Tender

Friday, 03 July 09, 04:45 AM · Comments(0)

Due to a day spent in Nottingham at a Staff Conference- big ups to Simon Woolley for one of the most inspirational speeches I've ever heard- I missed the new contracts for Ramsey and Wilshere news. Which is good news, but given Jack only signed professional terms in January, with Ramsey joining last summer, was it strictly neccessary? Both contracts are long term and, I suppose, will be financially more rewarding for the two players.

Arsène is delighted at the prospect of seeing these two develop and I guess he isn't the only one. It's easy to forget, as you watch Wilshere bamboozling opponents, that he is only 17. It's easy to forget, when you watch Aaron Ramsey producing a slide rule reverse pass, that he is only 18. Both, though perhaps more Wilshere than Ramsey, have a maturity to their game that belies their tender years. Ramsey, of course, is also "delighted" to have signed a new deal, saying that he knew Arsenal were the club for him last year. Curiously, Wilshere, as I noted here a couple of months ago, holds Theo Walcott up as some kind of mentor. Young Ramsey does the same here. Which speaks, to my mind anyway, to a good camaraderie amongst the youths in the squad. I'm interested in this, because with Nasri, Arshavin and Rosicky already at the club, with Walcott yet to move to his destined position up top, he is another obstacle barring Wilshere's way to the first team. But this doesn't prevent him from giving advice.

It speaks to Wenger's stated desire to create a culture of style and spirit at the club. We are, of course also talking entirely about British players here and maybe it won't happen under Wenger, but what we might see in years to come is a British spine running throughout the team. Sound fanciful? Consider Keiran Gibbs coming through in spectacular fashion, consider the likes of Emmanuel Frimpong and Jay Emmanuel Thomas, Sanchez Watt. I am reminded of something my uncle said a while ago, which was that Wenger's legacy would be to leave behind a core of English players, trained and developed the Wenger way and therefore better than any others. The boss' refusal to spend silly money on players, just because of the maroonness of their passports, has evidently given the media a false impression of his opinion of English players. He does like them, just not the ones tainted by the "Baby Bentleys" culture.

*Steps down from soapbox*

Cesc Fabregas. Or more to the point Joan Laporta. Apparently Cesc wants to return to Barcelona. Laporta says that himself, Guardiola, and Txiki Beguiristan all want him back. Well, all I want to say to Mr Laporta is that if that is the case, then Cesc has- on reflection- rather helpfully, told you exactly what you need to do. It's very simple, all you need to do is go to Arsenal Football Club with €52m and ask for permission to speak to Cesc. And that's it, you don't need to talk to Cadena Cope about your respect for Arsenal, because your respect for Arsenal; a) is, in this case, irrelevant and b) it doesn't exist anyway. If it did, you wouldn't be trying to engineer a transfer through the media, now would you?

Adebayor might go, he might not. The boss doesn't sound particularly fussed either way. Are you? Was Benzema really a target? Even at €35m? I suppose the fact the boss didn't bid means that he never knew exactly how much he would cost, but he couldn't have expected he would get him for a pint of lager and a packet crisps.

Anyway, that's about my lot for today. It's now off to the gym to get some exercise and then... no, not porklife, we're going to have us some parklife. Alllllllll the people....

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