Arsenal could be a whole lot less African come August
Add comment July 27th, 2009
With the Cup of Nations coming up in January, perhaps Arsene Wenger has decided to ditch his African contingent and go for a more streamlined and consistent squad.
Emmanuel Adebayor was the first to go.  After ringing around other top clubs to see if he could do any better, he eventually settled for Manchester City. Adebayor has been talking as fast and as furiously as ever over the past few days, but as he’s no longer an Arsenal player I’m not sure most of his remarks merit comment.
One thing that did irk me was his declaration that City ought to pursue Kolo Toure – a move that seems all the likelier now that John Terry has declared himself a Chelsea boy for life (as long as they give him a bumper new contract, of course). Some reports today have even suggested a fee for Kolo has been agreed. With Vermaelen, Gallas, and possibly even Djourou ahead of him in the pecking order I can understand why Kolo might decide to go, but I’d still be very sad to see it. That’s a primarily emotional response, so I’m not going to attempt to justify it with the whys and wherefores.
I’d be far more comfortable with the departure of Emmanuel Eboue. Fiorentina officials are reportedly flying to London to meet Ivan Gazidis on Tuesday, and I think that we’d be mad not to accept the mooted €9m fee. If Eboue and Kolo do leave, we’re a little light at right-back – the obvious deputy to Sagna is Toure - but perhaps Djourou (in that link Arsenal.com refers to Vermaelen as a ‘Dutchman’), Gallas, and even Gavin Hoyte will able to fill in there.
Again, I’d only really be content with selling all these players if the money was intelligently reinvested. I hate to be a bore, but the one of the remaining African’s in the squad would be Alex Song, whose departure to the Cup of Nations would leave us short in that familiar old role of central midfield. Get it sorted, Arsene.
The presence (or otherwise) of Toure and Eboue in the squad to face Szombathelyi (pronounced: ‘Zombie City’) tonight should be fairly indicative as regards their future.
Before I go, I’ll just point you in the direction of arseblogger’s piece on Red & White / The Spinternet. Worth reading.
