Good day to you Gooners out there, I hope you’re having a pleasant one.
So news of the day is that there is no news on on want away Alex Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor? You what? Yup, that’s right there’s absolutely no new pieces on them. From yesterdays, and the day before that and pretty much the day before that Barcelona were claiming ‘Hleb to be signed today’ – well we’re still waiting for it to happen. I would of thought we would of heard something from Hleb’s or at least The Togonator’s agent by now, how comes those big mouthed fools aren’t speaking shit? Hmm must be time for pre-season training methinks. Could you imagine if those two don’t get moves away and have to turn up at London Colney? Oh that’s going to be a lovely sight isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong I fully expect Hleb to go, but it’s taken a while isn’t it. Actually I’m going to leave that story there and I promise I shall only mention Hleb again once he has signed up for which ever team wants to get hold of a play making midfielder who doesn’t like to shoot let alone score and who actually does flatter to deceive as he only has about five assists a season. Slight dig there but who cares? Are we Gooners going to be ‘that’ upset when he finally does take that walk?
The big big story of the day is that we’ve had a chat with mentalist Irish manager Martin O’Neill regarding the services of Gareth Barry. Apparently Arsenal F. A. Cup winning captain leg-end and Arsène Wenger’s right hand man Pat Rice phoned the Villa up which O’Neill revealed:
“He phoned Steve (Walford, Villa assistant) to ask how the Liverpool thing had gone and said they might show an interest.”
So we ‘might’ show an interest. Well he might of given his mate a call and spoke about other stuff and the Barry thing ‘might’ of been a bit of small talk, who knows? One thing is for sure if The Arsenal were to get hold of Barry who does look certain to leave I would for one be very confident ahead of next season. Barry is a winner, knows the Premier League and isn’t injury prone either – well there you go, you know now he wont be coming.
‘If’ Wenger was to go for Barry who’s rated at £18m he could throw in Justin Hoyte who O’Neill is a known admirer to ease the deal to a more palatable £12-14m. We’ll see, at the moment you could chuck in any figure or player(s) that you want and get some sort of conclusion. One thing is for sure Aston Villa are holding out for £18m and that’s not up for negotiation. What cracks me up about this is how the hubcap nicking, shell suit wearing, giro getting Liverpool Scallies USA’s manager Rafael Benitez is going about this. He first of all taps up Barry through the media, gets told by the club that Barry will cost £18m and then says he’ll pay £12m no more. You what? No mate you can’t dictate the price. You’re the buying club, not the selling one. One thing is for sure Benitez has pissed off O’Neill big style in the manner he has gone for Barry and I have a feeling if Villa can do a deal with The Arsenal for the right price, the Villa board would prefer to do business with us rather than Liverpool. We’ll see soon enough. But at £18m that’s a very spicy meatball but it would be £18m well spent in my opinion as Barry is sold, knows the Premier League and wouldn’t need bedding in. In fact I would go as far to say he could be potential captain material. I’m not saying he should be made captain should we get him but just saying he is highly rated and has that drive and winning mentality that is needed. However it’s all ifs and buts at the moment isn’t it?
Onto things which are proper Arsenal now. The Greatest Gunners competition on the Arsenal site is getting to the business end now with Ian Wright Wright Wright in at number four. So congrats to him on that. A think a few Gooners have mixed feelings with Wrighty nowadays as he does say some bollocks but I think he does deserve to on the top end of the list. So there’s only three spots to go and with Tony Adams, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp still to be named on the list it’s going to be interesting who gets named Top Gun. My money is on Henry but we’ll soon find out.
The last bit of news is that The Arsenal season ticket prices have gone up. But considering it’s the first time in four years you can’t really moan. However what with the lowest priced Arsenal season ticket being the most expensive in the Premier League we can moan I reckon, Especially if the board keep banging on about wage structure and not having ‘big’ money to buy players. So where’s the money going? Oh that’s right, the stadium, that old chestnut. Anyway Gooners I think ‘ve given you enough to chew on, jump onboard the comments and have your say. Also don’t forget to sign up to Allgoonerdup on FaceBook if you haven’t done so already, so we can get interactive – it would be rude not to.
That’s about my lot today, have yourself a great day Gooners and jump on the comments…
i love the part where benitez pissed of o’neill. seriously tho i really like martin o’neil he looks like a man who looks u in the eye and tells u the truth plus last season he said “aresene is responsible for arsenal and not the england national team so he can descide not to sign any english player and nobody can do anything about it” hence my love for mr O’neill
I think Martin O’Neill is proper, he’s a madman and has a lot of passion for the game. I really reckon if he can sell to anyone but Liverpool – he will, if the price is right. And that price is £18m not what price Benitez decided he wants to pay.
The longer the Barry saga goes on the better the chances of getting him.
I exoect one of the two thing to happen before the end of this transfer window:
1) Arsene to come out and dismiss the transfer talk of Barry and say he is not interested (if he really sin’t interested) OR
2) If Arsenal are really interested, Wenger will say nothing about this and speak to O’Neill privately before the window shuts. This is why I say the longer this saga goes on the better. If Wenger comes now to say he is interested, L’pool will pay £18m cash straight away. But if Arsene keeps quiet, Benitez may try and convince Alonso to stay so he doesn’t lose out on both sides. If an annoucement is made of Alonso signing a new contract in the coming weeks, then you know they ended their interest in Barry. Whichever way it is, Arsenal may stand to gain, because I know 100% that Barry will not be playing for Aston Villa next season. Let’s all just wait and see. I just hope Wenger does the right thing!
Daymee I make you right on Barry – he wont be at Villa next season. A bit like Hleb for us Barry has burnt his bridges and there’s no come back. O’Neill has already said to him not to return to training. And as much as Barry wants to get away O’Neill will try and shift him too.
I for one would not be disappointed to see Barry in an Arsenal shirt. He has performed for at least the past three seasons at Villa and while he may not be a typical Wenger signing being known to the Premier League and English, if we could get him for around £14 million with maybe Hoyte going the other way, I reckon he would slot nicely into midfield.
He’s a solid player.