By Ian Grant
Busy news day for Arsenal.
Aleksander Hleb has joined from Stuttgart for a fee which could reach up to £10m. The right sided Belarus midfield international played 137 times for Stuttgart, and in all their Champions League games last season.
And appetites whetted by expectation of Robinho, Arsenal got a Robin back at least, as van Persie was released from custody, although is still a suspect.
The public prosecutor said: “The investigation still goes on but it is not necessary to hold him any longer. There are no other restrictions imposed on him. He is free to go anywhere he wants.”
Stuart Taylor signed for Aston Villa, on a four year contract for a reported £1m fee. Taylor, 24, made 30 senior appearances for Arsenal. It paves the way for a new goalkeeper.
And Arsene Wenger, fresh from saying he wants to sign two world class players, and put his plans into action to win back the title, has given his blessing for Jeremie Aliadiere to be loaned out to Celtic for a year, if the player so desires. Wenger is said to be keen to get Aliadiere on a new three year deal. He has one year to run.
Arsenal are also offering Philippe Senderos, 20, a three year extension that will keep him at the club until 2010.
Meanwhile Academy chief Liam Brady says he thinks Ashley Cole will sign a new deal to stay at Arsenal. He said that Arsene Wenger wants him to stay and Cole wants to stay, so it is case of banging heads together.
City wires, I subscribe to, have been buzzing from an Arsenal PR offensive, reporting that Arsenal match-day revenues should top Manchester United’s in the 2006/7 season. Expected take is £80m compared to United’s current £60m.
The Emirates Stadium will have 22,000 more seats than at Highbury, with around 11,000 “premium” seats, including 2,000 boxes – generating revenue equal to the entire current take from all seat sales at Highbury. Extra revenue will be from the 100,000 orders for food and drink each match-day.
After all, there are eight kitchens for the dining rooms attached to the executive boxes, 35 catering concessions, seven lounge bars and four sports bars which can take 7,200 drinkers.
But that is so long as the attendance levels keep up. We recently reported that Premiership attendances are on a downward trend.
Although football finance expert David Conn, writing in the S.Mirror says Arsenal’s sums make far more sense than Glazer’s arithmetic at United, he sounds a warning.
“Arsenal are a club that has taken on colossal debt in a bid to keep up with first United and now Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea. They simply had to get a bigger stadium to compete with the revenue of their rivals.
“It is a solid investment in bricks and mortar. But Arsenal’s future will depend on being successful on the pitch because they need to fill the stadium with 60,000 people every match to pay the interest on their loans.
“And with Abramovich pumping in hundreds of millions at Stamford Bridge, success may not be that easy to guarantee at Highbury any more.”