The African Cup of Nations is around the corner with the likes of Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh getting ready to leave Arsenal for an entire month or so. The media Vultures have done their bit to link players in and out of the club with the latest potential arrival being the third installment in the Lord of the Ring series, the Return of the King.
King Thierry Henry has been linked with a loan move back to the club he played his best football and I gave five reasons why Arsenal shouldn’t re-sign the French forward. Many Gooners and football fans alike shared their opinions with their comments and a large chunk of them want Henry back but Arsene Wenger has said that he’ll take his time over Henry’s decision:
“That’s why I have Christmas Day off – I have to think about that, short-term is ideal for us, but I haven’t made any enquiry yet. Thierry is not here at the moment. It has never come up in conversation!”
“The first of January is the vital date for us. We have seven days to make decisions and I will make a decision in the next seven days on players.”
Arsene Wenger has been at Arsenal long enough to know what’s best for the club so any decision he makes on Henry will be okay be the Board, the players and of course, the Gooners.
Arsenal’s defense has been stretched to the limit and it’s sad to know that Kieran Gibbs suffered another setback on his hernia operation and he has undergone another surgery that will sideline him for another month. Wenger told a couple of media Vultures gathered that he has taken a new approach with his defensive line.
He said that he has told his makeshift full backs not to venture forward a lot because ‘center backs are not full backs’. He talked about the resilience of the defense and he praised the understated players in the squad for their performances of late.
Yossi Benayoun and Tomas Rosicky have done very well with their cameo performances off the bench and I feel it’s high time they get a run-out in the first team. Aaron Ramsey hasn’t lit up the Gooners with his performances of late and he’ll be the likeliest player to be relegated to the bench when Jack Wilshere returns to full fitness.
Benayoun is certainly better than Andrey Arshavin at the moment and I hope that Wenger would give him a chance from the left wing when Gervinho books his flight to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
To wrap it all up, Wenger believes that Arsenal is back in the title rice and he says that maximum points over the festive period will reignite the club’s title challenge. Just a few days ago, Wenger ruled Arsenal out of the title race following a narrow loss to Manchester City.
Moving over to transfer gossip, the regular suspects are dominating the headlines again.
Marouane Chamakh intends to finish the season with Arsenal but he has said that he’ll make a decision in the summer. Metro reports that Chamakh wants to leave Arsenal for another English club.
This is Futbol has linked Zenit with a move for their legend Andrey Arshavin while Caught Offside reports that FC Barcelona is plotting a move to sign Robin van Persie. It’s reported that Zenit is prepared to made a bid of £13.7m for the diminutive Russian and that’s okay for a 30-year old that will have a year left in his contract at the end of the season.
On possible arrivals, Arsene Wenger has ruled out a move for Bolton’s Gary Cahill and Football Friends Online has reported that Arsenal is interested in signing Fulham’s Bobby Zamora.
The quote of the day goes to Nick Glancy,
http://twitter.com/#!/NickTheViper_/status/150949088718897152
Happy birthday, Aaron Ramsey.
Happy Boxing Day.
Sayonara.
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