Possible Flamini Replacement #1: Gareth Barry
3 comments April 23rd, 2008
 Hello and welcome to a new series on Gunnerblog: Possible Flamini Replacements.
“But he’s not neccessarily leaving?”, I hear you irritatingly cry.
“No, he’s not,” says I. “But he probably is, especially after Juventus offered him a deal worth £3m a year. And plus, idle speculation is fun”.
“Oh,” says you. “Fair enough”.
With suggestions that Juventus officials are arriving in London today to discuss a deal with Flamini, it’s almost certain that Arsene is already pondering potential replacements.Â
There doesn’t seem to be an obvious one within the squad. Gilberto is ageing fast, whilst Denilson and Diaby are still too raw to be trusted over the course of an entire season. Lassana Diarra’s arrival last Summer had seemed to secure the future of our midfield for the next few seasons – Flamini’s departure would make the blow of losing Diarra hit all the harder.
When replacing Flamini, the ideal signing would be a tenacious central midfielder with strong tackling, good passing range, and football intelligence. It would also help if, like Flamini, they were versatile and possessed good stamina.
Gareth Barry has all of these things, and more.Â
“What else?” you interject. For whatever reason, you’re annoyingly talkative today, and somewhat antsy. Usually I can’t get a word out of you. I think I prefer it that way.
“Well,” I respond, visibly tiring of your constant negativity, “he also has the following:”
- A fantastic left foot
- The ability to provide backup for Gael Clichy
- The ability to play wide on the left of midfield, where he is infinitely better than Abou Diaby
- Leadership
- Premier League experience
The last two of those are pretty much invaluable. Barry has captained Aston Villa for a couple of years now, with real credit. Furthermore, he’s a player born and bred in this league. Any settling in period would be significantly reduced: this man is a ready-made replacement at the peak of his career.
And strangely, it’s exactly that last attribute that makes me feel it’s almost impossible Wenger will sign him. Add to that the fact that Chelsea and Liverpool are reportedly interested, and the subsequent hike in Barry’s price that would introduce, and a signing like this begins to feel like it’s right out of the realms of fantasy.
Still, I only promised you idle speculation: Barry for Arsenal!
One man we won’t be signing, unsurprisingly, is Palermo’s Brazilian striker Amauri. The club insist we’ve made no offer, and he seems all but certain to go to those buyers of all things Arsenal-related, Juventus.
Aleksandr Hleb’s season seems to be over after the FA charged him with violent conduct. Hopefully the process will all go through fairly quickly and he’ll get the ban out of the way before the start of next season.
Till tomorrow.
