Hleb up for grabs, Fiszman talks finances and Cesc's contract talks...

Another day, another Hleb story.

It would appear there is now a 3 way battle between Spanish duo Real Madrid and Barcelona and Hleb's initial suitors Inter Milan.

Inter Milan's interest in the Belarussian has been diminished slightly by Wenger's threat to report them to UEFA, leaving Real and Barca as the main contenders for Hleb's signature. Furthermore, speculation as to Mancini's departure/Mourinho's arrival may have also put a spanner in the works for the Italian Champions.

Real's interest was made concrete yesterday by coach Bernt Schuster;

"There are a couple of positions that we can improve and that needs to be strengthened to have the necessary balance,"

"Over the past two months we have had a plan and we know what we want, but now Hleb has been added.

"We did not know he could leave Arsenal but in recent days it has been more positive. We were surprised that he might leave there."

Based on those comments its apparent the club have put a price on Hleb's head and he will be allowed to go should a suitable offer arrive.

Reports suggest that Barcelona will offer no more than £16 million for him, which I think is a more than acceptable for a player who has scored 11 goals in 3 years.

Barcelona's Sporting Director Txiki Begiristain has made a verbal agreement with Hleb according to some Spanish newspapers this morning, blurring Hleb's likely destination further. I just hope that irrespective of where he ends up that a deal is finalised soon and we receive a decent fee for him.

Arsenal Director Danny Fiszman has spoken to Arsenal TV about the clubs financial decisions and summer transfer policy. Arsenal have come under some intense scrutiny after the disappointing end to the season but Fiszman has defended the club's revenue policies.

Arsenal's financial strategy is linked to revenue generation from Emirates Stadium and also involvement in emerging markets for the football club.

"It is not a question of a one-time infusion of cash to buy player x or player y. You actually then have salaries that are connected to the players." 

He said of big-name players: "What if they don't work out? Do you go and buy another two or three players? Is there any end to it?

"So I think everybody, including Chelsea, knows there are limits. Chelsea were not big spenders last summer certainly - they got our old player Steven Sidwell on a free transfer.

"We believe in the end the self-sustaining model is the right one, the one we have adopted and will continue adopting."  

Mathieu Flamini's departure to AC Milan was attributed by many to Arsenal's reluctance to break their wage structure, something Fiszman believes was right for the club.

"We made a substantial offer to Mathieu. It was considerable and in line with our wage structure but he chose to go elsewhere.

"We wish him luck, thank him for what he has done for the club and wish him all the best."

And you have to agree - the limit is there for the clubs benefit and it has barely hindered the side when you bear in mind the season we just had, trophies withstanding. I'd even go as far to say that Arsenal's achievement in finishing within 4 points of top place in the league is greater than that of winners Manchester United when you bring into consideration the money spent.

"If you look at our total wage costs you will see they are virtually the same as Manchester United and substantially more than Liverpool,"

"Of course we are all a little less than Chelsea who are in a world of their own. But compared to Manchester United and Liverpool we are good payers.

"We believe it is a team sport and we do well but we don't want the disparity between the top and bottom earner being too big. It takes 11 people on the pitch to deliver."

You only have to look back to when Thierry Henry, at the time the best player in the world and by some margin, was the highest earning player in the Premiership to see that any talk of the clubs wage structure being a factor in our lack of silverware these last few years is rubbish.

Some worrying news with regards to Cesc Fabregas' contract talks after it has emerged that the young Spaniard has appointed Darren Dein as his new agent.

The Arsenal board's acrimonious relationship with Darren's father, David, is well known after he was forced out of the club last year and then teamed up with Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who has acquired a 24.2 per cent stake in the club.

The fear now for Arsenal is that Fabregas may seek an even more lucrative contract to put him amongst the clubs big earners and keep him from the clutches of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Talks about Cesc's new contract will centre on terms as opposed to the length of the deal, but with Fabregas such a key player you'd expect more leeway when it comes to money than the Flamini negotiations. In any case, Cesc has never hidden his desire to sign a longer deal and remain at the club for years to come so hopefully all with run smoothly, irrespective of these new developments.

Finally, Marco Van Basten will rest Robin Van Persie for the game against Denmark this evening, to allow him more time to recuperate from an ongoing thigh injury. I'd much prefer Van Basten to come out and say RVP will not feature at Euro 2008 and give him the whole summer to prepare for next season but that was never likely. I just hope this year can be put behind him now and we can start to look forward to seeing probably our most exciting player on a much more regular basis.

More tomorrow.