Well, nothing remotely interesting happens in the world of Arsenal except for more Ashley Cole rumblings and then we have a weekend with Reyes first claiming, and then denying, that he's looking for a move back to Spain with Real Madrid.
What are we to make of this whole debacle?
The first we heard were remarks allegedly accredited to Reyes which were presented in Marca. now I don't know about you but I tend to treat anything I hear in Marca with a substantial pinch of bullshit. Then the UK Sunday papers pick it up. The quotes attributed to Reyes are:
"I have always said that I want to return to Spain. I have nothing against Arsenal, completely the opposite. But they know that I have not adapted to life in England. I have not got used to the language or the weather. If Real Madrid want me then that is marvellous. I have always said what a huge club it is and it would be an honour to play for them. Let’s see what happens."
Which is actually very plausible. Whilst Jose tries his heart out on the pitch it's a poorly kept secret that he has never settled properly. After over two years his English is still basic at best, he surrounds himself with his family and has never really tried to integrate himself with the country. The People proposes a possible swap deal with Baptista or Robinho coming the other way. I can't see Real parting with Robinho and I don't believe that Arsene still wants Baptista.
However...
Reyes issued a less than firm rebuttal on Arsenal.com the same day. His wording (I say his wording but the actual words are undoubtedly the work of the Arsenal FC communications department) is less than definitive, and whilst I don't think he's desperate for a move, if Real Madrid came knocking I think that hie would be very interested in what they have to say. And to be honest, I don't blame him.
He is not interested because he thinks Real are a bigger club, or because they are willing to pay him more money, or because he's had a falling out with the club. He's interested because he's spent two and a half years here and he's maybe decided that England's just not for him. I don't begrudge him that, and I think he's always given a committed performance everytime he's pulled on the shirt.
So, if he wants to go and we can recoup what we spent on him (and a little more), why wouldn't we do it? No one wants an unhappy player, and I don't think he'll ever reach his potential playing in England, the style just doesn't suit him.
I think Arsene is at least considering it, and considering all the surprising chatter linking us with attacking players, may already have been planning for this contingency.
In other news the whole media is coming down with a strong case of deja vu as we are informed by the Sun that Arsenal would settle for £25m for Ashley Cole from the chavs.
Friendly this afternoon against Schwardorf, probably mostly the kids again. We shall see.
More news of players leaving the club this morning, with three youngsters moving on, two on loan, one permanently.
As reported yesterday, Ryan Smith has all but completed his permanent move to Derby County for an undisclosed fee. As I said before, it's a bit a of a disappointment to see the lad go, having tracked his progress over the past few years, but Arsene rarely makes mistakes in letting younger players leave.
Fabrice Muamba and Seb Larsson have moved to Birmingham City on a year's loan. Both are very promising players (the Patrick Vieira comparisons have already started for Muamba, the poor kid's only 18 for God's sake) and a year getting kicked in the Championship is exactly what the younger players need after the relatively gentle placed reserve league. They should come back all the better for it, and both have a future at AFC. Why Song has played in front of Larsson in some situations has left me positively baffled.
Still no movement on transfers in, and I think Arsene's playing a very, very cool hand of poker this close season. I think that despite his claims that he is happy to start the season with the squad as it is, we need to compensate for the loss of experience we've had since May. A centre half and defensive mid are an absolute necessity (I know, I know, I'm starting to sound like a broken record).
The draw for the Champions League third qualifying round is today at 11.00am (GMT), and there are some awfully good teams in there, most of whom we thankfully cannot get drawn against. However, bullets to be dodged include Chievo, Fenerbahçe and Osasuna. Fingers crossed for a plum tie with those giants of European footbal Ekranas (Lithuania).
In other Premiership news, Ruud van Horseface appears to be finally on his way to La Liga, with Real Madrid ready to present hims as a Los Merengues player this afternoon. Man Yoo claim that no deal has yet been finalised. Fergie also seems prepared to blow all the money he eventually gets from Real plus a fair bit more in order to land Michael Carrick from the Spuds. The Independent is quoting £18m, which quite frankly is ridiculous, and leaves Man Yoo still lacking an enforcer in the centre of midfield.
Jermaine "convicted felon" Pennant completed his £6.7m move (rising to £8m on performances, allegedly) to Liverpool yesterday after completing a medical. The surprisingly hefty fee is good news for Gooners, as we take a 25% cut as part of the agreement that saw him leave Highbury, and as you all know, 25% of £6.7m is mumble mumble mumble.
In other former Gooner news, Sol Campbell, professional pie eater, has been linked with a move to Olympique Marseille. This is the club that were also sniffing around Jean Alain Boumsong earlier in the close season. You've got to ask whether the French have watched the Premiership lately.
It looks like Derby County are close to finalising a permanent move for Arsenal youngster Ryan Smith. It's a shame as Arsenal staff have had high hopes for Smith over the past two or three years, but I guess a decision has been made somewhere in the halls of power that he's just not going to break into the first team any time soon. Still, he's only 19 and it seems a little unfair when you look at the faith that's still placed in Jeremie Aliadiere at the age of 23.
Ludovic Guily says he was shocked at TH14's decision to stay in North London. I should think he was considering that he spent two months leading up to the Champions League final telling anyone with ears that were halfway functional how he was Thierry's best mate, talks to him all the time, already been told he was coming, that Thierry had already bought a house in Barcelona and basically proving that he is a prize twat. God I loved it when he missed out on France's World Cup squad, which led to my favourite football quote of the year so far:
"I deserved more respect. Apparently I am not even part of the 30 or 40-man list. I don't know where I am and I don't know whether I am part of any plans in the future. So I am off to Australia for a month. I will do some canoeing among crocodiles, kangaroos and penguins."
What a tit.
In North East London news, Tottenham have launched their "third kit", which will be used for colour clashes in the Premiership and for away matches in their UEFA Cup campaign. It's a lovely colour combination of gold and dark chocolatey brown that doesn't at all look like diarrhoea. I like to think that it's a homage to their gastro-intestinal difficulties at the end of last season.
Our preseason tour of Austria got into full swing last night as we beat SV Mattersburg 2-1 with goals from Jeremie Aliadiere and Justin Hoyte. Apparently Armand Tarore put in a very good performance and with Cashley on his way and Clichy out til September/October he might end up pushing the Flim Flam man for the left back spot. That said Hoyte spent much of his loan period at Sunderland last season at left back, and has to be in with a shout too.
Rumours are circulating that we're now asking for £30m for Mr Tweedy (even I think that's a little silly) and that we'll use £10m of that to snatch Benayoun off the Hammers. I have to say I was very impressed with him last season, but just why we're constantly being linked with attacking players when we're in desperate need of a centre half and experienced defensive mid is quite beyond me. Apparently Niall Quinn's trying to get Fabrice Muamba on loan for the season. He's a promising kid and a year in the Championship would probably do him the world of good.
It seems that part-time footballer, part-time young offender Jermaine Pennant is off to the red half of Scouseland in a deal reported at around £6m. Bit frustrating when we let him go for around £3.5m only a little while ago but I think that most Gooners agree that despite his obvious talent he is a troublemaker and refuses to follow the wishes of his coach, and Wenger gave him plenty of opportunities to clean up his act. Enjoy, Rafa.
In Italy all four of the clubs who have been penalised following their involvement in the corruption episode have had their punishments effectively cut in half. Both Lazio and the Violas from Fiorentina have been reinstated to Serie A, but have had more points deducted, AC Milan have simply had less points deducted, and the Old Lady of Turin, Juventus, have had their points deduction reduced, but still face next season in Serie B. I honestly don't know what the point of making an initial punishment is anymore, seeing as it always, always, ALWAYS changes on appeal. In this case the clubs' only defence was that they thought the punishment was harsh.
OF COURSE IT WAS HARSH YOU CORRUPT BASTARDS! You were fixing matches and compromising the integrity of officials! It gets me in a proper mood when things like this happen. Italy had a chance to really clean house and show that they were serious about pushing out corruption, but they've settled for a half measure.
The big news this morning is movement in the Mr Tweedy debacle, with the Times reporting that Arsenal have firmly rebuffed Chelsea's opening gambit of £16m, the figure reported to be the "escape clause" in his contract. I imagine that if we've turned down that figure, and it has not activated a release clause, that either it does not exist, or the sum needed to activate it is higher than first thought. Rumours are we're after something in the region of £25m, and why not considering it's the Roman Empire who's paying. If they can pay £24m for the six foot concrete turd that is Didier Drogba then they can stump up a little more for, despite his recent cuntishness, the best left back in the world. The Times seems to think that we risk antagonising Cole further by going back on an alleged "verbal agreement" to let him go this summer for a fee in the region of £16m. Why we'd give a toss about infuriating the little turncoat is beyond me, but quite frankly if it's true I'd absolutely love it, and it would serve the backstabbing bastard right. This is what goes around, Ashley, and this right here, this is what comes around.
The Sun also reports that we were angling for William Gallas as part of the deal, which Chelsea turned down and tried to replace with SWP, which, when we finished laughing, we answered with a polite "no fucking chance". It's a shame because Gallas is exactly the sort of player we need to bring in this summer, with his versatilty at centre half and full back, as well as his overall being-better-than-Cygan-ness.
Lots of people are saying we'd settle for £20m, and I'd take it, buy a centre half and centre mid, and leave the whole Ca$hley Cole saga behind us. In other news it looks like Nicklas Bendtner might not be going out on loan to Arsene's good mate Paul Le Guen at Rangers after all, as the Daily Record reports that he has been named in Arsenal's pre-season plans. Of course there's every chance he still could. Justin Hoyte was involved in last season's warm up games and ended up at Sunderland for the year. We will see.
Not much else interesting going on. Valencia have told Man Yoo to name their price for spaghetti-headed Ronaldo, Fergie isn't budging, yet. Bayern Munich claim they're getting closer on a deal for Horse Face. I'm planning on doing a little obituary for him when he finally sods off, but that will have to wait for now. Stevie G quite fancies the England captaincy. Better him than John "found out at International level every bloody time" Terry.
Wayne Rooney apparently had a falling out with David Moyes in the run up to his departure from Everton, claiming that the Everton boss was "too controlling". Maybe Moyes took away his OAP knocking shop membership. Who knows.
And that's it. He's gone. It's over. A chapter has closed in the history of Arsenal Football Club.
Dennis Bergkamp has retired.
I said a lot about my personal feelings on this subject in my last post so I'm not going to regurgitate it. Onwards, my brothers and sisters. Onward to the future. And that future is the Emirates Stadium.
Having seen the action from Saturday's opening match at the Emirates I have to say I was very impressed with the stadium. I, like most Gooners, have been following it's construction for over two years now, checking arsenal.com every day for new information, new pictures, new milestones in its completion, and now it's seen its first game. I used to go past it on the train every day last autumn / winter on my way to work, and it's hard to see big progress when you're seeing just a little every day, but now it's finished I think we all realise that it was worth the wait.
And what an occasion to mark it. DB10's testimonial had a carnival affair from start to finish, and having Wim Bergkamp (who has been battling cancer recently) there to kick the match off was a lovely touch, and one completely befitting the man as we knew him: classy to the last.
As for highlights, Klass-Jan Huntelaar opened the scoring for Ajax before Thierry opened his Emirates account, followed by the winner from Kanu, back to pay his respects. Having Marco van Basten, Johan Cruyff and Frank Rijkaard (Champions League issues aside) all on the pitch again was a sight to see, and yet another mark of how well respected Dennis Bergkamp is, and how highly revered he is in Holland.
However, the highlight of the match had to be Gilles "Black Belt" Grimandi. For those that don't know what I'm on about, see the video below:
He left the club over five years ago, but still the Gooner spirit runs through him. He saw a Spud trying to get on the scoresheet on Dennis' special say and said "fuck that, I'm having the bastard."
It's the little gallic shrug he does just afterwards that makes it poetry.
Legend.
In other news we're apparently after Alou Diarra, Liverpool reject, who now plies his trade with Lens. His agentis talking up a move but, as always with Arsene who is one sly goose, we'll have to wait and see. We certainly still need more steel in the centre with Diaby out til Christmas and Song being rubbish, and the price looks a little more palatable than some other players we've been linked with.
And so today we bid farewell to, in my opinion, the greatest player ever to don the red and white (and sometime redcurrant) colours of Arsenal Football Club. People speak of Chippy being the greatest, but all I have in my limited years are stories and a few television clips. Tony Adams was Mr Arsenal and was at the club for 20 years, but he simply didn't have the ability of a Bergkamp, plus his conduct since retiring, especially his opinions on Arsenal, have started to grate. Some say Thierry is already the greatest, and now that he has decided to stay he may well become so. But for me, it's Dennis.
There have been inumerable tributes to him throughout the footballing world, on television, in print, and all over the internet, saying thank you to a true footballing genius. A man of consumate professionalism, unrivalled vision and a ridiculously good first touch, who made anybody who played alongside him look like a better player. I mean I'd have probably looked half decent lining up next to Dennis.
Whilst others are listing their favourite Dennis moments (for me it will always be when he scored a great curler against Sunderland after being sent off in a cup game against them the week before and then turned around with his hand over his mouth, and THE ENTIRE TEAM ran up to him and did same) and top 3 Dennis Bergkamp goals (1. Newcastle United, 2. Leicester City, 3. Argentina if you were wondering), I want to talk about my first Dennis Bergkamp memories, considering I'm about to come face to face with my last.
I can still remember the exact feeling of excitement I experienced when I received my 95-96 home shirt with "Bergkamp 10" on the back. My two brothers had plumped for "Wright 8" and "Merson 9", but I had pinned my hopes on the Dutchman that we'd signed from Inter Milan for £7.5 million. As a thirteen year old who supported Arsenal because his dad did, who supported Arsenal cos his dad did, who supported Arsenal because his dad did, I knew little, at that time, about leagues outside of England. All I knew about Dennis Bergkamp was that my dad was very, very excited about him coming, and at that age that was enough for me.
I can remember the story about Ian Wright hearing we'd signed Dennis whilst he was at a petrol station in North London, and Wrighty refused to believe them. He was that sort of player, a player that Arsenal had never gone out and bought before, and a player who set the standard for every player who has joined since.
And of course, I remember his first goals for the club against Southampton at Highbury, a fantastic right-footed volley into the bottom left-hand corner, the feeling of everyone who had been holding their breath for him releasing it (after the hatchet job that all the papers did on him after going five games or so without scoring) as the entre crowd erupted and Dennis pumped the air with his fist in what was to become a common sight. Then of course we had his second in the same game, which was even better.
It will be a sad, sad moment when Dennis leaves the field this afternoon, for the final time. But we'll never forget that we had Dennis Bergkamp.
