ALEXANDRE ABREU GONTIJO, ANR’s Brazilian correspondent, tells me that Tuttosport reported a meeting between David Dein and Roberto Bettega of Juventus.
Two transfer executives have dinner and talk about a deal.
These two have done business before with Henry and Vieira.
Would Arsene sell Gilberto ?
I hope not, since he’s one of Arsenal’s few experienced players.
In the summer of 2002, Arsene phoned PSV chairman Harry van Raaij every day to talk about Mark van Bommel. of PSV. But Harry wanted £15 million and would not budge on that price. I liked the ruthless van Bommel, who reminded me of Graeme Souness.
Ideally, Arsenal need an enforcer in central midfield. A big, tough athlete who can tackle and intercept and pass very well. Signing MVB might have allowed him to sell PV4 earlier than he did, after playing them together for a year.
But Arsene could not afford £15 million for one player, so he bought Gilberto for £4.5 million.So he now has a Gilberto-Fabregas midfield and neither is a great tackler. That limits his team.
There was an odd story about Berbatov yesterday.
It was said in The Independent by Sam Wallace that Martin Jol decided to rest Berbatov from the FA Cup quarter-final at Chelsea, to save him for the second leg against Braga tonight, where Spurs are 3-2 up.
The directors had a board meeting about it. And the board insisted that Berbatov played against Chelsea, which he did for 66 minutes, going off when Spurs were winning 3-1.
Today Martin Jol has emphatically denied that story. He rubbished it. He totally pooh-poohed it.
Which Jol has to do. All managers deny stories like that.
And Berbatov is doubtful for tonight’s Uefa Cup second leg.