By Ian Grant
So, so far another bad summer. With reported uncertainty over several players renewing or extending their contracts.
It is hard to believe Arsenal would contemplate letting Robert Pires, the third highest scorer in the Premiership, leave – even though he’s 32. Meeting him briefly at the Vieira charity dinner – he seemed very happy and ensconsed with his compatriots. Now though AFP and AFX are reporting that it is a likelihood – it is probably more than press speculation. A price of £3m has been quoted. Valencia failed in an £8m pound bid for Pires four years ago.
However, Arsenal are ready to open talks with Jose Antonio Reyes about extending his contract. And Philippe Senderos, is expected to commit his long-term future to the club by signing an improved five-year contract.
And Arsene Wenger’s insistence (and Hill-Woods’) they want Ashley Cole to remain at Arsenal has been welcomed by the Professional Footballers’ Association.
Meanwhile the Sunday Mercury, claims Lauren has ruled out an immediate return to international action with Cameroon. [Save him clashing with Kolo Toure in an upcoming Ivory Coast game].
TRANSFERS
The Mirror run a whisper story that Arsenal are supposedly getting ready to make a players-plus-cash bid for Shaun Wright-Phillips, with David Bentley one of the Gunners on offer.
The Star reports Arsenal have wasted no time in following up Guti’s come-and-get-me plea. His wages would be high, but he’s said he wants to play in England. Highbury representatives have reportedly been in touch with the Real Madrid midfielder”s agent Zoran Vekic in the past 48 hours.
One paper reckons Spurs and Arsenal are chasing Swiss starlet Valon Behrami after the 20 year-old midfielder excelled at the Under-20 World Championships. Italians Verona co-own the player’s registration.
But another says Arsenal are set to fail to land Rennes goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson. And Jose Reina is determined to seal a move to Liverpool despite interest from Arsenal.
The Observer, says Real Madrid are believed to be very close to signing Santos forward Robinho. Reports in Spain claim an increased bid for the player.
Mixed reports are coming in over the proposed Hleb transfer. The Sun says Hleb has begged Stuttgart not to wreck a dream move to Arsenal. The Belarus midfielder wants to join Arsenal but they bid only £4.5m, while the Germans want £11m. The Standard claims £8m would seal it. The Independent says no contact has been made by Arsenal.
A couple of papers are reporting Arsenal have set their sights on £10m rated, 23 year-old Seville striker Julio Baptista. He scored 18 goals for Seville last season, but is not renewing his contract due to a wages dispute and says he wants to play in the Premiership.
COURT
The barrister who put David Dein, on the spot in the High Court last week followed a tricky line of questioning designed to expose the London club’s alleged hypocrisy over the “tapping up” of players was none other than Jonathan Crystal – a former director of Spurs. Good spot by The Times.
The denial by David Dein that the club used “covert” means to sign Gilberto Silva has been supported by Alexandre Kall, the president of Gilberto’s former club, Atletico.
Marseille are reported to have taken the Arsenal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with a hearing on July 25. Marseille claim they had to spend £4million on Bordeaux’s Brazilian midfielder Costa to replace Mattieu Flamini.
TECHNOLOGY
Arsenal’s marketing officer was at a broadband conference last week. And Arsenal are planning a ‘video clips to mobiles’ service, called Iconic Moments. He says: “It could be the Tony Adams goal celebration at Anfield in 1989, Ian Wright’s record-breaking goal, Thierry Henry singlehandedly taking on the Spurs defence, three seasons back . . . although you won’t be able to get the Charlie Nicholas 1971 goal [because of the complex archive rights issues]. This is a powerful genre to experiment with.”
MISCELLANEOUS
Arsenal Ugandan Fans Club has embarked on HIV/AIDS prevention campaign.
US film director, Spike Lee, is writing a part for Thierry Henry. The Inside Man, a heist movie also starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, will begin filming shortly. “Spike reckons Thierry has the talent and charisma to be a star,” said Kaleem Aftab, author of the first authorised biography of Lee.
GROUND
A two-storey perimeter wall in Queensland Road, near the Ashburton Grove site collapsed last week.
Fire rescue crews used heat-seeking equipment to search for workers potentially trapped – but no-one was hurt.
Three vehicles were badly damaged. The Health and Safety Executive has launched an investigation.
ANR weekly editorial: Anti-capitalists fight back
Tony Madden of Highbury High fame was on Sky Sports News this morning, saying that people are now sharing Arsenal season tickets – because prices had gone sky high.
He made a good point that as money has been flooding into football, inflating prices, the wage of the average fan had remained relatively static.
Ties in well with a good article in the Observer about Supporters Trusts – how in 1998 – they were ridiculed, but now are growing apace. It has some great quotes by of all people Perez of Real Madrid, who says football is fundamentally a socialist game, and can’t be run by businesses. At least Real like Barca is run by supporters’ memberships which can vote out the President.
The other point is that the Glazer affair has brought a lot MPs to the fore, with a lot potentially supporting more democratic accountable ownership and changes to the way the game is run. If things are going to change then it has to be by legislation.
Attempt to claw back the unrestrained forces of capitalism, and redress the balance was further enhanced when Lars-Christer Olsson, Uefa’s chief executive said he was concerned by dual ownerships of clubs and has laid out plans for a new Code of Ethics to eradicate bad behaviour by players, managers and fans. Olsson said that Uefa were rewriting their rules on discipline for all involved ready for 2006-07.
Olsson said, in a further swipe at the rampant capitalists trying to rule football: “You can’t run a football club like a business on the stock market.” Good luck mate.