Neal's Arsenal Blog

Vice-captain Gilberto Silva has added his thoughts to the Lehmann contract situation. This is what he told Arsenal.com:

  "Of course we want Jens to stay at the club.

"You never know what the situation is of others, but it is important to have good players.

"Jens is a very good goalkeeper and a very good professional. It is important to have these things at the club."

 I'm a bit worried by this. If Mad Jens is our model professional then it doesn't bode well for our club. I don't want my kids, should I ever have any, looking at Jens arguing the toss about everything and throwing his weight around and wanting to go through life with the same approach. There has to be separation between dedication in training and professionalism, surely?

Next news is Baptista is in his own little world. No, this isn't a criticism about his performances on the pitch, it's about what he's said about the weather:

 “The weather over here is killing me. We get one day of sunshine for every 30 days of rain.

 Let's just remind him that Easter in London was hotter than Easter on the Costa del Sol! Apparently he is now unsettled. I'm not reading anything into these quotes, I think they are either misquotes or make-believe. My reasoning, he wanted to stay back in the doldrums of Autumn and Winter when he was out injured. Now he's playing in the first team he's complaining about the weather? Still at least he knows about English football:

 “The teams from the north of England are terrible. When we play them I have counted their centre-backs booting up to 30 long balls upfield per game.

The moment you stop to think, someone has taken the ball off you and knocked you to the ground.

Over here they value a corner kick more than a fancy flick. I am lucky to be with Arsenal, as they are a team that likes to play proper football.”

 Can't complain about that, it's true, it's sad, but with the likes of Chelsea, Blackburn and Bolton not to mention the Spuds and Everton around it's time to let total football rule again!!!!!!

As it stands, we can buy Baptista for £12m and Real can buy Reyes for £16m. That is what is in the terms of the loan deal, yet Real are only interested in Reyes if they can have him for under £10m or in a straight swap for Baptista - Arsenal are not convinced by this.

Finally, Henry has again been linked away with moves to Barcelona and Inter Milan being touted in the Daily Mail. Every time something big happens, Henry is linked somewhere. Paddy goes, Henry will follow; Dein's gone, oh well Henry must be off too! It might fool the readers of trash like The Sun, or Man U/Chelsea/Spurs fans, but we are infinitely more intelligent and don't believe one iota of it!

Ok a quick roundup of this morning's news.

Peter Hill-Wood has said that Wenger does have money to spend this summer:

"We've always made funds available to Arsene, he attends the board meetings, he understands the financial position. I can assure supporters that we will continue to provide funds when Arsene requires them.

"We have a very good squad - young, maybe, but developing well and if Arsene wants to strengthen it we have the money to provide him with any reasonable purchases he wants to make."

 We know there is around £36-40m in cash reserves available for transfers and that the board has never said "No" to Wenger. With Dein gone, however, will this change? My feeling is probably. Wenger's lost his biggest ally.

 "He is on contract with us until 2008 and we very much hope that he will extend his contract beyond that, but we haven't got into talking details on that yet." 

"We have a number of senior executives at the club. We haven't formalised the arrangement yet but I'm certain that one or more of them will handle the matter of transfers in David Dein's absence,"

I find myself wondering if/when Kroenke will join the board. We know from his roles at his American teams that he likes a hands-off approach so he won't be a like-for-like replacement for Dein. Whatever happens, Wenger must stay and he must be supported by the board, whomever that may be!

I have however warmed slightly to Mr Kroenke after reading these comments in a letter to the Arsenal Supporters' Trust (AST), published in the Daily Mail:

 "I see long-term value in football," 

"I recognise and appreciate the AST's role and contribution to the club and the valuable perspective you provide to shareholders, board and management.

"Over the next month I look forward to learning more about the club through a dialogue with you. We much admire the values of the club."

Kroenke is set to meet with the Supporters Trust in the next month to discuss the issues surrounding his involvement. However, he admits he will have to launch a hostile takeover if the board remain opposed to him. My feeling is that the owners of 26% of the shares not owned by the board or Kroenke are set for a windfall as the two parties bid for control of the Club.