And then there were three? French revolutionaries invented the idea that
aristocracies do not have to last. As he ponders the direction not just of
his football club but his career, Arsène Wenger must be asking what can be
done to stop the Big Four of the Premier League being pruned by the
guillotine and becoming a Big Three. Following Thierry Henry’s departure to
Barcelona and a seismic two months at the Emirates stadium, Arsenal’s place
of privilege alongside Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool can no
longer be guaranteed.
Reports last night suggested Wenger had had enough and had told Henry he would
be leaving Arsenal when his contract it expires in a year’s time. “I am
conscious that football is like magic. It can disappear very quickly,”
Wenger once said. “You have to take care of success.” Leeds United, after
all, sat at the high table not long ago. Their demise was down to off-field
disasters. The ousting of David Dein from the Arsenal board by fellow
directors appears to be having a domino effect in which pillars of the
club’s success are falling. The importance of backroom figures in sport can
be overstated but in an open letter to supporters explaining his exit, Henry
emphasised that Dein’s fate has “destabilised the team and the manager” and
said things at Arsenal have “completely changed” in the 12 months since he
signed a new contract with the intention of seeing out his playing days at
the club. Henry remembered how Wenger sat on his left and Dein on his right
at the press conference to announce he was staying.
And then there was one. Just Wenger remains, the last of the romantics. As he
sits at home in Totteridge, north London, his TV screen flickering into the
small hours with the images from far-off countries where there are obscure
summer football games, Wenger will reflect whether he has not just the
strength but the means to renew Arsenal yet again. For some time he is said
to have been “disheartened” by the increasing gulf between his spending
power and that of Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and, to a lesser extent,
Rafael Benitez.
Dein left because he supported the proposed takeover by the American Stan
Kroenke, which he felt would give the manager a much-needed cash injection.
Last week Patrick Vieira said “it will be difficult for him [Wenger] to stay,
without Dein, I don’t think it will be the same for him” and Henry revealed
his decision to leave was influenced by a heart-to-heart on Wednesday in
which Wenger admitted he was not sure whether he would still be Arsenal
manager 12 months from now. “Unfortunately and understandably he has said
that at this moment he will not commit to the club past the expiration of
his current deal, which finishes at the end of this coming season,” said
Henry.
By choosing to make the letter public, Henry may have believed he was showing
fans an honesty they deserve from him, but he has made things even more
difficult for Arsenal. Now it has been exposed that Wenger is uncommitted,
it will be that much harder to perform the giddying task of trying to sign a
replacement for Henry. The sale of the striker for £16m, plus funds raised
from Jeremie Aliadiere’s move to Middlesbrough and the impending permanent
transfer of Jose Antonio Reyes to a Spanish club, will give Arsenal up to
£30m to spend, but what top player is going to come knowing Wenger could be
about to leave? Wenger is a man of honour who prides himself on never having
broken a contract but he will face huge pressure to declare his decision
about his future here and now. If his intention is to leave when his deal
expires in 2008, he will face the problem Ferguson had in 2001-02:
motivating players when they know your time is reaching an end.
Henry’s exit will also affect Arsenal’s ability to recruit players. The
striker’s stellar presence was an attraction for many of the young talents
who signed for Arsenal in recent years. Theo Walcott chose the club ahead of
Chelsea and Liverpool because he had Henry posters on his bedroom wall.
Senior players will take their own message from Henry going. Not long ago
Henry being at Arsenal was something persuading Samuel Eto’o to consider the
London club; things have reversed to the extent that it is Henry who was
drawn to join Eto’o at Barcelona.
The scoring feats Arsenal will miss when Henry goes do not need restating.
Manchester United sold Ruud van Nistelrooy to Spain last summer and yet
improved as a team, with other players taking more responsibility for
getting goals, but good as they are, it is hard to imagine Emmanuel Adebayor
and Robin van Persie stepping up in the way Wayne Rooney and Cristiano
Ronaldo did for United last season. Wenger is portrayed as a master of
selling players for over the odds just as they are about to pass their peak.
Vieira’s £13.75m transfer to Juventus in 2005 is held up as an example,
largely on the basis of a runaround given to Vieira by a young Arsenal
midfield when he faced his former club in 2006. Be careful of impressions.
Vieira may not look what he once was and watching Cesc Fabregas & Co is
bewitching, but Arsenal have won not one trophy since their former captain
left. Vieira has won back-to-back scudettos with different clubs and helped
France to a World Cup final. The £16m fee has been presented as a good price
to get for Henry, who is 29, but it is less than West Ham offered for Darren
Bent. Henry’s flame seemed to burn a little dimmer last season but in the
league games he played he still scored or created 14 of Arsenal’s 32 goals.
He still found moments of inspiration, as his stoppage-time winner against
Manchester United showed. That was the final goal Henry scored for Arsenal
in front of his home crowd and its context – and brilliant execution – were
fitting. Its nature, a header, given Henry’s famed deficiencies in the air,
was ironic.
Henry would not have left had Wenger not sanctioned it. A confidante of the
manager reveals that when the striker, having flirted with Barça throughout
2005-06, signed his new contract a year ago, Wenger’s reaction was
ambivalent. He did not want to lose his best player but he had already moved
on mentally and started planning for life without him. Wenger could envisage
the benefits for Adebayor and Van Persie of Henry going. Both are highly
confident and yet Wenger noted they could seem cowed when playing alongside
the great striker. Even when Henry was injured his influence loomed. There
he was, on the touchline, itching to join in celebrations. Before matches a
controversial column or TV interview would materialise, dominating the
agenda.
But the gap between promise and achievement is infinite. Henry, in his peak
seasons from 2001-02 to 2004-05, was responsible for scoring or creating 45%
of Arsenal’s Premiership goals, as he fired them to two league titles and
three FA Cups. Van Persie, Adebayor, Fabregas and all the other lauded
“super-kids” have not provided as much end product as they have
entertainment and until they win trophies of their own, Henry – and Vieira –
will not have been replaced. And Arsenal have lost so much more than these
two French captains in recent years: Dein, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp,
Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Highbury itself. Of the Invincibles who won the
Premiership without sustaining a defeat in 2003-04, only Jens Lehmann, Kolo
Toure, and the fast-fading Freddie Ljungberg are left.
The Premier League’s six best imports
By Brian Glanville
Eric Cantona
Manchester United signed him from Leeds for a song. Powerful and skilful, his
temper sometimes got him into trouble, not least when he Kung Fu-kicked a
Palace fan
Peter Schmeichel
The big Danish keeper at first looked vulnerable on high crosses, but he became
a commanding presence in the United lineup
Jurgen Klinsmann
The German striker arrived at Spurs with a reputation for diving, but defused
the situation by producing a parody of a dive on his debut
Dennis Bergkamp
Unhappy at Internazionale, he found his niche at Arsenal, where he could make
the most of his fl air for the killing pass
Gianfranco Zola
The little Sardinian became an idol at Chelsea. Famed for spectacular goals,
especially free kicks
Thierry Henry
Bought as a winger from Juventus, his pace and eye for goal made him a
striking legend in an Arsenal shirt
