season. He is the anchorman this team needs but Arsene would never sign a 28-year old with no resale value.
I hear Usmanov was furious at being kept out of the loop before the sacking of MD Keith Edelman .
I reckon there’s a lot going on right now that we don’t know about, so May could be a news-packed month.
West Ham have offered Freddie Ljungberg £3 million to tear up his contract.
What did they think they were signing? Whose bright idea was it to give Freddie a four-year contract on £3.9 million a year? He has scored two goals in 25 league appearances.
Is football an industry full of ridiculous incompetents? Yes, but so are most industries.
Age catches up with every player and it caught up with Freddie years ago. It caught up with Cantona, Zola, Keane, Shearer, all of them.
Freddie played with Bergkamp. He can look back and say : I played with Dennis Bergkamp, what a player he was ! I played with Patrick Vieira too. And I scored in two consecutive FA Cup Finals in Cardiff.
Frank Rijkaard’s former No2 Henk ten Cate was the studio guest with Balague for Real Madrid v Barcelona.
One of those games where the bookies were giving you money : Real 4 Barcelona 1.
It was interesting to see and hear Henk, after all those stories about how confrontational he can be, talking about Rijkaard and the dismal performance of his once awesome champions.
Watching it, Henk was visibly upset and said, “Only three or four players really cared, I don’t want to mention names. It’s devastating to see Frank like this. This is the guy who put Barcelona on top of the world. Too many egos, too many stars, it’s a cycle. You have to change. They stuck too long with the same group, didn’t refresh it quick enough.”
Does Thierry Henry have a future at Barcelona?
“Playing like this, I don’t think so. There’s a blacklist and a whitelist – and he’s not on the whitelist.”