Arsenal Thread

[Guest Heresy]

I'm glad Henry's signed, the more superstars in the premiership the better.

[therockbox]

To be fair, if a team's best player didn't have the ability to turn a game on it's head on his own I'd be worried.

[TheArsenal]

People can say we're a one man team, but the best teams do have those players who can turn a game. And if they don't, then they may not be attracting the world's best to the club. They may have a good squad without having the really huge superstars.

[Marsh]

Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein says the club turned down two £50m offers for striker Thierry Henry before he agreed to sign a new four-year deal.

Henry's decision ended any chance of him replacing £47m Zinedine Zidane as the world's most expensive player.

"We turned down two world record deals from Spanish clubs. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out who they were," he told the Sunday Express.

"Our message was clear - he wasn't for sale. I'd like to think he heard that."

Dein also revealed that the contract Henry signed was one that he was offered back in January.

"We made an offer in January, prodded Thierry now and then, but never put pressure on him," he said.

"Money wasn't really mentioned. He wanted to know where we were going, but in reality I think he knew."

Dein said the chance to influence the next generation of youngsters at Arsenal, who want to play with him, may also have persuaded Henry to stay on.

"He had seen the youngsters emerge after a dark period.

"We have three teenagers at the World Cup - how many other clubs can say that?

"The reason they are here is because of Thierry. The first question Theo Walcott asked was "Will Thierry still be here?".

"I believe he also knew that if he went to a club like Barcelona or Real Madrid, he would just be a prince. Here he knows he is a king."

[TMM]

Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein says the club turned down two £50m offers for striker Thierry Henry before he agreed to sign a new four-year deal.

Henry's decision ended any chance of him replacing £47m Zinedine Zidane as the world's most expensive player.

"We turned down two world record deals from Spanish clubs. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out who they were," he told the Sunday Express.

"Our message was clear - he wasn't for sale. I'd like to think he heard that."

Dein also revealed that the contract Henry signed was one that he was offered back in January.

"We made an offer in January, prodded Thierry now and then, but never put pressure on him," he said.

"Money wasn't really mentioned. He wanted to know where we were going, but in reality I think he knew."

Dein said the chance to influence the next generation of youngsters at Arsenal, who want to play with him, may also have persuaded Henry to stay on.

"He had seen the youngsters emerge after a dark period.

"We have three teenagers at the World Cup - how many other clubs can say that?

"The reason they are here is because of Thierry. The first question Theo Walcott asked was "Will Thierry still be here?".

"I believe he also knew that if he went to a club like Barcelona or Real Madrid, he would just be a prince. Here he knows he is a king."

- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...nal/5001674.stm

I'd have accepted the offer if I were Arsenal. No player is worth £50,000,000 in my opinion. Especially a striker at age 28 - I'd imagine the majority of his best years are behind him and he'll be entering the twilight of his career pretty soon. I certainly don't think his contribution to the Arsenal team from this point on will warrant turning their noses up at 50 million. I mean really, how much will they have to win on the pitch through Henry to earn that much? How can it be justified? Surely some of that money could have been used to sign another world class striker (or two).

Well this season alone we just made over £50m, we made the most money out of all the English clubs, so that makes up for it. Besides, Henry is arguably the very best player in the world, and even when he gets past 30 and loses some pace, he'll be playing the Bergkamp role, maybe not scoring as many as he does, but he'll be making more. We don't need the £50m.

[Lord Nibbler]

Well this season alone we just made over £50m, we made the most money out of all the English clubs, so that makes up for it. Besides, Henry is arguably the very best player in the world, and even when he gets past 30 and loses some pace, he'll be playing the Bergkamp role, maybe not scoring as many as he does, but he'll be making more. We don't need the £50m.

[Guest muddatrucker]

Nah, I wouldn't sell him regardless of the offer, he couldn't be replaced no matter how much cash we had.

[TheArsenal]

We need him. If he's no good in four years time then at least we've had those four years while people like Fabregas, Reyes, and van Persie develop into superstars.

[lafunky xxvii]

The problem with selling him would be that our entire team is built around him, so it wouldn't be a case of cashing in and straight swapping him, it would mean another transitional season whilst we adapt our style to playing without Henry. When it does come around to Henry being 'past it' we should be completely prepared for it.

[TMM]

WE'RE ABOUT TO SIGN ROSICKY!!!

Ahem, sorry for the caps, but damn, Rosicky is awesome! Can't wait.

[Guest Kliq Masterson]

Watch this go the way of Batista like last year >_>

[TMM]

Watch this go the way of Batista like last year >_>

Baptista

At the moment, Sky Sports News can't make up their mind whether he's having a medical, just had one or signed. It's all confusing. But Rosicky will sign.

[TheArsenal]

Watch this go the way of Batista like last year >_>

[Guest Kliq Masterson]

Watch this go the way of Batista like last year >_>

Baptista

At the moment, Sky Sports News can't make up their mind whether he's having a medical, just had one or signed. It's all confusing. But Rosicky will sign.

[Buford Ripley]

I suggested to a friend last summer that Arsenal should sign Rosicky to fill in the midfield role. Wasn't he linked with the Gunners last summer?

[TMM]

I suggested to a friend last summer that Arsenal should sign Rosicky to fill in the midfield role. Wasn't he linked with the Gunners last summer?

He's been linked with us pretty much every years since anybody ever heard of him.

[Buford Ripley]

Well if the deal goes through it will be a good signing since Gilberto is getting on a bit, Diaby's out for nine months I think and Fabregas will have someone more experienced to play off of.

[TheArsenal]

It's now on the BBC as well.

Wenger said we should be getting another top quality signing. Any ideas?

[TMM]

It's now on the BBC as well.

Wenger said we should be getting another top quality signing. Any ideas?

Hopefully a defender and/or decent back-up for Lehmann, but someone who can take over from him when he retires.

[Buford Ripley]

Well Arsenal could bring in another great player into the Premiership by finally buying Fernando Torres.