Manager faces new problem as still developing players flex their muscles for money, writes David Hytner
As ever, Arsène Wenger used his quick wit to disarm the questioner before restating his conviction with characteristic coolness. The Arsenal manager spent the duration of Euro 2008 flitting between Switzerland and Austria in his work as a pundit for French TV and a corporate-function speaker for an oil company. Back in London, though, the fires burned.
With Mathieu Flamini gone on a Bosman to Milan, increasing doubts had been placed against the futures of Alexander Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor, and there had been noises of disquiet from other key players. Did a part of Wenger not wish that he was at home to tackle the problems? "I enjoy it more here," he said with a smile to his audience in Basle. "Because in London I am much more confronted with problems. Here I have a little distance. But I am very calm about the situation because I don't know why I should be nervous.
"It's like when you take a penalty, if you are nervous it doesn't help. I will approach it with my usual calm. My biggest challenge is to make sure I have a competitive team next year, no matter who it is."
Adebayor and Hleb were both outstanding last season. The former scored 30 goals in all competitions; the latter demanded attention with his quick feet and weaving dribbles. At present, though, there is unfulfilled potential in them and this is what makes their potential departures so disturbing for Wenger. Hleb, who has repeatedly voiced a desire to leave, is close to a move to Barcelona, and Adebayor, who has been a master of the mixed message since the end of the season, has admirers at Barcelona and Milan. It was reported in Italy last night that Adriano Galliani, the Milan vice-president, was due to meet Wenger in the south of France at the weekend.
In the past relative underachievers who have been signed by Wenger - Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry are perhaps the best examples - have been improved and moved on after giving the club their best years. Only when injuries began to hit and their form dipped were they ushered off in exchange for big fees. The contrast with the cases of Hleb and Adebayor, and even Flamini and Lassana Diarra, who left for Portsmouth last January, is unsettling.
"Vieira and Henry were probably just coming past their peak," said Nigel Winterburn, a former Arsenal left-back. "They'd given everything and Arsène would not stand in their way. He doesn't like confrontation anyway. But Hleb and Adebayor he would feel very let down by. This is the first time that established players have wanted to move before Arsène has fully polished them up and that is a bit of a worry."
The heads of the pair have been turned not only by the prospect of glory but by the force that controls the game. It is already deposited into their bank accounts in large sums every month but they know that they can improve their incomes elsewhere, particularly in a market which is short of top-quality attacking talent. Hleb has been promised a significant rise at Barcelona and Adebayor has been quoted as saying that he believes he should now earn the same as Henry, the player he has effectively replaced. Adebayor currently gets £35,000 a week; Henry took home more than three times that in his final Arsenal contract.
Wenger, who must decide whether to sanction a move for Gilberto Silva to Panathinaikos, often comes across as a romantic, a man wedded to principle and unwilling to conform to the eye-watering excesses of 21st-century football. Just as it would affront him to buy a superstar for £30m, he finds it crass the way Chelsea have thrown their new money around. It beggars his belief that Adebayor should be worth £100,000 a week after one season.
Yet there is also a pragmatic edge to the Arsenal manager and the strict wage structure he has put in place. He has raised its ceiling only for Vieira and Henry and he steadfastly offers one-year contract extensions to players turned 30.
"If Adebayor is looking for £100,000-a-week plus, he is not going to get it at Arsenal, especially after one good season," Winterburn said. "Henry performed over many seasons. Look at what he achieved and won. He built up to his final contract.
"Arsène has a value for every player, in wages and on the market. If you come to a stalemate over wages and another club offers that player's value, he will leave. Arsenal have never been the best of payers. You have to decide whether you like being at the club and being paid well or if you want to chase the very top money."
The chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, and his directors have repeatedly said since the move to the £357m Emirates Stadium in 2006 that Wenger has had money to spend. The club borrowed £260m for the move at a fixed rate of 5.3%, which looks very good in the current financial climate, and their annual repayments of £13.78m are manageable. They have sold 91% of the units at the old Highbury and expect to make £300m upon completion of the development, and the new stadium has almost doubled match-day revenues.
The last trophy, though, was in 2005 and departures from the squad Wenger is trying to develop can only fracture the rhythm. He will not change his methods but, if the want-aways blossom elsewhere, the lines in his brow may yet deepen.
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