Henry-Eto’o saga finally over?

Thierry Henry will be staying at ArsenalHenry and Eto’o going nowhere

It seems that – finally – common sense has prevailed in the Henry-Eto’o transfer saga. For all but those supporters who have been living in Antarctica for the past few weeks you will know that every dodgy newspaper under the sun (including, ironically, The Sun) has reported that Thierry Henry wants to leave Arsenal and Barcelona are trying to cut a deal involving Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o to sign him. Obviously, I’m not the only one who is getting sick and tired of this speculation.

The basis of these reports come from an interview that Henry gave whilst on a promotional tour to Beijing in which he made the following comments:

“Since I started playing football, there’s been speculation about me going to a lot of clubs so that will never stop. As I said last week, for now I’m an Arsenal player.”

Henry’s comments not “vague” 

The endless speculation linking Henry to Barcelona has apparently been sparked by the Arsenal captain’s use of the words “for now”. Reports from around the world have jumped upon Henry’s apparently “vague” answer and concluded that he is unhappy and frustrated and wants out of the club.

Those of you willing to read the complete interview will realise that Henry’s comments are so far from “vague” that the use of that word is ridiculous. He is a frustrated man, there is no question about that. What captain of a club they had played at for eight years would have been happy to see their team so far off the pace in the Premiership and fail to win a trophy for the third successive year? Add to this his persistant injury problems and inability to effectively assist his team and of course Henry is unhappy.

But, Henry is frustrated at the situation that the club is in, not the club as a whole. He wants to win and he wants to see the club do everything they can to get back to the top again. But to suggest from that interview that Henry is wanting to leave is just predictably irresponsible journalism, the kind that is now expected from so many newspapers around the globe.

New reports say Barcelona will do everything to keep Samuel Eto’oA turning point in the endless speculation?

Thankfully, there seems to have been a turning point in this endless saga with the news that Barcelona will only be approaching Henry with an offer if he makes it clear he wants to leave. Barcelona sporting directer Txiki Beguirstan made the following comments:

“If he has the desire to play here, then we will see if it’s going to happen or not.”

As I said earlier, if you read the full interview with Henry it is clear that he doesn’t have a desire to play at Barcelona. Carrying that logic onto Beguirstan’s comments means that he is not going to play for Barcelona next season. Add this to the reports that Barcelona will be doing everything they can to hold onto Samuel Eto’o and it seems that the speculative mist is beginning to rise from the situation.

I am surely not alone in saying, “Thank goodness for that!”

Lehmann still number one in his own eyes

In other news recently Jens Lehmann has responded to the signing of Lukasz Fabianski by insisting that he is still the number one goalkeeper at the club.

“I am never certain of being number one keeper at Arsenal, but provided I am fit and have no distractions in my private life, the other keepers cannot hold a candle to me in terms of my experience and ability.”

An interesting way of putting it, for sure, but is he right? Or will Fabianski displace him next season? And what does he mean by “distractions in my private life”? Only time will tell.

Was Clichy unlucky to only get fourth?Clichy voted fourth best Arsenal player

Speedy left-back Gael Clichy has been voted into fourth place in Arsenal.com’s annual Player of the Season award. The speedy defender has had an outstanding season with the club in his first season as first-choice left-back and has taken on the responsibility of replacing Ashley Cole with great effectiveness. Personally, I thought Clichy was Arsenal’s third best player this season after Gilberto and Cesc Fabregas – who won best player and runner-up best player in the Arsenal FC Blog Season Review – and is a little lucky to finish a place further behind at fourth.

What do you think?

Have your say on the Thierry Henry-Samuel Eto’o saga or any other news by leaving a comment.

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Comments

  1. The whole Barca structure is stupid. They don’t have class, you can judge from the pronouncements of their top men down to players. They think they are super team and that every player wants to play for them. They have violated the rules and AFC should report them to FIFA. Last year they made approaches to Titi at the back of AFC. Look at what they did this year to Ronaldo too, always trying to unsettle other teams. A team whose recent success is because of favouratism by FIFA and refrees. I hate the racists in Spain.

  2. Ekow – It is a shame that unsettling players through has become part and parcel of football. Barcelona and Real Madrid are certainly up there as the worst in terms of unsettling players to a point where they are affected. I’m going to have to disagree with your point about Barcelona receiving favouritism but I do agree that racism in Spain is a big problem. Any solutions?

  3. Good, balanced post – if only more bloggers and posters would think before swallowing the garbage floating around in the tabloids and on the net. When we had the best midfielder in the world (PV) we had to put up with this rubbish every summer, now it’s the turn of the best striker in the world. Those people who say Henry is past it and we should sell him should take note – there wouldn’t be this much interest and speculation if he wasn’t so good – no-one else would want him! That’s the price we have to pay to have the best player in the world bar-none in our team.

  4. Don’t worry about all the speculation. The Catalan newspapers, especially Marca, have yet to produce any journalistic quality, needless to say a quote of any kind.

  5. Passenal – Thanks mate. I’m definitely not worried about Henry leaving but there are supporters out there from places like Africa and Asia who don’t necessarily speak English as a first language and it is hard to sift through the real news and the speculation. Hopefully this clarifies things for them.
    ArsenalFooty – No problems. Good to see other supporters out there aren’t too worried about the situation.

  6. i think both players should be clear to there clubs as to whether they are staying or leaving so that the clubs can plan accordingly. henry as the captain of arsenal should know better that his ambiguous behaviour is not healthy for the club esprcially for the young players who look up to him and for the team that he leads. by now he should know that unlike other captains, he has a much bigger burden upon his sholders.he shold therefore come out straight on his future at the club.

  7. Agaba – You’re right, Henry does have a bigger burden than most clubs because this Arsenal side is so young. Having said that, Henry has come out numerous times and made it clear he does not want to leave and the papers still say what they want. It’s a frustrating business!

  8. Henry is a great player for arsenal and he is going no where for now so all Barcas must keep their mouth shut about our Henry…
    Gunners for life, we want to win and win again so henry must stay at arsenal and henry is still in arsenal for now…
    Fuck barca

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