Another summer has arrived and with it has come the customary transfer speculation surrounding the top players at Arsenal. Mathieu Flamini has already departed for AC Milan on a free transfer, and it seems as if Emmanuel Adebayor and Aliaksandr Hleb will soon follow suit in big-money moves to Milan and Barcelona respectively.
So, should we all be worried that this is the beginning of Arsenal becoming a "selling club", and that it is only a matter of time until our place amongst the top four is surrendered to, (God forbid) Tottenham?
You need not look any further than 12 months ago when we were in exactly the same position. The once untouchable golden boy of Arsenal, a certain Thierry Henry (remember him?), was sold to Barcelona and questions soon began to arise from the media as to whether Arsenal would be able to cope without their mercurial talisman. It soon became apparent that the sale of Henry was one of Wenger's most astute moves during his reign as Arsenal manager.
Without Henry, Arsenal were a changed team. There were no longer any superstars in the dressing room. Every player started the 07/08 season wondering who would rise to the challenge of becoming Arsenal's new star. The burden of playing alongside a footballing great had been lifted off the young backs of the Arsenal team, and their stunning start to season was a testament to this.
The whole team was playing for each other, all the players giving everything for the cause and no inflated ego's strutting about the pitch. The display that epitomised this most was against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, where the team came back from a goal down to slaughter Spurs 3-1 in the second half, with stunning efforts from Adebayor and Fabregas.
If we come back to summer 2008 it is now clear that the team spirit of Arsenal in 2007, post-Henry, has been changed (maybe for the worst, we'll have to see) largely because Hleb and Adebayor had such impressive seasons, and are all too aware of this themselves.
Suddenly, Hleb is being courted by Barcelona and after 3 years of life in London, he decides that London is "too noisy" for him and that the positively sleepy village of Barcelona, is far better for his delicate ears. Poor Adebayor is also struggling in London, stating that he would still love to play for Arsenal, and "loves the club", but one small thing, can his wages be quadrupled please?!
The best thing Arsenal can do now is to sell Adebayor and Hleb, which will hopefully "de-ego" the team, and we can start the season with players eager to establish themselves as first team regulars and new fan favourites.
There is no denying what Adebayor did for us in terms of scoring last season, but to quote a well worn cliche, "No player is bigger than the club". So it's time to say goodbye. I look forward to seeing how the likes of Carlos Vela and Theo Walcott will step-up next season, Walcott is obviously well known to the Arsenal fans, but Vela is an exciting and unknown quantity and could well be another star in the making.
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