He’s already allowed for two yellow cards awarded to Everton for nasty fouls, but David Moyes’ side had a defensive mission that clearly included smashing the living hell out of Theo Walcott.
Here for illustration is the StatsZone dashboard for the England international:
Those purple dealies are failed take-ons, and those white triangles are fouls suffered. Arsenal’s total fouls suffered all game? Seven.
The end of the Theo Walcott contract saga was greeted with smiles and sighs. A drawn out-process that should’ve been resolved months ago finally ended with the official club website releasing a photo of Walcott and Wenger smiling as the former put pen to paper on a new three and half year deal worth £100,000 a week.
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Last week, Michael Laudrup said some pretty interesting things about Michu’s transfer value that, at the time, didn’t seem so interesting:
“Well, to be honest, I’m not the one putting the price tag on him.
“We all know the situation – the general economic situation in the world – so there really aren’t that many clubs who can buy him.
“There are some here (in England). In Spain there are only two and I think Barcelona and Real Madrid have enough players. Italy, I don’t think so. They’re trying to sell.
“Bayern Munich in Germany so really there is only few, few clubs and Michu likes it here.
“He’s happy with the team where he is so I’m really not afraid that something is going to happen because I’m so sure he will stay with us for the next five or six months.
“I don’t know in the summer, but still I can’t really see who could sign him. I don’t know how much he’s worth. Ask my chairman.
Laudrup is essentially saying no one can afford Michu’s apparently astronomical transfer fee because, like Vasquez, he’s just too bad.
But then this essentially means, for the time being, he’s priceless. The issue however is what happens when Swansea want to sell Michu (for whatever reason) when no clubs are looking for players and the European economy is still shit.
It’s commonly assumed that clubs get rid of players because either they’re not very good anymore, the manager doesn’t believe the player is a “good fit”, or the player wants to leave. In the first case, they’ll likely be content to lose money in the net transfer if only to offload wasted salary money.
In the second case, it’s a straight up sell for as much as possible.
In the third case—well, that’s the stuff of classic transfer window wheeling and dealing. If the club is in a position of squad strength, they’ll likely follow the same strategy as in the second case.
If they actually need the player to win actual football matches however—as was the case today when Arsenal finally resolved their on-going contract negotiations with Theo Walcott, securing his services for £100,000—the club would need to walk a delicate line between weighing potential offers and working to secure a new contract for a fair price.
But what if the market is so bad that even a marquee player like Theo Walcott can’t be offloaded for a price that would offset the potential loss of a skilled forward?
There are already rumours however that Wenger finally agreed to meet Walcott’s demands because nobody wanted him at a price that could justify his value to Arsenal, particularly because of the likely “English premium,” the notorious transfer fee add-on for England internationals.
Maybe Wenger couldn’t find a buyer at the right price for the exact reasons Laudrup laid out: the market is terrible, Europe’s in a recession, and CL clubs have enough on their plate with Financial Fair Play to worry about.
All this would lead one to suspect that as clubs find they’re unable to find buyers offering the right price for good players, transfer fees will likely decrease as player wages increase. Transfer windows will involve fewer deals, and the threat of losing valuable revenue on free transfers will increase, putting pressure on clubs to offer players lucrative new contracts.
I’m not an accountant, but I suspect it’s better for clubs to increase wages within reason than lose potentially tens of millions of pounds of value in amortization payments on the transfer market.
A MOTD report is forthcoming — these oxygen tanks don’t fill themselves — but while you wait, enjoy Theo Walcott’s third goal of the day in an insane game at the Emirates. PAY THIS MAN.
Soggy fixtures at DW are rarely an entertaining affair. Add in a heavy dose of sub par play from the visitors and awful crossing from Ronnie Stam and Jean Beausejour — well, let’s just say 1-0 wasn’t a surprising scoreline.
Beausejour’s clumsy challenge on Theo Walcott in the 60th minute led to the games only goal, Mikel Arteta calmly slotted the penalty past Ali-Al Habsi. It was a harsh decision from Jon Moss. Mossy — as his friends call him — had a bit of a howler on this day, encapsulated by Franco Di Santo’s two minute minor for blinging out with an earring.
Arsenal win three in a row for the first time this season. Calls for Arsene Wenger’s head have subsided, though crass banners are still unfurled by clowns in the stands. Arsenal are where we thought they’d be. Not contending for the title, but in range for a Champions League berth.
With their boxing day fixture cancelled the focus will revert to the ongoing Theo Walcott contract saga. As Wenger carried out his photo op with the newly resigned UK5 — Wilshere, Ox, Ramsey, Jenkinson and Gibbs – earlier this week, Theo’s absence was glaring. Read the rest of this entry »
The Lead
Today, Theo Walcott said his contract negotiations with Arsenal have been protracted due to “football reasons.” The winger made pains to stress the delay has nothing to do with money, and everything to do with, well, football. To which, Arsenal fans are presumably expected to say, “Carry on.”
At first glance, Waclott’s attempt to compare himself with Thierry Henry comes off as a stretch, but in the context of his remarks, they make sense. Henry joined Arsenal when he was 22. Walcott is now 23. Moreover, Henry’s career took off at Arsenal with a switch from the wing (his position at Juventus in 1999) to centre forward. Prior to his inaugural season at Highbury, Henry had scored 23 goals in a 121 combined appearances at Monaco and Juve; Walcott has scored 31 goals in 174 matches.
Yet underlining all this is the tactical prowess and knowledge of Arsene Wenger, the man credited for transforming Henry into an out-and-out start with a mere positional switch. Wenger’s hinted at a similar change for Walcott in the past, and made comparisons with Henry as far back as 2010:
“Theo can be a prolific goalscorer,” Wenger said. “Once he is a yard in front of the defender no-one can catch him. He is very, very close to playing that striker role. Is Thierry a replica of Theo? Is Theo a replica of Thierry? No. But they have in common tremendous pace, they are good finishers and both are intelligent.
“In England, you are very impatient. Thierry Henry came here at the age of 23 and Theo is 21. Give two more years to Theo and imagine what he will be. Don’t forget that when Thierry Henry came here, he was a winger. When I played him as a central striker, he said to me ‘but I can’t score goals’.
“However I knew Thierry when he was 14 and at 15 I knew he could score goals when he played central. Then I left Monaco and they moved him to the flank but I knew in my head he could do it. It looks to me now that Theo has a calmness in front of goal. Before he rushed his decision but now he is different.”
It’s not clear if Wenger is not yet satisfied he’s ready to move from a wide position, or whether Walcott’s services are more urgently required on the wing for the time being due to personnel constraints. Ultimately only Wenger knows. I’m not a betting man, but I’m willing to bet it will take more than the threat of an early exit to change his mind. No doubt Walcott will have suitors, happy to afford him a few cracks at the CF bat. But it’s a major gamble for a 23-year-old to question the judgment of one of Europe’s most esteemed tacticians.
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This is it. Promise.
The picture above is from halcyon times. Theo Walcott – ” English teenager is going to be amazing!$*&%@” – had just signed with the Gunners. Arsene Wenger left his suit behind, preferring the more comfortable and spacious nylon material that he normally abhorred. On the right is David Dein – arguably the most important figure in recent Arsenal history.
1995. Arsenal legend George Graham is sacked by the board after an illegal payment scandal involving a Norwegian sports agent. David Dein, owner of 42% of the club’s shares by ’91, lobbied for Arsene Wenger to get the job. The Frenchman wasn’t a superstar at the time. Managing the J-League’s Nagoya Grampus doesn’t scream the next big thing. The board wanted Bruce Rioch – who led the club to a fifth place finish in 1995 but was subsequently let go. Dein finally had his way and Wenger was appointed boss in 1996.
Dein had used his clout before Wenger’s arrival. Ian Wright from Crystal Palace. Dennis Bergkamp from Internazionale. Huge. After ’96, Dein’s recruiting prowess led to the arrivals of Vieira, Petit, Overmars, Henry, Suker, Pires, Campbell, Gilberto, Clichy, Toure, Fabregas and Van Persie. No big thing.
Eleven years later Dein left Arsenal citing irreconcilable differences. He was hounded by conflict of issue claims – Dein was an architect of the current format of the EPL while also holding a position on the Football Association’s board. Upon his exit it was rumored Dein was looking for a major investor to help offset the costs of Arsenal’s new stadium – the rest of the board didn’t agree.
Dein sold his shares (around 14.5% ) to Red and White holdings, Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri’s money consortium.
Darren Dein filled his father’s shoes. By 2007 the younger Dein – a sports agent – was acknowledged as a rising star in the industry, representing some of football’s highest profile names. Here’s where it gets weird. The Daily Mail’s Neil Ashton:
Star names like Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy and Cesc Fabregas have all been represented by Dein, a qualified solicitor, on various levels over the past five years. They have all chosen to pursue careers elsewhere and the fear in Arsenal circles is that Dein’s latest high-profile clients could follow an established pattern.
Ashton wrote that in March. Those players are gone – all in stunning fashion. Dein also represents Robin van Persie, another former Gunner. Yesterday on French television Wenger stated his desire was to sell RvP to Paris St. Germain. “We wanted to avoid at all costs [selling to an English team], but we had no choice.” Alex Song – another Dein client – may be on his way to Barcelona today.
Here’s what I wanted to write: “Darren Dein, in cahoots with his father, conspired to coax Arsenal’s stars away from North London.” The fan in me wants to stew over this bizarre relationship that seemingly involves everyone at Emirates. The truth is money and trophies win the day. The players that left sought those two things – Adebayor, the exception.
However, after watching the X-Files last night I end with this: “The Truth Is Out There.”
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In less cynical, tin-foil hat type news the BBC’s David Ornstein reports Thomas Vermaelen will be named Arsenal’s new captain in the coming days. Just keep Tommy V. away from Darren Dein and we’re good.
