In the aftermath of an abysmal end to the 2010-2011 season which saw Arsenal crash out of four competitions and end the league season in relegation-like form, it comes as no surprise that a number of players have vocated their desire to leave the club after yet another trophy-less year – here we will explore the ins and outs of the possible Arsenal departures in the summer transfer window building up to the highest-profile move (the special case which is the Cesc Fabregas speculation is covered in a different piece).
Denilson
The first want-away of the summer came as a shock to many Arsenal fans as the quiet bench-warmer Denilson lamented life at Arsenal in spectacular fashion. A player who nearly all Arsenal fans would pay good money to see the back of, the 23-year-old un-capped international was even listed as a joke on Ebay after comments about life at the club, some of which follow:
“I am a winner and I came here to win trophies but I’ve been here for five years and won nothing… It’s great to play beautiful football but sometimes to be a winner you have to play ugly if you want to succeed.”
However, after a few vague reports of Milan being interested in his signature it is clear that Denilson will be staying at the club for pre-season, his ridiculous £60,000-per-week wages being the main stumbling block to a move as well as the fact that his contract runs to 2014.
Manuel Almunia
After a few good (if patchy) seasons with Arsenal it has all come crashing down for Almunia this year after absolutely shocking performances in-goal, most notably against West Brom – unlike Manuel, whilst Lukasz Fabianski also started the season poorly he made a resurgence and with young Woijciech Szczesny hardly putting a foot wrong in his breakthrough season it seems certain Almunia is out of the door. With only one year left on his contract and having been left out of the clubs pre-season Asia tour to conduct negotiations we most likely won’t see Manuel in an Arsenal shirt next season – a number of clubs are reported to be interested including Athletico Madrid, Malaga and Galatasaray.
Nicklas Bendtner
After yet another promising-at-times season with Arsenal where Bendtner fluffed his lines when it really mattered (most notably against Barcelona) the 23 year old Dane has reportedly decided to search for pastures greener. Like Almunia, Bendtner has not travelled to Asia with the club and has been linked with a vast amount of clubs – some by his own agent who happens to also be his father. Sporting Lisbon contradicted reports they were interested in Bendtner and Borussia Dortmund and Hamburg have said his £12million asking price is too high. Frank Arnesen, director at Hamburg also said this:
“Nicklas Bendtner is a very interesting player. His signing would be a real dream… His signing would almost amount to a small miracle. There are two clubs that have made offers for Nicklas, and unfortunately, we are not among them.”
Clubs interested in Bendtner include Benfica, Fulham, West Brom, Besiktas, Hamburg, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and most notably Bayern Munich.
Samir Nasri
Without doubt the move which has the most people talking at Arsenal is that of Samir Nasri, a player who, at the end of a great individual season, has turned down a new £90,000-a-week contract and has just one year remaining on his current deal. Unlike the other departures mentioned here Nasri is one of Arsenal’s best players and if Barca finally get their way concerning Cesc Fabregas we could lose £60million worth of serious midfield quality in a matter of weeks.
Nasri has travelled to Asia as negotiations are ongoing as he is believed to be happy at Arsenal provided he is given a new £110,000-a-week contract to match Cesc Fabregas as the clubs best paid players; Arsene Wenger has, however, been very outspoken on this topic:
“Our position is always the same – we want to keep Cesc and I will fight as hard as I can to keep him. Samir Nasri is exactly the same. We will do everything we can to keep him,” said Wenger. “I’m confident we can get both of them to stay. I expect Samir to stay, there is always speculation, but he is committed to the club right now.”
Where Nasri may end up however, seems a toss-up between the two Manchester clubs. While United were reported to have had a £20million bid rejected many footballing experts believe that it is City who will come up trumps for Nasri including Phillippe Auclair who rates Nasri in excess of £25million; Alex Ferguson has also, rather enigmatically, spoken on this topic:
“I don’t think he [Nasri] is coming to United,” said Ferguson. “That is all I can tell you. I think that he has agreed to go somewhere else.”
Whatever conclusions you draw over these potential moves in the wake of the departure of Gael Clichy it seems as though Arsenal have a very, very busy summer ahead.
Submitted by clockendview – just another Arsenal blog
