Joe Cole has signed for Liverpool in an astonishing u-turn about his future career. His football agent had shook hands with Arsenal representatives before the World Cup and the essence of the pre-contractual agreement was a substantial deal which was exclusively revealed by ArsenalInsider at the time, the deal was never 100% assured as we indicated at the time. For those of you who appear not to be able to understand simple concepts, and wish to slag off this site, then if you go back to the archive and read the blog we said…
But thanks to our sources here at Arsenalinsider, we can reveal that Cole, 28, has only to put pen to paper to sign on a free and agree a four-year package worth more than £4m a season in wages, while picking up more than £2m a year on top of the bumper wages.
So again you realise what absolute idiots you will appear to the overwhelming majority of fans who read the blog and clearly understood that the offer WAS CONDITIONAL. In essence Joe Cole had to prove two important things. One related to his fitness, and it was hoped that he would get games at the World Cup. The other and most important fact related to him undergoing a very rigorous medical centred upon the stability of his knee following his Anterior cruciate ligament replacement. I saw Joe Cole at Underhill against our reserves last season when he had just returned for Chelsea. He did not impress me and he lacked his former pace as is often the case with the players who undergo this surgery. Remember any deal was subject to Arsenal’s say so, which makes me wonder why Liverpool have already put pen to paper before having a medical.
His failure to command a regular place in the Chelsea first team remained a source of concern. There are rumours emerging that it was likely that Joe Cole may not himself be so confident of his recovery, and that there was still a chance that he might fail the medical demands from Arsenal. Those so called fans who came on yesterday and called Wenger a disgrace in the transfer market need to apologise as those words are quite untrue. Not even Arry Rednapp’s Tottenham could match Arsenal £115k a week offer, and who on earth could have predicted that Joe Cole would opt for the relative obscurity of the Europa League as opposed to Champions League, together with a regular team placing at Anfield, away from his roots in London. He will come to regret this move, as money isn’t everything, but Arsenal will move on .
William Gallas is having talks with the Greek side Panathinaikos, and his departure from the club has been confirmed by the allocation of his squad number 10 to Robin van Persie. I had always disapproved of Gallas getting DB10’s shirt, so now the wrong has been put right. There are also increasing rumours that Arsene Wenger may be about to make an offer for Fiorentina’s French Keeper Sebastian Frey. Artur Boruc has moved from Celtic to the Serie A club, and the French bulletin boards are full of the assertion that far from coming to be the 30yr old’s understudy, this signals the imminent departure of Frey for another league. This speculation was further fuelled by Arsene Wenger’s comments to the ArsenalTV online after the Barnet game on Saturday when he was quoted as saying “We are still active in the transfer market. At the moment, in pre-season, there is no No 1 – you have to give a chance to everyone to show how good he is. You cannot decide that today.”
When asked about media reports linking him with Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer, Wenger replied: “Not really.
“We are still looking at various situations, but I would not like to come out on any individuals.”
So there we have it. Remember, a player is only officially an Arsenal player ONCE it is announced on the Arsenal.com site, so be patient and we hope to bring you more news as soon as we are satisfied that it is accurate. Our reputation and credibility is important for those of you who support this blog.
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