Keeping it in the family

So Arsene Wenger came out this week and called for a footballing equivalent of a group hug. Arsene has often been seen as 'more than just a manager' to his team of 'kids' and this paternal nature was at the fore once again this week. It seems both Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb are eager to run off overseas because of what seems on the surface to be the lure Euro's and little else. Wenger has of course seen this all before, and coming over all Cat Steven's on us, he issued a general warning about life not always being so green on the other side.

The trouble is, as is always the case when a team performs above its initial expectations, there seems to be a sudden surge of players trudging around the training field wearing distinctly big boots. Then sure enough things start to kick off - shifty agents start talking about how their player could never play anywhere else, how much their clients love the club, which is of course code for 'my client and I fancy getting a Mediterranean tan and i'm sure someone will pay me to overcome this love'.

But at every level of football, a lot about what is going right for you as a player at a particular team, can be just as much about extraneous things such as your relationship with the manager, the system the team plays or even the direction the grass has been cut in, as your own ability and that is why the Flamster and our ice cream loving Belorussian would do well to heed Arsene's warning. A certain Dennis Bergkamp found this out early in his career and learnt his lesson well. After bursting on to the scene at Ajax, Dennis took his goal scoring clogs to Inter Milan, only to find they played in the typically Italian style of 9 centre halves and quickly became fairly miserable with life. Luckily for him, and to everyone else's absolute astonishment, Bruce Rioch of all people rescued his career (if only Bruce could have worked that magic on his own career). Through various contract expirations Dennis hung on to what he had at Arsenal because he knew just how fickle things in football were.

Sadly this is something Thierry Henry failed to learn after his torrid time at Juventus, and let his ego dictate where he went after deciding to leave us rather than a bit of common sense. The same can be said for Manu Petit and to a lesser extent Marc Overmars, Paul Merson and Nicolas Anelka.

Of course we can't be sure what is going on behind the scenes at The Grove - perhaps the board are insisting as part of any new deal, Flamini must clean the toilets after each game... and maybe Alex Hleb really does have a lot of mates who like to share an ice cream whenever he is in Italy. But when a contract is on offer for such a long time you have to fear the worst. What surprises me, and many fans, is how football players will haggle over money when they already earn in a week the same amount most of us earn in a year.

Even more surprising with Flamini, is that he has hung on for so long to make the first team in his preferred central midfield position, and barely 9 months after firmly establishing himself, he is willing to risk it to move to a club where he may once again find himself competing to be the backup left full back. His suitors, Juventus, it must be noted, can hardly be considered a step up. They have recently been making the news for more irregularities due to the 2006 match fixing scandal and as a result of prior penalties haven't troubled the Champions League for a few years. And of course they already possess several battling centre midfielder's in Tiago (formerly of Chelski) and Momo Sissoko (the poor mans Vieira formerly of Scouse FC) as well as the Argentine Mauro Camorensi and the aging (though still playing well) Pavel Nedved. So young Mathieu it would seem is certainly not short on self confidence if he is prepared to go back to square one and fight for his spot again against some relatively stiff competition. I for one enjoy watching him play in red and white so I hope he sees some wisdom in Wenger's words and signs on for another 5 years as surely his best years are in front of him.

Alex Hleb however is a different case altogether for me. Like a few other Arsenal Bloggers, I am of the opinion that if we could get Inter to stump up a decent amount for him, I wouldn't be too disappointed to see him go. I certainly recognise his amazing ball skills and his willingness to work in both attack and defence, but I just feel he doesn't contribute enough in the goals department. He will wiggle his way past 4 defenders, like an eastern bloc salsa dancer on speed, but unless he runs it into the back of the net he just doesn't seem likely to score. It really does appear that he a deep seated psychological aversion to shooting. Perhaps it relates to some childhood trauma where he was forced to practice by shooting at blindfolded orphans back in the old Soviet days or face a week in the salt mines. Either way, he seems best suited to the middle of the field. where we already have the brilliant Cesc Fabregas providing the passes. We simply cannot afford the luxury of a second creative player in the middle of the team unless they score 10 goals a season, especially when both Van Persie and Adebayor are fit.

But despite all this, in an ideal world we would only lose Eboue - hopefully in an arctic wilderness without football pitches.... and lots of hungry polar bears. In the meantime, lets home Arsene grounds his kids and tells them they can't go to camp in the summer.. and we can stay as one big happy trophy winning family next season.

By Paul Wright

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