Henry Signs for Barcelona for 4 Years

What a load of tripe! While it's possible for Henry to be going to Barcelona, and totally unlikely if Eto'o isn't coming the other way, especially since Arsenal hold all the cards. But Arsene is definately not leaving the club before his contract expires.

And his contract expires at the end of this season.

Saw this coming .... for weeks ... still... just wasn't ready for it yet despite the speculation. Gutted. Got a lot to say, but just not yet as I'm sure I'll exaggerate. 16 mil ! .... 16 fucking mil ? I want to laugh and cry but I cant.

Well, Henry's been a great servant of the club but he had stalled after reaching his peak. Despite his amazing achievements over the years he never became even a competent captain and was a moody, peripheral player for a lot of times in the last couple of seasons. Arsenal will miss his skill and ability but not his personality. Time to move on and build anew. This is a big loss but not unsurprising if true - and I don't want Eto'o coming the other way, one prima donna for another is not smart business.

Thanks for everything Thierry, you will remain a legend as a player.

I think Arsenal will be fine without him.

No player is bigger than the club.

A very sad day for Arsenal. What players will want to come without Titi at the club? Which Cesc, Gallas or Gilberto want to stay? I fear Wenger will be next. I'm also gutted and know not what to say...

£16 million? Seems a bit on the low end given he still has 3 years left on his current deal.

Owen to Arsenal anybody?

16 mil .. a little low ?

We have been royally fucked IF thats the case ... Lillian Thuram moved for £21m at the same age .. I don't give a crap about the age as long as the player can deliver ... Hargreaves for 17 mil, Charlton want 17 mil for Bent .. 16 mil for Henry is fucking madness.

I just wanna say sorry to Arsenal fans, since it is impossible to replace Henry soon unless the club could hire Eto'o. I suppose you were jocking when you pointed Torres to Henry's place, weren't you?? Carlos Tevez would be a good choice or maybe Ricardo Oliveira, Luís Fabiano...

Torres might not be as good of a player yet, but I was talking about star power, and Torres has a lot of that.

Ricardo Oliveira? Luis Fabiano? You are the joker!

And knowing Wenger of course, it will by Ryan Babel coming in to replace Henry.

NOG - remember that Henry is also coming off his worst season in 8-9 years, he's had some serious niggling injuries (there are rumours that his sciatic nerve problem will be continual). 16m is low, but given the kind of season he's had, if he had another like that, we'd be lucky to get 5m the following year. Sad stuff though.

Will miss you TH14, just wish you hadn't played the media games.

i feel for the Arsenal Fans, but as an admirer of Henry and a Barca fan, This is wonderful news to me

So, ok, buy Torres and wait him to score something. He is simply horrible. But as I can see, you know a lot about football, SM. Maybe that explains why you support Arsenal.

Star power...what a shame!

Hehe Bittenca, I can't expect you to understand because you probably wouldn't know anything about "star power". A big club in Europe needs its big stars for marketing and to fill the stadiums, otherwise their finances get affected. Of course since most Brazilian clubs are half-bankrupt, i'm sure this concept is beyond you anyways.

OK, Fernando Torres is quite overrated, but I find it funny that you complain about him, and then suggest Ricardo Oliveira! He's shit! Scoring goals for teams like Santos and Sao Paulo is not the same as playing at the top level in Serie A. And Luis Fabiano? 5 league goals in 22 appearances for Porto, and 15 in 48 for Sevilla.... ooooh, how prolific! Please. I watched Luis Fabiano score hatfuls for Sao Paulo plenty of times, but at a higher level his lack of quality shows.

Post on the English site more often Bittenca, nobody does comedy like you ;)

PS - You have been strangely quiet and said nothing at all about the Copa Libertadores final, after saying how fantastic the Brazilian teams were.

I agree with Bittenca. Neither in your dreams Torres will be able of replacing Henry. Even with all Henry's falts with Arsenal at this last seasen, i'm sure, his services were more exciting then sad for you, Arsenal's fans. So today it's supposed to be a sad day for arsenal's people. Eto'o, Tevez or Saviola could be names with the same capacity of decision thats Henrry has.

SM, i'm sure about you don't know anything about soccer and you don't love pretty soccer. If want to mesuare our team for a game, you should do that if your teams too. English teams already had the pleasure of playing with brazilian teams... I don't know if remember that, because these team are your rivals. They were Liverpool, twice, and Man utd, once. The first time that a happened a match involving brazilian teams against english team was in 1981, Liverpool x Flamengo, in Tokyo, and it was the easiest Flamengo's game at that season, the brazilians guys only needed 45 minutes for winning your powerfull team for 3x0. The second one was in Rio, in a first world championship, United crossed with Vasco and was the confrontation Brazil vs England was a pretty joke, 3x1, with unforgettable Edmundo's goal. The 3th time was in 2005, Liverpool x Sao Paulo... but it i'm sure you must remember!

But i'm questioning myself: Why Arsenal had never played with a brazilian team? Ah! I'm so stuped... Do you believe that i had forgot this soccer power called Arsenal have never won a Champions League?

Torres will sell more shirts than Ricardo Oliveira or Luis Fabiano. That is a fact.

Hehe, I forgot about Brazilians and their obsession with one match in Japan.

But I guess this year they will not be bothering, since Argentina has the best football team in South America.

SM, don't you get understand Bittenca and me are talking about soccer and not about business? Whe we say Torres can't replace Henry, we aren't talking about selling shirts or being an atractative for suporters to go to satadiuns, we are talkin about results, winnings, championships and titles... If you want a popstars team, you should ask for Florentino Perez some advices. Look at Real Madrid'd last four seasons and see if is nice to invest only in celebrate players!

And you have reason, This year we doesn't have teams in the competitons for the worlds chamopionship, but it's because all these tournaments organized for FIFA were won for brazilians, so we decided to permit argentinians to lost tis time... who knows when Arsenal get a LC, in 2989, we let you to conquist this trophy!!!

reinerio, I understand perfectly well that Bittenca and you are talking about "soccer" and not, business, but the point is that I was talking about business and not "soccer" to start with, so you and B are being a bit silly by going on about Torres not being as good as Henry, because I have never said that.

When you have a 60,000 seater stadium, and the tickets cost between 40-150 pounds each, and 30-40% of the total income is coming from corporate tickets which cost even more, you have to give people a good reason to come and pay money to watch the team, ESPECIALLY when you have 250 million pounds of debt to repay. Maybe Wenger will sign an unknown 19 year old striker from France, or Croatia, or Brazil who will score 40 goals a season, but the club needs to keep its profile up also, and keep the crowds happy.

To lose Vieira, Bergkamp, Pires, and Henry in the space of 3 years is mad.

And I understand that just because I am not Brazilian you think I know nothing about football (or at least Bittenca) does, and if thinking this makes you happy, good for you, I don't really care. But in situations like this, where the entire reputation of a team is at stake, football is as much a businness as a sport.

Maybe you guys miss out the bigger picture, or just don't know about it, but this is one of the main issues facing the club. Players will come and go, the club is most important.

And PS - If you compared a 23 year old left-winger Thierry Henry doing nothing at Juventus, and a 23 year old slightly overrated Torres who is doing well, but not great at Atletico, who would you pick? Don't forget that Wenger made Henry the player that he is, and that if he signs Torres or whoever else, why wouldn't he be able to make them better as well?

Actually I would love to see El Niño at Arsenal or Liverpool or anywhere outside of Spain. But Arsenal needs much more than Torres. They need experience and depth in all positions. The youngsters don't know how to win titles and crack under pressure. I would love to see Dani Alves at Arsenal.

SM, Thanks God, you finally have got my point. We were talking about different things, you about business and Bittenca and me about football. So I igree with you, Arsenal needs a star who will help the team to keep its financial sector on a good situation, but I think this caractheristc doesn't exclude the possibility of firing a player who can help Arsenal conquist titles and to change the club's horizon after this terrible season, because, if you consider the club only like a football team or like company, it does part of their issues.

If Arsenal needs a star, I'm sure he is not Torres. I'd never buy his shirt since he is a medium player, who did nothing till now to have the importance you are trying to show me. And I never told that you don't understand anything about football, dear SM. I respect your opinions, but Torres is too much, sorry. Anyway, if you like him, please tell Arsene to sign Ele Niño to the next season. And don't worry, because I'll not post in english anymore, ok? Mauricio is doing very well and he also talked about Boca's triumph over Gremio. The same Boca will destroy Milan in Japan at the end of the year. We really like this tournament, you are all right. It's the only opportunity that brazilians and argentinians have to show european teams that money is not the most important thing in football. Talent win games, not money, or the number of shirts that you sell.

the same way in which you showed them at the World Cup??

and OK, Bittenca, which "star" would you sign?

Okay, I think the main point is being missed. SM touted Torres as a good replacement for Henry because Torres is a good player. Not because he is not Brazilian.

Similarly, SM thinks Torres is better a better choice than Luis Fabiano and Ricardo Oliveira because Torres is a better player how can score more goals in Arsenal's system. Not because Torres is not Brazilian and the other two are.

Torres has the hallmarks of being a great striker, whereas Oliveira is at best a good one and Luis Fabiano a decent one. There have been plenty of fantastic Brazilian strikers over the years but those two are not among them.

And saying that is not an indictment of the Brazilian style or system.

SM, Brazil and Argentina didn't have a great World Cup. But I think they don't have to prove nothing at all. Just look back. A lot of players are better than Torres as Raul, Tevez, Crespo, Ricardo Oliveira, Fred, Luis Fabiano, Ronaldo and Adriano (yes, they are much better than Torres and they are the kind of "star power" you are looking for), Eto'o, Palermo, Ibrahimovic, Saviola, Klose, etc, etc...you just have to pick one of them.

I think that a player like Teves would be a perfect fit at arsenal. he has the flare that Wenger likes, the speed/skill to play in England (as he showed in the late run of the season w/ West Ham) and the notoriety to fill seats. plus he's got the nose for goal that Henry takes with him to Barca.

Problem with Tevez is that he is too dribbly. Put simply, Arsenal now need a non-dribbly striker, because Van Persie, Fabregas, Rosicky and Hleb are always on the ball, and someone is needed to play off the ball. Eto'o would have been nice, and Nico Anelka is a strong rumour floating around... that would be nice too, if a little controversial.

Still hurting ........................................................

...........................very bad. [:-(

Pro Evolution 8 with Barca is going to be disgusting.

I wait to be very clear for you don't think i'm arrogant. I'm not calling you, SM, foolish, but if in a chat between 2 south americans, one spoke that a player can't be in a team because he knows how to dribble and in this team there are alredy 4 dribly guys, it was this adjective he'd received. But we're talking about differents minds, thougths, countries, cultures, footballs, championships... However I think you have been forgeting a big Tevez's caractheristic: his power of decision. He, in Brazil, played for my team, Corinthians, and he is starving for goals, all of his moviments are attempting the goal. He doesn't like to dribble for dribbling, he always think in score. And I'm sure he would sell many and many shirts, tickets... Summarizing, Tevez would be a nice name to Wenger and to Arsenal Store!

Ronaldo, Saviola, Eto'o, Ibrahimovic, Oliveira and Huntelaar are the olther guys which i'd try to fire if i was an Arsenal's businessman. But it apears, Arsenal's can't compete with another big europeans teams when the competition involves money. It's a pitty! Luis Fabiano, Palermo, Crespo and Adriano, in my mind, are not guys to a big and powerfull team like Arsenal or, the guys wich have potencial of defending the Gunners, their style of pplaying is similar of Adebayor's!

Reinerio and Bittenca please continue to post in English. I enjoy your discussions and insight which is quite different from the typical European mindset. I like the idea of Ibra, Eto'o, Ronaldo, Tevez, Fred or Huntelaar at Arsenal. I am not sold on El Niño. But he will sell shirts as he is a hearthrob, works hard, is very experienced, and is only 23. Wenger works wonders with players. But we need one more striker. We need 2 to replace Henry as the Prem is a difficult league to adapt to. Very physical, fast, and the refs allow alot of physicality and fouls.

I hear Anelka may be back but I like the idea of a swoop for Huntelaar and Babel. I would not mind at all seeing Tevez either. He played with a lot of heart this year and does go straight to goal when he has the ball which is very much needed!

Here we are 5 days later, and I find myself not too upset. In fact, it was good to 'get it out of the way' this time, unlike the Paddy episode that seemed to drag on forever.

And I tend to lean toward the belief that yeah, we got his best years. Sad I wish Barcelona get the injured version, but if rumours were to ever be true...

thats a nice transfer for barcelona they wanted him for a long time and they got him

i think everyone is complaining to much. Arsenal lost their man, boo-hoo. Should Ronaldinho ever leave Barca, i'll be sad, but i'll get on with it, JEEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!