Wenger joins fight for Gareth Barry
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Adebayor demands an £80,000-a-week deal from Arsenal and threatens to quit if he doesn't get it
Arsene Wenger fears his young Arsenal team are in danger of breaking up after it emerged that Emmanuel Adebayor has demanded £80,000 a week to stay at the club. The 24-year-old striker signed a new contract last summer worth a weekly £35,000, but he has told Wenger he wants to be paid in line with the top players in the Barclays Premier League.
The manager fears a salary and transfer explosion this summer, with Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool expected to spend upwards of £50m each on top-class signings.
Despite claiming he can compete with United and Chelsea on the field over the next few years, Wenger has privately expressed fears that Arsenal will soon be too far behind the top teams in financial terms.
Mathieu Flamini became the first to walk out when he agreed a move to AC Milan earlier in the week, turning down Arsenal's £55,000-a-week offer, and it is feared others may follow.
Alexander Hleb is determined to move to Inter Milan in the summer and Jens Lehmann has played his last game. Adebayor, after suffering an initial knockback, is expected to make more noises following Sunday's final game of the season at Sunderland.
His agent Stephane Courbis said: 'Now is not the time to talk about his contract. We'll wait until next week.' Hleb's agent Nikolai Shpilevski said last night: 'Alexander is preparing to make one of the most important moves of his life. He is leaving Arsenal even though they want to offer him a new long-term contract and better conditions. There's no way back now.'
Wenger claimed his current team could eclipse the 2004 'Invincibles', but Arsenal are falling behind the top clubs in Europe in terms of transfer fees and salaries. Despite claims from former chief executive Keith Edelman that the manager has a pot of gold at his disposal, it is thought Wenger's hands are tied in the transfer market, largely due to the crippling cost of their two-year old Emirates Stadium.
All that could be solved if the club were to accept the help of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, but chairman Peter Hill-Wood and director Danny Fiszman say no.
Arsenal, along with Chelsea, have been offered the chance to sign Thierry Henry, but Wenger has turned down the opportunity. Henry was deemed a 'special case' when he signed a contract worth £130,000 a week at the Emirates in the aftermath of the defeat in the 2006 Champions League final, but Arsenal are no longer in a position to pay that kind of figure.
Chelsea, who bid £50m for Henry when Roman Abramovich arrived in English football, also considered taking him back from Barcelona but have decided against it.
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ade, you should prove us another fabulous season before starting opening your lion mouth. you could be a one off season player.
c ronaldo get that salary when he prove in consecutive season what a consistent goals scorer or provider he is!!
Arsenal should sell him!!!
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Got existing thread in Arsenal FC already
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Wenger joins fight for Gareth Barry
Arsenal are preparing to enter the race to sign Gareth Barry and are also considering a bid for £12 million rated Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani. Arsene Wenger has drawn up a shortlist of players he wants to add to his squad this summer and his priority is beefing up a midfield that has lost Frenchmen Mathieu Flamini and Lassana Diarra since the turn of the year.
Wenger is searching for a central midfield anchorman to play alongside Cesc Fabregas, who has told the Arsenal manager that he will not be seduced by Real Madrid or Barcelona into a return to Spain this summer.
The Arsenal manager is weighing up bids for Aston Villa's Barry, who has been a mainstay of the England squad this season since moving to a more central, holding midfield role under Martin O'Neill, and 23-year-old Aquilani, who has won four Italy caps and is also attracting interest from Manchester United.
Wenger faces strong competition for Barry from Liverpool, who made a players-plus-cash offer of around £10 million for the England midfielder last week, and Chelsea. O'Neill and Barry will hold talks early next week to discuss the player's future and, while the Villa manager has been publicly bullish about the prospect of holding on to the 27-year-old, privately he accepts that Barry will move on to a club in the summer who can offer him Champions League football and the prospect of a significant hike on his £42,000-a-week salary.
Wenger was disappointed to lose Diarra to Portsmouth in January and Flamini to AC Milan this week and has accepted that he might have to spend the bulk of his £30 million summer budget on replacements for the pair, even though veteran Brazilian Gilberto is considering a U-turn and staying at the Emirates Stadium.
Such is Wenger's desire to strengthen his squad that even if he was able to steal Barry from under Liverpool's noses, he would still pursue a move for Aquilani, who impressed the Frenchman during Roma's last-16 Champions League defeat to United in March.
Wenger is also planning on buying a left-back to understudy Gael Clichy and a left-winger to provide competition for the injury-prone Tomas Rosicky. One player who the Arsenal manager is desperate to hang on to is Alexander Hleb, who has been linked with a move to Inter Milan.
"We want to keep Hleb, we want him to be part of our team next year," said Wenger. "It is as simple as that. We have lost one player [Flamini], we do not want to lose more." Wenger again refused to confirm who would captain the team next season.
William Gallas came in for criticism when he broke down in the centre-circle following the last-gasp draw at Birmingham"I don't share the view that Gallas is a bad captain. He is a captain who is very committed and tries to work hard for the team," said Wenger.
"He had an outburst at Birmingham, but I still believe today that, even if that was a mistake, that was not why we did not win the championship. "That would be too easy as an excuse because there are other incidents. That would be a cheap excuse. "At the time of the Birmingham game we were five points in front and everybody had been praising his captaincy. "I believe we all make mistakes and we had to come back as a unit and try to win the championship."
However, Wenger would not commit on just who would wear the armband come August. "It the captaincy issue has been raised by a lot of newspapers, but I must say I have not looked at the situation yet," he said.
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buy barry to replace flamini.
Keep Gilberto.
sell adebayor.
buy Lyon benzema or martins(newcastle).
sell hoyte.
Keep senderos ( he play inLeague cup, FA cup, or against weaker team in EPL, backup to gallas, toure, Song).
i think with this recruitment, it is enough. we have some good youth player coming thru. give them chance!!
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I'd rather Wenger get Nigel Reo-Coker . Younger and more dynamic
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I think its still a waste to spend another $10 to $12 million now when they could have used this money to give Flamini a little more... Diarra too...
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Originally posted by zocoss:
I think its still a waste to spend another $10 to $12 million now when they could have used this money to give Flamini a little more... Diarra too...
If Arsenal were to pay Flamini a little more , this will unsettle the team ... Every player would ask for a pay increment ...
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Originally posted by Trump_Card:
If Arsenal were to pay Flamini a little more , this will unsettle the team ... Every player would ask for a pay increment ...
Not really lah... His reported salary at Milan is $65,000 a week, About $10 to $15,000 more from Arsenal's $50 to $55,000 offer...Since they can pay Fabregas $70,000 they can also pay Flamini $65k what...Afterall, compare to buying a new player will have to count the transfer fee of around $12m... And at present Barry is getting $42k a week you think he is going to expect the same salary with Pool also interested on him?
Ok lah, Flamini go over for $65k include tax free... Arsenal's offer here $55k excluding tax yet... But still about $20k difference only what... 1 year extra $1m, 4 to 5 yrs only extra another $4 or $5 million only mah... still lesser than Barry's transfer fee already... and that one can drag 5 yrs payment somemore...
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there is something call pay structure, if you allow a player of a certain class to get more then what the rest of the same class players get then chances is that those in that same class will also demand for a pay increase, hence triggering more problem, so sometime selling one player to slient the rest might at times be the best choice, and as far as AW is concerned he sure knows what he is doing given that he had proven his worth with the likes of Henry, Veria, Campbell etc..
also alot of times move are made possible by their agent, agreed that agents also makes money when their players sign a new contract but if they are being transferred to another club agents usually tends to make more then just signing an extension even more so when that player gets a free transfer
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Ok lah, Flamini go over for $65k include tax free... Arsenal's offer here $55k excluding tax yet... But still about $20k difference only what... 1 year extra $1m, 4 to 5 yrs only extra another $4 or $5 million only mah... still lesser than Barry's transfer fee already... and that one can drag 5 yrs payment somemore...
Flamini has proven himself only 1season out of the 4 season he spent at arsenal, that why wenger did not renew his contract earlier.
another reason which agent/player dont mention is looking for immediate trophy elsewhere. this is something AC/ Inter can provide but arsenal could not do so in the short term.
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Originally posted by Saltiga:
there is something call pay structure, if you allow a player of a certain class to get more then what the rest of the same class players get then chances is that those in that same class will also demand for a pay increase, hence triggering more problem, so sometime selling one player to slient the rest might at times be the best choice, and as far as AW is concerned he sure knows what he is doing given that he had proven his worth with the likes of Henry, Veria, Campbell etc..
also alot of times move are made possible by their agent, agreed that agents also makes money when their players sign a new contract but if they are being transferred to another club agents usually tends to make more then just signing an extension even more so when that player gets a free transfer
Tho I agree with your point in principle, But i feel its quite difficult to apply it to Flamini who was a player out of contract... Moreover, many believed he was their most consistent player throughout the season... even more than Fabregas who seemed to have gone missing from Feb to April...
I belief they should have classed him in the same group as Fabregas and Gallas if you call it a top level pay structure class... Perhaps they did not... But 3, 4 months ago Wenger came out and said confidently that Flamini will sign and he had no worries he will leave... My guess is either he was too confident Flamini won't leave his comfort zone at Arsenal just for a little bit more money... or he didn't have any idea what was going on... Coming out at the end to say he was disappointed he left won't do any good already...
Having a pay structure is great but you cannot short changed your staff also right... Now we already heard Helb could also be leaving, and Adebayor demanding a new deal of £80,000-a-week...
If they want to continue to attract good players, this kind of news can't be helpful... I belief the board need to re-think and change their policy soon or Wenger's won't be able to hold them together on his own...
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ARSENAL could snap up whizkid Samir Nasri for just £12million this summer.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has been put on red alert by Marseille's admission they will sell the France midfielder.
Despite tying down Nasri to a new deal until 2012, the French club have admitted their star player has a clause in his contract that would force them to sell him for £12m.
Marseille president Pape Diouf revealed: "Samir could leave each season, if we receive an offer in between £12m and £16m.
"But we are trying to envisage things from another angle and our aim isn't to weaken our team."
Wenger is a long-term admirer of Nasri and with Alex Hleb on the verge of quitting the club, he has signalled his intention to sign a creative midfielder.
Nasri, 20, has already played seven times for his country and claims he would be open to offers from Europe's top clubs.
He said: "At the moment, I am not thinking about what I am going to do.
"But I will not leave for another French club, that is for sure.
"I will not leave for leaving's sake."
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nasir is a gem!
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Please get Nasri and Ben Arfa !
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The departure of flamini and hleb is not a setback..is just the beginning of something better to come
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yeah always trust arsene wenger to find replacements, he's damn good at spotting talent.
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Originally posted by reyes:
ade, you should prove us another fabulous season before starting opening your lion mouth. you could be a one off season player.
c ronaldo get that salary when he prove in consecutive season what a consistent goals scorer or provider he is!!
Arsenal should sell him!!!
i agree with you. arsenal should sell him. he is not that good.
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ARSENAL have joined the race for Brazilian ace Diego, according to the player's father.
The Werder Bremen forward is wanted by a host of Europe's top clubs, including Chelsea.
But the Gunners are also interested along with Real Madrid and Juventus.
Diego's father Djar Cunha, who also acts as the star's agent, said: "Real, Arsenal and Juve love my son.
"I am not happy with the situation at Bremen. The dream of Diego is to play in Champions League."
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But overall, he scored more goals than Torres leh... How ca you get rid of a striker who score more than Torres?
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his service is so much more then torres..
if torres was in arsenal, arsenal would've been champions by now.
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guyz latest news i heard is arsenal already SIGNED Ben Arfa from lyon..anyone can confirm?!!
the news here but the source they did not state..isit TheSun?
this may be truely great news
Arsenal win race for £16m Ben Arfa
Arsenal have beaten Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea to sign Lyon winger Hatem Ben Arfa, according to reports.The Sun says Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has tied up a £16m deal for the Tunisian-born star.
The fee has risen after Ben Arfa helped spearhead Lyon's Champions League campaign, which ended in defeat at Manchester United.
Ben Arfa has recently broken into the French national squad after a series of impressive displays for the French champions. -
if indeed ben arfa is joining, that is good news, he is definitely more attacking minded than hleb. that is what arsenal needed, more firepower from midfield.
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barry will hlep with the english quota rule too if it was ever implemented!
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Originally posted by SiMiLaiEh*:
guyz latest news i heard is arsenal already SIGNED Ben Arfa from lyon..anyone can confirm?!!
the news here but the source they did not state..isit TheSun?
this may be truely great news
Arsenal win race for £16m Ben Arfa
Arsenal have beaten Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea to sign Lyon winger Hatem Ben Arfa, according to reports.The Sun says Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has tied up a £16m deal for the Tunisian-born star.
The fee has risen after Ben Arfa helped spearhead Lyon's Champions League campaign, which ended in defeat at Manchester United.
Ben Arfa has recently broken into the French national squad after a series of impressive displays for the French champions.<!---<br />MPUMinCharsCutOff:210 PageLength:359<br />MPUPositionFromStart:250 MPUPositionRange:1000<br />hasVideoOrImage:False<br />-->
<!--- NO IMAGE OR VIDEO -->Not confirmed yet ... but I hope this is for real