ARSENAL GET RID OF THEM

18/07/2008 10:36
Flamini, Hleb, Gilberto, Then Adebayor – Get Rid Of Them All!


Arsenal are facing a pre-season exodus as players seek more lucrative deals elsewhere. Who is to blame? The coach for failing to keep a squad together, or is this just another example of players’ greed?

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It wouldn’t be a traditional summer in the Wenger regime without relentless speculation linking the big guns away from the Grove. At the start of the decade it was Patrick Vieira and then Thierry Henry who were courted publicly by Europe’s big clubs and the press took this baton and ran as far as they could with it. Who is the key cog in the current Arsenal side? Cesc Fabregas is the first name that springs to mind, yet it is his surrounding players who have moved on to supposed greener, cash-laden, pastures.

Arse-lona

Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, Giovanni Van Bronkhurst, Henry and now Aliaksandr Hleb have all moved from Arsenal to Barcelona. Even Sylvinho found his way there via Celta Vigo. They may have left for differing reasons - the transfer fee for Overmars too good to turn down, the chance to fulfil a dream and start afresh for Henry - but while the first four had given good years at Arsenal, Aliaksandr still had a few more left, yet the money on the Catalan table was perhaps too tempting for the Belarussian.

Flamini

The heel-snapping Frenchman has a modicum of talent. This time last season a move to Birmingham City had been mooted. Fast-forward one year after playing for his transfer and he will be entertaining San Siro with the energy that the Emirates grew to admire. But Wenger couldn’t keep hold of him. A transfer seemed the more favourable option to a midfielder who may have felt constantly out-of-favour in seasons gone by.

Hleb

The night before Arsenal’s most important game of the season (to that point) – the Champions League game against the Milanese – Aliaksandr was licking his lips at the thought of ice cream with Inter officials - allegedly. However, when Mourinho took over, the rumours subsided and Hleb has since set the record straight. Regardless, Hleb is not a Jose player, after all. Instead he has joined Barcelona, as perhaps Deco’s replacement, as opposed to Ronaldinho’s, which many are suggesting. What were his motives in leaving? The thought of having a better chance at winning trophies? The money? Or both?

Gilberto

A former World Cup winner displaced last season by Mathieu. He was arguably Arsenal’s fourth, even fifth choice midfielder for much of that campaign. What Arsenal have lost is one of their most experienced heads. One of the few remaining ‘invincibles’; a former vice-captain who knew what it took to win; and a character who could have taught players like Alexandre Song or Abou Diaby a few things about the art of midfield play. How did Wenger allow the 31-year old to leave? Perhaps he felt it was Gilberto’s last opportunity for first-team football, and Wenger doesn’t normally stand in his player’s way if they so desperately want to leave.

Adebayor?

A lot has been said about the so-far one-season wonder. Someone who tallied 30 goals in one season is perhaps deserving of a pay rise. But to want parity with what Henry was earning after he had broken the club’s all-time goal-scoring record is one of three things: megalomaniacal; the cause of agent intervention and therefore misguidance; or newspaper pap. You have to wonder though, if the Togolese captain knows he will be offered this wage elsewhere then why not leave?

Getting Rid

So where does Arsene Wenger fit into all of this? Potentially three first-teamers and one former first teamer could leave the Emirates this summer. I can’t help but think back to the summer of 2006, when Cristiano Ronaldo wanted out of Old Trafford, but Sir Alex Ferguson’s man-management persuaded the Portuguese wing-wizard to not only stay in Manchester, but also pushed for the public make-up between the winker and Wayne Rooney. With hindsight, the Flamini situation could have been avoided. Arsene must have felt comfortable that he would stay, if he didn’t, then why grant Diarra the move he craved midseason?

Despite the move to the Emirates bringing in -sums for every home game, the accrued debt from the construction of it is still proving costly, because while they pay off the loans, Arsenal appear to be losing players in a team that Arsene has long been building. If this is going to be the motif for every pre-season, then the Gunners will forever be a team in transition.

Alan Dawson

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