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There’s only one Samir Nasri

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• Arsene Wenger could leave Arsenal for PSG http://tinyurl.com/5tsa4o “… at the end of his current contract in 2011″ - from The Telegraph #
• http://tinyurl.com/48sb3e “A former army sergeant, Wenger’s friend [Charles] Villeneuve was a shock appointment as PSG president this week.” #
• http://tinyurl.com/48sb3e “[Michel] Moulin was appointed director of sport of PSG in April…claims Wenger is being lined up for the role.” #
• http://tinyurl.com/48sb3e “Sebastien Bazin - The managing director of Colony Capital who own 62.5 percent of PSG….met Wenger last summer” #
• http://tinyurl.com/4wvk76 “[Wenger] already established close links w/ PSG and played an influential role in their restructuring this week.” #
• England exclusive - US and FA both want David Beckham for world cup bids - Sunday Mirror http://tinyurl.com/4pb88c #

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If you don’t believe me - look at his body language. He’s been increasingly visibly upset in recent games as Arsenal’s Premier League season has unraveled, and once again in Liverpool as their Champions League campaign fizzled. Even before Adebayor’s supposed away-goal winner went in and especially after the Toure penalty on Babel, Wenger looked like he wanted to wrestle anyone in his immediate path. Why would he be behaving like this?

My only answer is that he knows this is his last year in North London. Even before this past off-season started, David Dien left the club. Dein was Wenger’s biggest supporter and the one that brought him to Arsenal 10+ years ago. And the ensuing few months were filled with wild speculation over takeovers from Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov. And even though Wenger signed an extension earlier this season, one wonders that there isn’t an easily triggered out clause.

With many apparent openings in top European sides this summer (Madrid, Barcelona, the Milans, etc.) no doubt they’d love to have Wenger’s coaching talents and his beautiful free-flowing style of football. And without an uncertain transfer budget to worry about, he could build a team with the depth that he couldn’t afford at Arsenal.

Of course, I could be reading way too much into this. Maybe he was just upset that a 5 point lead in the Premiership evaporated just as soon as Eduardo’s broke his leg and now with the domestic cups gone and the European Cup run teetering, the only thing to look forward to was a slim chance of passing both Manchester United and Chelsea in the league.

But I don’t have a good feeling about this.

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This picture says it all:

Arsenal’s players run toward their Manager Arsene Wenger (R) after the UEFA Champions League quarter-final match between AC Milan and Arsenal at San Siro Stadium in Milan on March 4,2008. Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas scored six minutes from time and Emmanuel Adebayor added an injury-time second to knock defending champions AC Milan out of the Champions League as Arsenal won 2-0 at the San Siro. AFP PHOTO DAMIEN MEYER (Photo credit should read DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images)

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You know - I see a lot written and said about how Arsenal with their foreign manager and lack of English talent are ruining the Premier League and the soul of English football. Similar comments were made when Fabio Capello was hired as England manager - xenophobic, to be sure. Then when the Premier League unveiled their plan to go International, the same complaints came up yet again. But why? Sue Mott wrote an interesting article in the Telegraph proclaiming that while Premier League boss Richard Scudamore was a blight on the soul of the game for the average fan, he was no idiot, and that there must be something afoot. Something on the order of stemming a breakaway league or an individual TV rights:

There is no doubt that Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool would find a lucrative market abroad. With their glossy foreign players and three out of four foreign managers, the next logical step would be to have training bases and matches abroad, perhaps one day soon? in a global Super League which invites the likes of Real Madrid, Inter Milan and, if money is the only language, LA Galaxy to join in.

Perhaps this is the vision that terrifies the Premier League stragglers, all 16 of them. They fear the day that the supreme artists of domestic football, the money-makers and rakers of the Premier League, move on to a more natural habitat on the French Riviera or a purposely-bought Caribbean Island. Anything to cling on to the coattails of that little goldmine. Anything is better than languishing in the remnants of decapitated, land-locked English football.

Look at it. Manchester United have record revenues but profits only enough to cover their enormous debt. Chelsea is seemingly never going to balance the books and keep winning titles. Liverpool is as mortgaged as the entire west coast of California. Then you have Alex Ferguson ducking out after his city came to a standstill to honor their fallen so he could promote a tour in South Africa or wherever it was … only a few weeks after taking his team to play a testimonial in Saudi Arabia in the middle of a week of a busy season. These new foreign owners are not about breaking even. They’re about making a profit, and doing it in whatever way possible. Including an integrity-compromised 39th fixture.

As an Arsenal supporter, it would be nice to have more access to my team here in the US, but I understand. However, it should be noted that of the Big 4, Arsenal are the only ones with majority English ownership and direction, a solid business and operating structure, and with an Academy producing English talent that aren’t hemorrhaging cash and chasing dollars 4 and 5 timezones away. As Obi Wan in Star Wars would say, “These are not the droids you are looking for.”

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David Beckham has gotten a lot of flack for not giving back to the soccer community in the US: LA Times’ TJ Simers: So much for Beckham being a voice for MLS (PDF)

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I suppose with Fabio Capello flying in this weekend, what better way to stay in the news while staying fit. And while Mr. Wenger has never turned down an opportunity to stick it to Fergie. Plus David did grow up in North London.

David Beckham began training with Arsenal yesterday (complete with Number 23 training kit) in what can only be described as a veritable ‘love-in’. Arsene said:

“He doesn’t live far away and always loved Arsenal. That’s why we help him.”

I think it can only be a good thing for all parties. Beckham has the obvious incentive of keeping fit under Arsene’s revolutionary regime, but our younger players will also get something they’re not often afforded - the chance to train with a truly experienced player. Beckham is now the eldest outfield player on the training ground, and what’s more he’s an extraordinarily gifted one. If he can’t teach the likes of Fabregas and Denilson a thing or two about striking a dead-ball, nobody can.

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Arsenal survive the North London Derby on the strength of goals by Emannuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner. Dimitar Berbatov scored for Tottenham after the early “Baby Kanu” goal and won a penalty on King Kolo Toure that Robbie Keane lobbed safely into the outstretched arms of Manuel Almunia. Bendtner then made them pay and the Gunners held on to win 2-1. Tested time and time again, and beset by injuries in recent weeks, the Gunners seem to be showing the fortitude and resolve needed to win trophies. We’ll know more after the Pompy and Everton games, but this is looking like a solid effort.

And should the draw of AC Milan in the first round of the Champions League be deemed unfortunate, let that notion be dispelled by the inspired words from the Gunnerblog:

When Arsenal built the Emirates Stadium, it was for occasions such as these. On the 20th February 2008, Arsenal will host AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League. And on that night, there will not be an ounce of trepidation in my body. Not because of Milan’s shaky domestic form, nor our own impressive record at over-turning European giants.

But because this is exactly the kind of match that makes European football great. Only a coward wanted us to draw Porto today. The match with Milan is an opportunity for heroes to be made and for ninety minutes of football to become mythology.

In other words: BRING IT ON!!!

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