New contracts
Nicklas Bendtner and Denilson have signed new “long-term contracts” with the Arsenal, indicating clearly Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy and where he likes to spend his money.
Wenger said: “Nicklas has impressed me highly with his application and determination over the last season, you can see that he wants to compete at the highest level and win things with his team-mates”.
“He scored a number of important goals for us last season and he will look to replicate that again this year. However, it’s not just about the goals, his all round contribution has improved and will continue to do so.”
On Denilson, who joined from Sao Paulo in 2006, Wenger said: “Denilson’s contribution to the club last season was outstanding. His work rate really was exceptional and it is valuable to have players that we know will perform to the very last minute in such a demanding league.”
Discriminatory ban
Arsenal will have until early next week to lodge an appeal, against the discriminatory two match Champions League ban on Eduardo for alleged ‘diving’.
UEFA rules stipulate there are three working days from receipt of the reasoned explanation to form a counter argument. but the tone of their statement makes it all but certain that the ban will be contested.
Arsenal’s statement indicates an appeal is likely: “We have been deeply frustrated by the perfunctory and apparently arbitrary process that UEFA has followed in this instance.”
Wenger will discuss the issue at the elite coaches meeting in Nyon this week.
The timing of the announcement of the ban with a quarter of an hour of the transfer deadline remaining, was not the best.
Diaby
He is quoted as saying [Sun]: “I have to forget it. I made a silly mistake and it’s difficult to explain what happened. The goalkeeper called out to me to leave the ball but it’s all my fault.
“Even when I look back at the images I ask myself what happened and I tell myself that it’s just not possible. I was so wound up and soon after I rushed my shot because I didn’t apply myself properly.”
He added: “I hope to play in a more central position. I prefer our 4-3-3 system as I don’t play in a wide role.”
Rob Bagchi in The Guardian somewhat unecessarily glorifies the own goal as a connoisseurs’ collectors item.
Obscene Chanting
James Morris Hackney has a letter published in The Guardian including: “I am astounded by the British media’s failure to pick up on the vile chanting directed at Arsene Wenger by Manchester United fans.
“Wenger, with enormous dignity, still refuses to even mention the treatment he receives. Contrast that to Sir Alex Ferguson, who was very quick to complain two years ago about sporadic abuse from a handful of fans sat around him at the Emirates. Rightfully, Arsenal were quick to rectify that situation.”
Anyone witnessing his performance in the press conference could not have failed to have been impresssed by his coolness after what happened.
Finance
Money rules the world, as many running businesses in the current climate would know, and Arsene Wenger subscribes when he says [Telegraph]: “The great days of the Premier League will disappear,”
“Let’s say a guy who gets pounds 1 million [gross] earns pounds 600,000 [net]. With 50 per cent tax you have to increase wages by 20 per cent to keep him at pounds 600,000.
“In Spain they pay 25 per cent tax for the first five years. It is a lost battle. We are privileged people and we can’t complain but compared to other countries it is a disadvantage for the Premier League.”
Deloitte, said as a direct result of the difference in the tax rate, English clubs would have to spend 70% more than a Spanish club to satisfy a net annual wage demand from an overseas player of three million.
It said giving a European player a net annual salary of 3m euros (£2.6m) would cost an English club 6.8m euros. But a Spanish club needs only pay 4m euros to deliver the same net salary.
The UK figure is also higher than clubs in France (6.7m euros), Italy (5.7m euros) and Germany (5.4m euros) would have to pay – which may account for the lack of targets coming into the club.
Deloitte points out that overall Premier League spending has unexpectedly fallen for the first time in more than six years and foreign talent has slowed significantly, with only a third of all Premier League spending going toward recruiting players from abroad compared to around half last year, which no doubt had a bearing on potential foreign targets coming into the club.