The former Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry is not only working as a TV and newspaper football pundit these days, he is working towards a career in management and just needs one more badge to be fully accredited. Henry is also still working behind the scenes for Arsenal in a coaching role, so if Arsene Wenger wants to ask his former star anything he would not have far to go.
And it just so happens that Arsenal’s all-time record goalscorer has some valuable information on a possible transfer target for the summer that the prof should pay very close attention to. One thing Henry knows more about than most is the art of being a striker and he reckons that the PSG and Sweden star Zlatan Ibrahimovic is right up there with the best.
As he wrote in his column for The Sun, Henry got to know Ibra very well when they were both playing in Spain for Barcelona and unlike the accepted view of Zlatan and his attitude and life off the pitch, the Arsenal man reckons that the Swede is the model professional and that is why he is still right at the top of his game and would be a huge asset to us in the hunt for a Premier League title.
Henry revealed, “I got to know Zlatan really well when we played for Barcelona. He worked very hard in training, was always on time and preferred a quiet family life to going out partying.
“You do not succeed at the highest level for as long as he has done if you don’t look after your body.
“That might not fit in with a lot of people’s ideas about him, which are based on some of the outrageous things he comes out with in the press.”
The reputation of Ibrahimovic is the main reason I thought Wenger would be wary of this transfer but if Henry is right and the boss listens to him, who knows?
I personally have mixed feelings about the Zlatan wearing our jersey.
Of course I love the brand Zlatan, but the man comes with his own issues, some are good and some bad. He would be great with shirt sales of course and would probably bang in some goals but I would prefer a long term solution at ST to compete with Welbz, and OG and Theo as 3rd and 4th options (age is a huge factor for Ibra).
– Lukaku – expensive and hard to get BUT possible.
– Auba – same as Lukaku
– I wouldn’t mind getting Draxler and transforming into an ST option, I truly believe he can do it.
– Huguan still has some legs too
Lukaku: Wont go for any less than £50M, probably even more now that Everton have financial boosting from a previous arsenal shareholder. If he does come, I don’t care what we paid. The guy’s gonna be better than Drogba.
Auba: Not going to happen. I’d love to, but he’s very happy at Dortmund, and he said the only club he’d go to is Real Madrid.
Draxler as future striker: Don’t see why we couldn’t buy him, but will he become a goalscoring machine? I doubt it…
Higuain: Much like Giroud, Higuain can score amazing goals, while missing 100% sitters. As much as 30 goals so far in Serie A is incredible, keep in mind that Napoli’s second top scorer is Insigne at 11, and following are Callejon and Hamsik. Pretty obvious that their strategy is to feed Higuain as many chances as possible. Looking at his wiki, he seems to be a typical 17-22 goals per season kind of guy (except for this season and another in Real Madrid)
I would go all in on Zlatan for next season, giving him a mediocre ground salary, but having very good bonuses, like bonus for scoring, bonus for winning a match etc. just to keep him motivated. In fact, if Walcott (or any english player) is ever to renew his contract, I’d give him the same deal – low ground salary with big bonus for actual performance. With Zlatan and Henry as possible mentors for Welbz in training, surely he must become a better player than what he already is today.
Good points mate. But do you see Wenger actually getting Ibra?
Wenger fears players with ego lately, Ibra is too macho for him and our delicate players.
I see Ibra ending up either at Chelsea or Man U.
So Lukaku it is, and I think 50mil plus 140 per week can do the trick. We can throw in a player on loan as a sweetener too.
Ibrahimovic wants £600,000 aweek to come to the premier league and probably a huge signing on fee.
Even though there is no transfer fee, I can’t see Arsenal paying that kind of Messi wages on a 34 year old.
31.2 mil a year in wages…
I can’t see the Arsenal board or Wenger paying that.
Everything we know about Wenger and Arsenal tells us Zlatan is not coming 😉
Give Everton Walcott/Ox on loan with the option of buying for cheap price would be a win/win.
Get rid of Walcott – We will focus on Oxlade and he may actually start to develop into the player we thought he’d become
Get rid of Oxlade – As mentioned above; He hasn’t been a success at all, we wouldn’t lose much if he packed his bag and tried his luck elsewhere.
Alternative player to buy: Gabriel Barbosa – great talent, having scored 49 goals in 138 matches throughout all competitions, the guy may be the best striker in the world under 20 years.
Possible targets for me are:
– Lukaku – expensive will go for £50 mil
– Lacazette – French, Young and in a bit of a dip = Arsene Wenger signing
Not that news reports should be taken seriously, but Ive seen headlines of lacazette replacing Lukaku at everton.
I honestly feel that Lukaku will be a world star sooner rather than later. I do not see him at everton after this summer, so please Arsene, Silent Stan… forget xhaka, or mkhitaryan and spend the money on the player we need most.
ibra is instant solution… draxler will take a season to complete as sharp striker, if wenger are lucky.
Wenger won’t have anybody at the Arsenal who would steal his thunder so lbro.is a non runner.
I pity those who still pity Wenger to stay as an ARSENAL coach,The First Summer Transfer we need at Arsenal, Is to buy new coach n follows by Players. Wenger has noting left to offer d club right now.I would rather choose d option of Wenger to step down this season,compare to buying Messi, Ronaldo,,zlantan e t c for him to still remains as Arsenal Coach…..
I pity people who can not think for themselves, such as yourself.
Ibra is not going to happen. In the end he will go to the highest payer and I think that might be PSG.
However we should sell 1-2 of our British core. These are homegrown players and command a huge premium in the UK.
Walcott has been rumoured with West Ham and for £26 mil we should sell him. Ox can prove himself for 1 more year.
I think we should sell Ramsey as the 2nd as we can get £40-45 for him. I know this one is a bit more controversial. But his partnership with Coquelin has not worked well and also on the right we have plenty of options.
That gives us money to get Lukaku as our main striker for the next 6-8 years for £50 mil. We can also buy Xhaka for £30 mil. All we need is a decent Centre Back and maybe some up and coming left and right backs. That gives us 3 first team additions and 2 to develop.
Academy players to integrate are: Toral, Hayden and Reine-Adelaide.
We should also sell Sczcesny (Ospina is perfect number 2), Jenkinson, Debuchy, Sanogo and Wellington Silva. We need to let go of Flamini, Arteta and Rosicky.
@supertur
Spot on Gooner.
But I think Wellington Silve deserves a chance to prove himself before we give up on him. He has been out in the wilderness just like Joel and he has bags of talent…
Wellington Silva has loads of talent indeed – which was a statement made when he first came to the club. Being compared to as good as Neymar back in 2011, he hasnt really held up with his reputation/potential. I haven’t seen him play, but his goal per match ratio is horrible (13/157). That being said, that’s about the same as Oxlade Chamberlain…
Maybe if he got his work permit earlier he couldve been something, instead of just rotting in lower leagues. If he still is a talent he was all those years ago, he wouldve had more than just 2 matches for the U21’s for brazil. Sadly, I don’t think Silva is good enough for anything above a mid-table club.
@sevenitti
He’s still a Gunner. And as such, deserves the right to prove himself in the RED & WHITE…
On Silva it all depends how many players we buy and sell. He is over 21 so will cost us a slot in the 25 available. But yes he could be our Campbell.