Arsenal In Tatters As Hleb Follows Flamini
Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb's agent reportedly informed manager Arsene Wenger last night that the player is planning to leave the club...
True to recent rumours, it is alleged that agent Nikolai Shpilevski has informed the Gunners' boss that the playmaker will buy out the remaining two years of his contract for £3 million and join Italian giants Internazionale this summer.
Wenger had refuted recent speculation linking the Belarus international with a lucrative move to Inter, insisting he was not for sale and that the notion of buying out a contract (otherwise known as activating the Webster clause) was not as straightforward as many believed it to be.
"We want to keep Hleb, we want him to be part of our team next year," Wenger told the club's official website earlier this week. "It is as simple as that. We have lost one player Mathieu Flamini, we do not want to lose more.
"What people say about the buy-out clause, it is not as simple as it looks," explained the Frenchman. "It is much more difficult and the clubs are reluctant to do that invoke the 'Webster Clause'."
However, his departure now looks imminent, just days after Mathieu Flamini agreed to join Milan on a free transfer at the end of the season.
The French midfielder's transfer was highly controversial amongst Arsenal fans, with many lambasting the 24-year-old for alleged financial motives for leaving the Gunners. Wenger himself admitted he was "disappointed" by the tough-tackling midfielder's decision. Now the situation has grown far more severe.
Many pessimists may now even speculate over the future of star player Cesc Fabregas, whose name was on the lips of Real Madrid supremo Ramon Calderon earlier this week, much to Wenger's disgust.
Leaving
Hleb, who Fabregas admitted makes him play better, is making what his agent describes as one of the biggest moves of his life, with the transfer to be finalised within a fortnight.
“Alex is preparing to make one of the most important moves of his life," explained Shpilevski, speaking to Belarus daily Pressball.
“He is leaving even though Arsenal want to offer him a new long-term contract.
“Only time will tell if it is the right decision but there’s no way back now. Everything will be settled in the next two weeks.”
What They Did
Inter are thought to have first made contact with the player when Arsenal were playing the away leg of their Champions League tie against the Nerazzurri's bitter rivals Milan.
Stories emerged that Hleb left the team hotel to speak with Inter officials over the possibility of a move in the summer.
Wenger, who paid £10 million to prise the playmaker away from VfB Stuttgart in 2005, threatened to report the Italian giants to FIFA there and then for illegally approaching his player.
He has since revealed to the media that he has further knowledge of what transpired that evening and will be making a case against Massimo Moratti's club in the near future.
“I will of course do it [report them to FIFA], with Inter Milan especially,” blasted Wenger. “Because of what they did.
“I now know more about what happened over there [in Milan]. I will keep the information for those who need to know it. I don’t want to speak much more on that but it is unfair what happened.”
It appears that could be his only recourse as things begin to slip away from him this summer.
Sulmaan Ahmad, Goal.com
And if this wasnt enough..
Arsenal In Crisis As Adebayor Now Demands £80,000
According to the Daily Mail, Emmanuel Adebayor has threatened to throw Arsenal into full-blown crisis by following Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb out the door unless they make him into one of the Premier League's top earners.
Arsene Wenger's best laid plans are in ruins after Flamini and Hleb have opted to leave for different sides of the Milan divide, and now the Gunners' top scorer from last season is allegedly demanding £80,000 a week to stay at the club.
Flamini has joined Milan on a Bosman, while Helb is expected to join Inter in the coming two weeks after turning Arsenal's contract offer down.
Adebayor, 24, is currently on £35,000 a week from a contract he signed last summer, but word is that he and his agent are looking to exploit the club's desperation as well as the fact that Barcelona and AC Milan have been hovering over him for some time.
This would contradict recent quotes attributed to him, however, in which he declared that he is staying at the Emirates and eager to continue improving in the hopes of truly establishing himself as one of the best strikers in the world.
The report claims that he is looking to stay put, but only if the club put him at par with best paid players in the league.
It should also be pointed out that is is still not certain that Alexander Hleb is leaving the club. The Belarus star's agent has claimed that he has informed Arsenal that his client is planning to leave the club, but unless Arsenal agree to the sale he will be forced to try to activate a buyout option (known as the Webster Clause).
Derek Wanner, Goal.com