Will Arsenal's Flamini, stay or go?
Posted by Martin in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger | 22 April 2008
So the speculation over Mathieu's departure from the Gunners to join Juventas, grows. According to a Sky Sports article, Juventus MD - Jean-Claude Blanc is still confident that he'll sign for them.
Since Wenger imposed a deadline of the end of the month for Flamini to make his mind up, we should hear relatively soon.
It was only just over a month ago that Flamini was quoted as saying :
"We are a new generation, we have to create a new history. I want to be part of this history, so I hope I will be here for next season. At the moment my advisers are talking with the club, so I really hope that everything will be okay."
But at that point in time we had it all to play for and were still up for the Champions League and still in with a shot at the premiership and his confidence was high :
"I am sure we will do a good job in the Champions League."
If it just comes down to money that prevents him from signing, then Wenger could find himself feeling a backlash from the fans. Before Christmas it has been said that Flamini was offered £40 000 a week, some way off the £3m a year now being offered by Juve and we all know Wenger has a pot of gold that he can dig into.
So, will he stay?
I certainly hope so, we'll have a big hole to fill if he doesn't and with our other young stars being waved carrots, it could be the start of a slippery slope!
Comments
Well the ball is definitely is Flamini's court. Wouldn't be surprised if his agent is holding out for an increased offer from Arsenal.
I'm sure he'll go, sadly. He'd have signed by now if he were staying.
So we have to think about who could replace him. If we're looking for a player with similar qualities - fantastic energy and athleticism, aggressive tackling, occasional driving runs forward, and reliable use of the ball, how about Kolo Toure? And Toure is probably a more dangerous shot than Flamini.
Then we need to buy a strong, tall and commanding centre back (perhaps 2 if Senderos is going too) to partner Gallas.
This solution would retain the present balance in midfield (where we contually dominate opponents) but add better baalce at the back (where the centre backs don't always blend well).
Toure is most effective at centre back and is not as effective in midfield or right back. we already need to strengthen our defence and moving toure to midfield and selling senderos is only goin 2 make that more difficult. we should move diabe into that role, or song. the best replacement would be diarra and it now seems clear we should not have let him go despite wenger saying we had good depth in that position. i always thought he was better than song n diaby anyway.
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