Arsenal - With Or Without Henry?

[FerrariTifosi27]

Arsenal fans know it must be summer because every day there are fresh stories in the media about the imminent departure of their main man. In 1999 it was all about Nicolas Anelka. The following summer Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars. From 2000 until 2005 when he eventually left, Patrick Vieira was the object of desire for La Liga and Serie A clubs. And for the last two summers it is Thierry Henry who has been on the verge of joining Barcelona - at least according to Barca and the Catalan press.

Gooners have grown weary of the constant speculation. But one thing they have learned is that the rumours are no more than idle gossip until Arsenal, and Henry himself, start corroborating the story. Then they can be taken seriously.

Today AC Milan were added to the mix - but again in a general way, Carlo Ancelotti being quoted as saying that Henry is a great player and among those who could be of interest to the Rossoneri. Hardly earth-shattering stuff given that Henry would probably be of interest to any number of clubs, were he to become available. He is one of the games most dazzling talents, with technical ability, pace, eye for goal, selfless team play and improvisational skills that would make any team anywhere a better one.

There are two key points in this scenario from an Arsenal perspective: firstly, whether or not Henry is on the market; and secondly, if he is, and he goes, what his departure would mean for the Gunners.

The Barcelona camp continue to be assiduous in their courting of the Frenchman. "According to reports in Spain," as the saying goes, Barca have framed an offer of Samuel Eto’'o plus €25 million (£17 million) for Henry, with Txiki Beguiristain claiming that negotiations with Arsenal officials are already underway and that Arsene Wenger has agreed to the deal.

Other Catalan sources are more circumspect, claiming that Barca's Ferran Soriano and Begeristain have made contact with Henry's "camp," and will resurrect the four-year contract they'd put in place for the player a year ago.

Meanwhile the likes of Ronaldinho, Xavi and Lilian Thuram have been telling Henry through the media how welcome he'd be made at Camp Nou.

On the other hand, Wenger has assured Arsenal fans that Henry will not be leaving the Emirates Stadium, while Henry has reiterated several times that his future is with Arsenal. He has also expressed exasperation at repeatedly having to refute speculative transfer stories by declaring that he is happy at Arsenal.

However, last week in China, when pressed yet again by journalists for his position on a possible transfer, Henry replied: "Since I started playing football there has been speculation about me going to a lot of clubs. So that will never, ever stop. But, as I said, for now I'm an Arsenal player. So there is nothing to add to it. For now I am an Arsenal player, so that's all I can tell you."

Those two little words, 'for now' sent the media into another paroxysm of speculation, the inference being that Henry was suddenly at best non-committal - or worse, positively disenchanted with Gooner life.

Only Henry knows the answer to that one, but it is worth remembering that last year, it appeared almost certain that the former Monaco and Juventus star would be moving to Camp Nou. But he decided to stay in London after the Gunners lost 2-1 to Barca in the Champions League final in Paris, declared his love for the club and signed a new contract. "This is my last contract. It is where I belong," he said at the time.

Cynics would say much has changed since then. There was no Champions League final for Arsenal this time around, just an avoidable early exit at the hands of a so-so PSV Eindhoven side - in which tie a clearly unfit Henry saw his campaign come to an abrupt and premature end with an accumulation of injuries.

Indeed, injuries wrecked Henry's season. It was his least productive campaign since he joined the Gunners from Juve in August 1999. Henry made 24 starts plus three substitute appearances in all competitions in 2006-07, scoring 12 goals. In the previous season he made 42 starts plus three as a substitute and scored 33 times.

But there are other factors to take into account. Arsenal finished fourth for the second season in succession and failed to sustain a serious challenge for the top prizes. A lot of youngsters were introduced and Henry has compared that situation with 2003-04, when the Gunners were unbeaten in winning the Premiership crown with a team that included the combined experience of players like Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell, Lauren, Ashley Cole, Edu, Martin Keown and Ray Parlour - all of whom have since left the club.

Perhaps most significantly, the boardroom split at the Emirates over US businessman Stan Kroenke's interest in Arsenal forced the resignation of vice-chairman David Dein - a staunch ally and friend of Wenger's, and a man highly regarded by most of the players.

Dein's departure has thrown Wenger's long-term future into question. The manager has pledged to see out his existing contract,. which runs until summer 2008, but has not committed himself to anything beyond that. Henry has previously stated that his future is closely bound to that of Wenger.

The uncertainty at the club until the Kroenke-Dein-Wenger situation is finally resolved is giving encouragement to would-be buyers of Henry such as Barca and Milan. In a simplistic view of things, if Kroenke was successful in buying the Gunners, reinstating Dein and pumping big bucks into the club, there would be little doubt that Wenger and Henry would stay for the long-haul.

But if the traditionalists on the board shut the door on Kroenke and Dein remains excluded, Wenger may be off in 12 months' time, and Henry may decide to cash in on his current marketability and move on now. Arsenal would need to agree to any such deal, but there would be little point in keeping an unhappy player at the club.

If Henry were to leave this summer, the last year of Wenger's contract would be played out without his talismanic striker, a man who has scored an all-time record 226 goals for the club.

How serious would that be for Arsenal?

Well, they played half of last season with a half-fit Henry, and the other half without him in the side at all, so they have got used to being without him. In his absence, the quality of their build-up play did not suffer dramatically - except in the final third, where Henry's goalscoring instincts (and those of another injury victim, Robin van Persie) were sorely missed.

Henry's effectiveness may have been blunted without the guile and craft of Bergkamp and Pires, the drive and passing ability of Vieira and the intelligent running of Freddie Ljungberg, whose latter career has been too frequently punctuated by injuries. But that is not a conclusive observation, because Henry was not fit last season, therefore not operating at maximum capacity.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Jeremie Aliadiere and Julio Baptista were all given opportunities in strikers' roles while Henry and van Persie were on the treatment table. None of the three provided a convincing answer. Adebayor offered promise and worked tirelessly for the team, often making things happen by pursuing seemingly lost causes. Aliadiere and Baptista were found wanting either technically or temperamentally.

Whether Henry stays or goes, Arsenal are still looking for the goal-poaching 'fox-in-the-box' forward who can feed off scraps as well as provide end-product to Arsenal's often sumptuous approach play. If Henry goes, van Persie will become the main striker, with either Adebayor or the highly promising Niklas Bendtner, fresh from a successful season-long loan spell with promoted Birmingham City, offering options as the Dutchman's strike partner.

Would that be enough? After the frustrating experiences of last season (epitomised by the games at the Emirates against CSKA Moscow and West Ham, both of which Arsenal utterly dominated without managing to win or even score) most Gooners would say: No, it isn't enough.

Those fans would interpret the sale of Henry, without the recruitment of a top-rate striker of the Eto'o, Owen, Torres calibre as a replacement, as a sign that Arsenal were tacitly surrendering their top four status, possibly to arch-rivals Spurs. An Henry exit softened by the purchase of another striker of genuine quality would be sad but bearable. After all, no one player is bigger than the club, as has been proved repeatedly - though losing a player as influential as Henry could trigger a lengthy 'transition' before the good times returned.

Something else to consider if Henry were to depart is the effect that would have on the rest of the squad. Would others be tempted to jump ship? And would it make Arsenal less attractive a destination to some potential transfer targets?

The ideal scenario for Arsenal fans would be that Henry remains faithful to the sentiments he expressed a year ago, and forcefully reiterated this Spring, while Wenger brings in a couple of world class stars to support him and underline the club's ambitions. The construction of the Emirates Stadium put huge financial strains on the North London club, but its opening has had a dramatic, positive effect on revenues and cash-flow, so there should be money to invest in new players.

Arsenal have so far been conspicuous by their absence from most of the big transfer stories this close-season, which can give the impression that the club are being left behind by domestic rivals like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs.

That could be deceptive: the Gunners tend to do their business away from the media spotlight and then announce a new signing as a fait accompli, so there could be some surprises in store.

Meanwhile, football waits to hear what Henry himself, and his manager, have to say about his situation, while the blizzard of speculative spin from the continent continues to rage.

[Ray Parlour]

yawn

read this every season

before our invincible season ppl were calling for wengers head, vieira was going to leave..bla bla bla..

same could be said about ferguson prior to this season..

wenger and arsenal do their business behind close doors...its hush hush and needs to be since chelski arrived..

trust wengers record, not a journalist

[Piola]

there are certain links which are made every transfer window - kaka to real madrid, ronaldinho to milan and henry to barcelona.

[delfino_1936]

yawn

read this every season

before our invincible season ppl were calling for wengers head, vieira was going to leave..bla bla bla..

same could be said about ferguson prior to this season..

wenger and arsenal do their business behind close doors...its hush hush and needs to be since chelski arrived..

trust wengers record, not a journalist

exactly right....since R.A took over chelski all clubs have been forced to keep their interests on players silent cause they hijack the deals.

Henry won't leave, he is a Gooner thru and thru and R P* is right...ARSENE KNOWS

[Valentino The Immortal]

the french revolution at aresenal must be stopeed. and i can see the begining of the end. bye bye henry bye bye wenger! kids you can now watch pepe le pew. zidane is gone now. you do not have to be scared anymore

[The one and only]

i dont think that henry will leave but if he does that will be a huge void that i dont think arsenal will be able to fill for a while

[getborn]

The Frenchman turned down a move to Spain just over a year ago but the Catalans have revived their interest in recent weeks as they look to add fresh impetus to a squad who could end the season without a trophy.

Fabregas, a Barca youth product, told Catalunya Radio: "I believe that he will find it very difficult to say no to Barcelona. I know that Henry likes Barca.

"Barca are one of the best clubs in the world and Henry is a great player. Barca always has the best players in the world and Henry is one of the best."

He added: "Henry has already won the World Cup and now wants to win club titles. For me, Barca is a great club, Arsenal is also, but it is Henry who must decide what's best for him."

Henry has always insisted that he is happy at the club but last week he cast doubt on his future by saying he was an Arsenal player "for now".

[Ray Parlour]

my gut tells me that henry will give arsenal one more season..

he stayed last season stating his belief in the young team who took us so close to champions league glory..

the fact that this season was ruined by injuries to himself and v.persie...i think he has unfinnished business..

a fit henry will be awesome for arsenal this year...and will push us onto a successfull season...then he might want another challenge at barca...and he deserves that...

but henry leaving arsenal will not be the end of arsenal....people said the EXACT same thing when anelka went to madrid...but who did wenger replace him with, HENRY!..

so if henry goes, wenger is saving his cash for someone like Torres...

and even if henry goes this summer...wenger will replace him like he always has...with a torres, or maybe even eto....if 1 of these two replaced henry it wouldnt be such a huge loss imo...

[delfino_1936]

Rosicky urges Henry stay

Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky has pleaded with the club’s management to fight off the bids from Milan and keep hold of ex-Juventus flop Thierry Henry. “Thierry is a big player for us, he is our captain and we need him,â€￾ insisted the Czech Republic international. “Of course it would be a blow if we lost him.â€￾ The French star has been at the centre of constant transfer rumours recently, with Rossoneri Coach Carlo Ancelotti admitting he was interested in bringing the striker to the San Siro this summer.