RUN FOR THE HILLS!!! IT’S MILNER AND BARRY!!!
40 comments May 18th, 2010
Last night’s breaking news was that Manchester City have made a bid in the region of £20m for Aston Villa midfielder, and winner of this year’s Young Young-ish Player of the Year award, James Milner.
Frankly, they can have him. City have all the money in the world (well, not all, but most), and they want to spend it on Milner? It’ll hardly have the current top four quaking in their boots. Milner and Barry isn’t a central midfield pairing to strike fear in to the heart of Europe’s elite.
We, meanwhile, were going about our transfer business in that quaint little way we do, flying Marouane Chamakh in, presumably by air balloon, to finalise his contract negotiations. Hopefully it all goes smoothly – I can’t imagine too many stones have been left unturned in the six months he’s had to negotiate his pay packet. Bordeaux President Jean-Louis Triaud isn’t entirely happy about the way the deal has come about, saying:
“He said he never spoke to Arsene Wenger. But I find it strange that he could be recruited by Arsenal without talking to the coach. I have had two difficult transfers since I arrived: Wiltord and Chamakh. These two departures relate to Arsenal. I think he was surrounded and badly misguided. I did not appreciate at all how it went. As president, I resent it.”
He’s obviously got a bee in his bonnet about the deal, but we’ve acted fairly throughout, even giving the French club the chance to sell Chamakh for £7m or so last summer. I think those two “difficult transfers” have occurred simply because in both cases the players were desperate to leave, and join a great old club. Presumably the signing of Chamakh could be announced as early as this week.
Another signing I’d expect to be made soon is Sol Campbell, who is still talking the talk in mightily impressive style:
“Next season the players have to respond. We have a responsibility to give 100 per cent in every game and go for it. That’s the Arsenal way, that’s the only way really to play football – to go for it and play to win. The gaffer prepares the team to win and we’ve got to step up and deliver. You can be 16 years old or 40 years old but you still need the strength, the power, the skill, the intelligence, the desire, the heart and the soul. You need all those things to become a top sportsman.”
I know some have doubts about the long-term viability of keeping Campbell on, but who gives a damn about the long-term. Can you imagine those words coming from a Denilson or an Abou Diaby? We need that kind of attitude around the squad.
Speaking of Diaby, I’m fairly surprised he’s retained his place in the latest version of Raymond Domenech’s France squad, along with Clichy, Sagna, and William Gallas. I haven’t yet spoken about Samir Nasri’s exclusion from the squad – his patchy form was undoubtedly a factor, but I wonder if Domenech was swayed by Nasri’s famously difficult relationship with some senior squad members.
Finally today, someone who works in the canteen at Barcelona says they’re after Cesc. Well blow me down. Batten down the hatches – the Catalans are coming.
