By Myles Palmer
A WET MONDAY morning in London begins with a burst of phone calls from stressing Gooners.
What do we think about Stam and Kluivert?
Do I believe Kewell to Liverpool?
Is goalkeeper Sebastian Saja of San Lorenzo any good?
Unfortunately, I don’t follow the minutiae of what Harry Kewell’s agent said yesterday compared to what he said last week.
Broadly, there is not much money about, so nobody is buying.
Footballers contracts end June 30, which is today, and July will be a month of negotiations, agent-speak and gossip.
And it’s quite hard to read between the lines.
We assume Arsene was commentating on the final of the Confederation Cup yesterday and we assume he thinks Thierry Henry should be in a hammock in Guadeloupe in June, not scoring golden goals in the 97th minute in Paris.
We assume Arsene will be back in London today, or this week,and we assume he is on the case and on his mobile.
Beyond that,your guess is as good as mine.
If Arsene has to pay straight cash for Kewell, it might not happen.
He should save his cash and spend it on a defender.
If Kewell goes to Liverpool for higher wages than Arsenal offer him, he is an idiot.
We don’t know if Rustu and Abiatti turned Arsenal down on wages or for other reasons.
JAAP STAM would be good because he is experienced and hates Alex Ferguson.
SAJA is 24 and is a brave modern keeper who likes to come off his line and out of his box.
That is the type of keeper Arsenal need.
A pressing team needs a bold, decisive keeper-sweeper, not a stay-at-home crock who peaked eight years ago.
The main reason it’s not very exciting is that players don’t want to leave Arsenal.
Wiltord, Jeffers and Kanu are still there.
If those three were sold, it would be exciting.
But if they stay, it means Arsene has very little cash.
On Kanu, I should have corrected a mistake of several months ago.
He is not out of contract.He has another two years left!
After my ANR mistake I was reliably informed he had ONE MORE YEAR. It now appears he has two more years.
KLUIVERT?
I will have plenty to say if Kluivert signs.
COUPET is a brave, solid keeper and I hope Arsenal sign him,rather than Saja, since I have not seen Saja play and he has six years less experience than Coupet.
But who knows?
Arsenal have been linked with every goalkeeper in the world in the last two years.
It’s boring because it has been going on for so long.
So I refuse to stress about which keeper Arsenal will buy.
But it IS a very important decision.
I hope Arsene gets it right this time.
LESSONS of last season? I’m still thinking about that one.
That will be an interesting piece to write, and when I’ve figured it out, and have the time, I will write it here.
30th June 2003.