Those freaking Spanish gypsies

Looks like it really happened, reports out of Spain say its a four year deal with a 16 million pound transfer fee. No confirmation yet from the English side but they have Barcelona club officials quoted as saying its pretty much a done deal with some t’s to be crossed. The fee is extremely low and blood is coming out of my head after scratching it for the past hour - Henry’s contract over the next four years at Barcelona will be around 16 million, thats 4 years and 4 million. So in a way, Arsenal just sold Henry for nothing. I didn’t mind selling him but not in pesos, I was thinking bidding would start at 30 million. I just can’t understand it.

Anyways, search for closure now. Henry spent the best years of his career at Arsenal, he’s still an awesome player but probably in decline and coming of injuries. I’d rather have him here than at Barcelona but maybe this is one of those things that might be a blessing in disguise. It’s time to find us a new striker. My biggest worry is that other players like Rosicky, Fabregas and Adebayor might see this as a really bad sign and want out of the situation.

The writing was on the wall for quite some time but it still comes as a little surprise, he had pretty much said he’d retire as a Gunner but I guess your word doesn’t mean much in this business unless its in writing. Arsene Wenger’s got to feel like shit right now seeing how he’s the one who developed Henry into the player he is today, sad day for the Boss but if there’s a manager that’ll know what to do it’s him. We just need to give him some time and the club needs to give him some money so he can make something happen on the market. You can’t replace a player like Henry overnight, it will probably take years before we get another player of his caliber. He’s the type of player you tell your grandkids about and I’m just happy that he spent the prime of his career with Arsenal.

The new stadium has been a curse of sorts on us, nothing has gone right since it was built.

The only guy that pisses me off more than Eto’o is Patrick Vieria, since when did he become Henry’s official spokesperson and why doesn’t somebody just tell him to shut the f**k up and get a hobby. Actually wait, why doesn’t Henry tell him to put a sock in his mouth and let him do his own talking. Sounds to me Vieria’s still bitter about not being offered enough money by Arsenal a couple years back. Honestly, who the hell is he to tell Wenger to ‘Show Henry you’re serious’. Eat a dick pal.

That little twat Samuel Eto’o must be celebrating with his gypsy friends like there’s no tomorrow. It’s not an automatic start for Henry though, he’ll be competing with Eto’o for the lone striker role. You know I’ll be cheering for Real Madrid and Sevilla next season in La Liga. With Messi, Eto’o, Henry, Ronaldinho they’ve just taken over the role of Galactico’s of Spain from Real. Here’s hoping they reek next year.

One final thought: I want Nicolas Anelka back.

Another boring day of the off-season and I’m off to the UEFA Champions League website to check out when the next event of any significance is and turns out its on June 29th. Thats when the draw to figure out who Arsenal play in the qualifying round of the tournament happens. The first qualifying round will be on 17/18 and 24/25 of July, the second qualifying round takes place on 31 July/1 August and 7/8 August. It’s pretty amazing how short the summer is.

I was checking out the UEFA club coefficients and Arsenal are ranked fifth in Europe behind AC Milan, Barcelona, Liverpool and Inter Milan. Now the process of calculating club coefficients might not be the best indicator of how good your club is but it does bring some joy to my heart that despite the pathetic season we’ve had including the early exit from Europe that we’re still considered a top five European club. I’ve taken the liberty to sort the teams who’ve qualified for the qualification round in the Champions League by coefficient.

Chelsea caught a break and got a top 8 seed which means that since they’ve qualified directly for the group stages, they’ll get a pretty easy draw.