With the 2013/14 FA Cup gently placed on the Emirates trophy cabinet (yes, the black Widow spider is gone), the Arsenal hierarchy has moved on to achieve its next target – tying down Arsene Wenger to a new long term contract.
According to the Guardian, the Arsenal boss is set to sign a new three year deal worth £8m per year and the Mirror also reports that he will be given a large transfer kitty to compete with the ‘big boys’ of the Premier League.
If Wenger signs the deal, he would extend his day at the club beyond the 20-year mark which will be an exceptional achievement. Arsène Wenger and Arsenal, a match made in Heaven.
He spoke after the Cup final triumph of the need to add “two or three players” in the summer transfer window and he hopes to complete the signing of the Queens Park Rangers striker Loïc Rémy, whose contract has an £8m buy-out clause. There’s a long summer ahead so there will be enough to dwell on issues like this.
Rémy might not be the almighty striker the fans need but having him around wouldn’t be a bad idea either. He reminds me of Thierry Henry and he’s a good finisher, and he’s also versatile enough to play on the wings or strike alongside his fellow Frenchman, Olivier Giroud, when the need arises.
Wenger guided his team to a first trophy in nine years as well as another Champions League qualification campaign, so the Gunners would be anxious to know who they face in the playoffs. They are guaranteed of a pot one spot if they win their qualifying fixture but the Gunners would be weary of the likes of Borussia Dortmund and PSG that are in pot two. That’s a tale of another day though.
Speaking of tales, Arsenal fans fears have become realised with the fact that Sagna is odds on to join Manchester City for reasons best known to Chuck Norris, Lord Voldemort and the evil monkey in Chris Griffin’s closet.
Sagna, who becomes a free agent next month and has been unable to agree to fresh terms at the Emirates Stadium, is considering the offer of a three-year deal from Manchester City which would significantly increase his current wage of £50,000-a-week. Several other clubs have monitored the 31-year-old’s situation.
Wenger was so keen to retain Sagna’s services to the level that he was ready to break the club’s rule of offering over-30 year olds one year rolling contracts but this wasn’t good enough for BacMan.
Sagna waved to Arsenal supporters at Wembley and he even had tears in his eyes as he left the stadium.
“I don’t know whether it was my last match for Arsenal. “As everybody knows, I am at the end of my contract and we haven’t found an agreement [with the club]. I am happy to lift a trophy. On a personal level, this final was a revenge after losing the 2011 Carling Cup to Birmingham City. There was a lot of emotion
.”
It has been stated that he would arrive at the Etihad after the World Cup and it’s going to be interesting to see how he challenges Pablo Zabaleta in the right back position.
Arsenal will have an uphill task in replacing the full back with Toulouse’s Serge Aurier heavily linked, even though I won’t mind me some lil ol’ Seamus.
A review of the season will be published tomorrow.
Sayonara
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