At last! The player formerly known as Emmanuel Adebayor of The Arseanl has departed God’s Own and will be collecting £170,000 a week at Manchester City for the next five years, the Mail on Sunday tells us. Nice work if you can get it, eh? The same paper reports that Arsene Wenger believes Gunners’ fans resentment over Adebayor’s “dalliance” with AC Milan and Barcelona last summer drove the Togo forward to join City. Wenger said: ‘We have lost a great player and we wish him well. He’s done extremely well for the club. I don’t believe that last season he got enough support. That was playing a part in my mind and in his mind, certainly, as well.
‘I believe he wanted to do well but he didn’t find the confidence he had the season before. There was a little resentment you could feel through last summer. Believe me, he’s a great player and he’ll show that again at Manchester City. Big clubs lose big players. Milan have lost Kaka and Milan will go on. Arsenal have always lost players and continued at the top level,’ added AW.
Resentment was certainly in the air yesterday at the Barnet game and the majority of Gooners I spoke to at Underhill were of the same opinion: Just go.
Now he has done just that and what of possible replacements? Well, the News of the World claim Arsenal poised to bid £10m for Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh. Hardly a scoop as his name has been in the frame all week and definitely not deserving of the billing “the hottest stories in football”.
The Sunday Mirror carries a match report of the 2-2 draw with Barnet and refers to our squad as “leftovers”. Bit harsh. Arshavin, Rosicky, Gallas, Almunia and Wilshere are hardly that and Thomas Vermaelen is a new face completely so this particular bit of spin is wide of the mark.
One chant from the Gooners behind the goal deserves a mention with former Arsenal striker John Hartson “critical but stable” in a Swansea hospital after a brain op. “One Johnny Hartson” they sang and our prayers go out to the big man this morning.