Arsenal Transfer Rumours And General Chat

Sky reporting Henry signs for Barca

Now that I've slept on the news of Henry's departure I find it's not as disagreeable as last night.

Yes, Arsenal are losing a great(perhaps their best ever) player.

But perhaps Henry's best years at Arsenal are past and cannot be repeated?

Henry was undoubtedly at his best with Pires beside him. Ask any premiership defender from those years what they biggest fear was and they'll tell you it was those two running at you down the left hand side. Nowadays they'll tell you it's Ronaldo running at you or Drogba in the air. Could Henry overtake them again? I'm not so sure.

I remember long before I had heard of Henry wondering how we could ever do as well as Ian Wright again. Players come and go, even the great ones, and they are all eventually replaced.

The key to replacing Henry is time, not money. There are no good options out there at the moment. I feel Anelka would be a step back and to be honest given the potential shown by last years team(without Henry), if they develop well in the off-season, ANYONE coming in might not get a game.

Basically I don't feel the squad needs restrengthing given the current options out there. Yes, we could get screwed over by injuries but that can happen regardless of how many players you have. Arsenal have a team who are just getting used to the new stadium, and for many of them a new league. The last thing we need to do is bring in a load of new faces and instigate another 'transition year'.

For me we have a first team squad with the potential to be as good as anything in the premiership.

People worry about Man U strengthening by spending 34million adding Nani and Anderson. I've seen Nani a few times including in the recent under 21's Euros, and he doesn't seem up to much.

In Arsenal's corner I give you out super young first team and Denilson, Bentender, Vela, Diaby, Walcott and on and on.

Man U need some young players because in reality, they have nothing coming through their ranks. Rossi, for example is described by Fergie as 'the best finisher I has ever seen' but will never get a game when it counts. They have youth as regards Rooney and Ronaldo but they're automatic first team choices already with little back up. If you took the aging Scholes and Giggs from the team, they'd have difficulty filling the bench effectively.

Arsenal, given their current set up, have a team for the next 5-6 years. Man U don't so they added some young(slightly overpriced) players.

For me the worrying this is the Dein/Henry/Wenger relationship and the fact that two have now left. Henry has said some stuff about this being a source of distress but in truth it's easier to say that then: 'I want to go to Barca and be part of the best attacking line up club football has ever seen'.

I feel Wenger wouldn't have been extending his contract at this point regardless of the Dein exit. There's no way he'll go to Madrid at the moment, that's simply the Madrid press machine doing it's thing.
For me there's no chance Wenger would leave halfway through rebuilding with a year left on his contract for a Madrid job that comes up every 3 months.

The worrying thing is that it's definitely more possible that he'd leave now then it was at this point last year. Part of this is the disapproval of change by Hill Wood and the other upper class dinosaurs that ultimately control Arsenal.
I realise that they don't want to lose the club but I think they realise that if their lack of ambition causes them to lose Wenger, the backlash and inevitable fan revolt will eventually see them ousted.

Hill-Wood has already gone from 'we don't want his money or his sort at Arsenal' (which was basically oldschool racism) to agreeing on an increased profile and level of involvement for Kronke. In short the board are not stupid and know that Wenger is more the heartbeat of Arsenal then they are. If keeping Wenger happy means American investment then expect them to bow to it.

That said, I don't think Wenger wants a lot of money to spend this year. I rather think that he wants a guarantee that, in future, if a player like say Essien comes along, i.e. very expensive but guaranteed to produce at top level for many years, at a cost 25 or 30 million then he will be allocated the funds necessary.

In short don't worry about it Arsenal fans. It's a sad day because we're losing the great Thierry but not because of the future of Arsenal.

Archimedes wrote:

Foster, Pique, Evans, Wellbeck, Cathcart, Rossi, Nani, Anderson, Ronaldo, Rooney.....

Yup United sure dont have a team for the next 5-6 years...

Not really the place for it but my point was:

if you take the first teamers (ronaldo & rooney) out of that and the new signings (nani, anderson) you'd see united's future, including backup, as the mighty list of:

foster, pique, welbek, carthcart, & rossi.

This is why united needed to strengthen. Don't take it so personally.

Aside, I bet you 100 quid per player that none of these get 8 premiership starts!!

So the Henry thing aside, any idea who's coming in...or rather what type of players are coming in?

(Pepe, I'm looking at you in particular.)

Heard anything about what positions Arsenal will be strengthening in?

Today the papers are all saying two new strikers but tbh a lot of that is just filling column inches. One striker in addition to VanP & Ade would do fine.

The sales of Henry & Reyes should add 25 million or so to the transfer budget but I really can't see how Arsenal could spend that at the moment.

I'd love to see a new player come into the RMF position as I wouldn't like to be reliant on Hleb for another year. Problem is I can't think of a single person who could slot straight in. Guily is leaving Barca and I've always liked him but I dunno if he fits the mould.

As per usual we'll probably find out about the big signings about 10 mins before they happen. Sending out rumours doesn't seem to be Wenger's way of doing business, principally because his interest can add to a players cost.