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Barcelona have offered Samuel Eto’o to Arsenal as a makeweight for Thierry Henry, according to reports in Spain. Spanish daily Marca claims Barca are ready to part with the Cameroonian striker plus €25million (£17million) in order to bring Henry to Camp Nou.

The report says negotiations between Barca sport director Txiki Beguiristain and his Arsenal counterparts are already well advanced. It also says the deal has met with approval from Arsene Wenger and the two players.

Eto’o’s future has been the subject of speculation for some time and he has expressed a liking for the English game. Henry has continued to be linked with Barca following Arsenal’s disappointing season, even though he signed a long-term deal with The Gunners last summer.

Wenger guaranteed that his talismanic captain would not be sold earlier this month, while Henry has assured fans previously that his future remains in London. Barcelona have yet to confirm whether there is any substance in the report, while Eto’o is currently away on international duty with Cameroon and has not commented.

The teenage Mexican striker has yet to make a first team appearance for The Gunners due to the fact he does not qualify for a work permit, and his ongoing Spanish adventure looks set to continue into a third season. 

After joining Celta Vigo on loan for the second half of the 2005/2006 season, Vela spent last term with Salamanca in the Segunda Division and caught the eye with a number of promising performances. 

The top scorer in the 2005 World Under 17 Championships in Peru contributed seven goals in 27 games for Salamanca and has been likened to Mexican legend Hugo Sanchez. 

With his eligibility still a concern for Arsenal, Arsene Wenger is believed to be keen to see Vela accrue some top flight experience next season, and Levante are now hoping to confirm his arrival with the fortnight. 

“Vela is a very interesting player, [but] the operation is still not closed,” Levante sporting director Manuel Salvador told Mexican newspaper Diario de Yucatan. 

“Everything depends on Arsenal. 

“There are some problems, because he is a non-EU player. It has some disadvantages, but nothing else.” 

Vela joined Arsenal in November 2005 at the tender age of 16, for a reported fee of £2.5million, but the former Guadalajara striker has found his feet in European football almost exclusively in Spain. 

The Mexican youth international impressed at Salamanca this season, and Vela insists the club will always hold a special place in his heart after helping to launch his career. 

“The goodbye moved me so much,” said Vela, after his final game for the club. “I am human, and just as you remember me playing here I will remember you as well.

“The best memory I can take is my first goal. 

“With that I obtained the confidence necessary to improve and thanks to that there is the option for me to go to a first division team.”

The teenage Mexican striker has yet to make a first team appearance for The Gunners due to the fact he does not qualify for a work permit, and his ongoing Spanish adventure looks set to continue into a third season. 

After joining Celta Vigo on loan for the second half of the 2005/2006 season, Vela spent last term with Salamanca in the Segunda Division and caught the eye with a number of promising performances. 

The top scorer in the 2005 World Under 17 Championships in Peru contributed seven goals in 27 games for Salamanca and has been likened to Mexican legend Hugo Sanchez. 

With his eligibility still a concern for Arsenal, Arsene Wenger is believed to be keen to see Vela accrue some top flight experience next season, and Levante are now hoping to confirm his arrival with the fortnight. 

“Vela is a very interesting player, [but] the operation is still not closed,” Levante sporting director Manuel Salvador told Mexican newspaper Diario de Yucatan. 

“Everything depends on Arsenal. 

“There are some problems, because he is a non-EU player. It has some disadvantages, but nothing else.” 

Vela joined Arsenal in November 2005 at the tender age of 16, for a reported fee of £2.5million, but the former Guadalajara striker has found his feet in European football almost exclusively in Spain. 

The Mexican youth international impressed at Salamanca this season, and Vela insists the club will always hold a special place in his heart after helping to launch his career. 

“The goodbye moved me so much,” said Vela, after his final game for the club. “I am human, and just as you remember me playing here I will remember you as well.

“The best memory I can take is my first goal. 

“With that I obtained the confidence necessary to improve and thanks to that there is the option for me to go to a first division team.”

Freddie Ljungberg is set to join a mass departure of up to 11 Arsenal players this summer as Arsene Wenger conducts a major overhaul of his squad. The 30-year-old Swede, Arsenal’s longest-serving player at arsenal, he has been told that he can find a new club and he could be joined out of the exit door by eight others.

Jose Reyes, Mathieu Flamini, Manuel Almunia, Philippe Senderos, Jeremie Aliadiere, Alexandre Song, Kerrea Gilbert and on-loan Brazilian Julio Baptista could also all be on their way out.

Youngsters Fabrice Muamba, who joined Birmingham City for £2million last week in a deal that could rise to £4m with add-ons, and Arturo Lupoli, who moved to Fiorentina on a free transfer after rejecting Arsenal’s offer of a four-year contract, have already left Emirates Stadium.

Despite being publicly cautious about the possibility of many comings-and-goings at Arsenal this summer, Wenger knows that he needs to refurbish his squad following the most disappointing campaign of his 11-year tenure.

Portsmouth are leading the race for Ljungberg’s signature and there could also be interest from West Ham, who enquired about him in the January transfer window.

Curtis Davies remains on Arsenal’s shortlist but the club is refusing to pay more than £6m for the defender.

Emmanuel Eboue became the latest of Arsenal’s young players to tie his long-term future to the club by signing a new contract yesterday. Emmanuel Adebayor is also believed to be close to completing a new five-year deal.

i cant believe that they have gave Paul scholes the best goal of the season. Van persie is the winner in my eyes defiantly.

How are you?

“Not great, to be honest with you. I’m doing something that I’ve not been doing for a very long time: resting. That’s all I’m really doing at the moment, and I don’t think I will ever get used to it, It’s all very frustrating. When you’re used to training every morning and playing maybe twice a week — and if you’ve been doing that from an early age — how could it not be frustrating?”

And all the more so as you’ve been fairly fortunate with injuries during your time at Arsenal?

“Yes, that is true; I haven’t missed a lot of games since I’ve been at Arsenal, so everybody is like: ‘Wow, he’s injured, what’s going on?’ But I’ve played 370 games since arrived here seven years ago — I’m nearly past some guys who were at the club for a great deal Longer I’ve never been injured for more than a month before, so it’s hard to come to terms with. If you’re out for one or two weeks, you still feel the vibes of the dressing room, knowing that you’ll be coming back soon. But, when it’s for so tong, you just have to get on with it. I’m not trying to took for an excuse, but I’m missing nine games at the end of the season when we’re not,,, don’t get me wrong, we’re still trying to finish as high as we can, but we’re not chasing the title or the Champions ‘League any more, so maybe now is the best time for it to happen.

Are you still in pain from the groin and the stomach injuries?

“No. It hurt for about a month and I couldn’t walk, but that is now gone and I’m working on the scar inside, making sure it goes back to where it was. But, as I say, it’s boring and frustrating — I Love the game and I love to be out there.”

How do you relieve the boredom — bit of daytime television, perhaps?

“Yeah, do watch television. I go to the training ground, too, to work on my scar tissue and just be around the club, I guess — but still something is missing, and it’s very hard. Don’t get me wrong, have my wife and my family and my daughter— but when you’re used to doing something all the time, something is missing.”

Do you play golf?

“I don’t play, no, but love to watch it. ‘I have been introduced to Tiger Woods and had a chance to meet him, which was pretty amazing.”

 
Had he heard all about you?

“He had, but he didn’t know me like I knew him because… well, because he’s Tiger Woods. But he knew who I was and it was pretty amazing. I said to him that, when I do something, I need to run, I need to sweat, which you don’t get with golf. I prefer to play basketball and tennis, but I haven’t been able to do anything strenuous because of the injuries. It’s been tough.”

 
When exactly will you be back, then — in time for the start of next season?

“I haven’t tried to plan anything in particular, because you can be so disappointed if it doesn’t happen — try to go with the flow. I’m in no rush, though. Hopefully the team is going to clinch at Least fourth spot and qualify for the Champions League again, which will make it a bit easier for us all to go on holiday and relax. The thing is that people do forget that I did too much over the past few seasons. I’m not complaining but, if you want a good season, you have to have a good rest before it all starts, and good preparation in the run-up. Before this season, I had 10 days off on the back of a big season and a World Cup. It wasn’t enough.

How do you view Arsenal’s season, then?

“It’s been pretty weird, you know. I know the game is all about winning — and to win you have to put the ball in the back of the net, which we just haven’t done. But having said that, we’ve been in complete control of so many games, creating chance after chance and being in a position to win. So many times, and yet we end up losing. You can see the negative side of it and say it’s been a disappointing season, but, when you’re in the game, you have to try and take the positives out of it. We would have been in another position if we hadn’t been creating and playing as well as we have, but we’d be in a much better position if we’d taken our chances, We do have something to build on, but we need to kill teams off. That’s all that let us down this year.”

Will that come with experience?

“This season, and I’m not looking for excuses, I’ve been missing for more than four months; William Gallas, Manu Eboué, Gael Clichy, Robin van Persie… well, they’ve all been out too, and you can’t afford to lose this quality of player. We never had the chance to have the same team out and to work with it. It’s the first time we’ve had so many injuries like that since I came here.”

So can you realistically challenge Chelsea and Manchester United next season — or will Arsenal still be a team in flux?

“Listen, we beat Man Utd twice this year; we lost away at Liverpool but beat them at home, and we drew at Chelsea. We can do well against the big teams in the league, but we’ve struggled in games that we should be winning.”

Why is that, do you think?

“Well, I think perhaps we lose our concentration, but we don’t do this on purpose. We have ended losing so many points against teams we should have beaten. The talent is there—which is vital, because it’s hard to buy what we have — but you need to put the ball in the back of the net, and I wasn’t fresh enough or there enough to do that for the team this season. It was the same with Robin van Persie, who has been injured too, and the same with William Gallas, who was out for more than three months when we needed him to be the key guy at the back. I’m not complaining about these things, but it is a fact and it does make a difference. We have a lot of amazing, amazing youngsters at the club, but you need experience too — and, this season at least, too many of us were not there to help them through.”

So the Premiership is a realistic aim next season?

 “I think so, yes. I remember when I first arrived and we finished the first two seasons behind Man Utd — like, far away, 20 points or something —and people were asking the same question. I always said that we could. People thought I was mad, but the next season we did the double. Who would have said Man Utd would go three years without winning the league? That tells you everything about football. This league is so tough to win — you have to put your head up and keep playing as well as you can.”

You’ve said you’re sick of all the speculation over your future, but we have to ask: is any of this Barcelona stuff true?

[Sighs] “Unfortunately in this country, you hear so much stuff that you think people might believe things that they write in the newspapers. At the end of last season, I signed a new contract. I believe in the boss and what he is trying to do here. As long as he is here, then I will be here — it’s just as simple as that.

Writer Nick Harper

Arsenal have been deprived the services of their top scorer since the middle of January when Robin Van Persie suffered a fractured fifth metatarsal in the 2-1 win over Manchester United.

The Dutch forward had just scored his 13th goal of the season, and despite missing 21 games since then, he is still the Club’s top marksman of the campaign.

It was in the process of scoring the late equaliser against Manchester United at Emirates Stadium that Robin sustained the injury which would keep him out for the rest of the season. It was a bitter-sweet moment, as just moments after Thierry Henry scored the winner in that game the full extent of Robin’s injury were revealed.

Since then the 23 year-old has undergone three and a half months of physiotherapy and treatment that has been punishing both mentally and physically. His recovery is on track though, and he should be fully fit to play in next season’s pre-season schedule.

The enforced time out of the game has also given Robin some valuable thinking time, and he was in a philosophical mood when the matchday program caught up with him on Wednesday.

He started by casting his mind back to January 21: “I first felt the injury when I was celebrating my goal,” he reveals. “I realised something was wrong. At first though I thought I had just bruised my foot so I played on.

“It happened just before I made contact with the ball. Specialists over here and in Holland have since looked at the reasons and found out that the bone was already half broken, which nobody knew. So the other way to look at it is that it would have happened at some stage. If it wasn’t against Manchester United, it would have been another game.

“After the match I went to the physio and they did some tests. The doctor told me afterwards that he knew quite soon what was wrong, before the scan even. But he didn’t want to upset me so soon after the game because we were so happy. But then we went for the scan and you could see a big break straight away.”

It was a massive blow for Robin and the team. It was his sixth goal in seven matches, and Arsenal had pulled themselves to within six points of Chelsea in second place in the table. Robin said that the full magnitude of the injury didn’t sink in at first.

“That night I was on crutches at home but I was still very happy. We had just beaten Manchester, I had played a part in it - it was a dream come true for me. So that night I wasn’t disappointed, I was very happy.

“If I had missed that chance, I still would have got the injury, that would have been harsh. So there is still a little romantic element to it - I will never forget how I got the injury!

“Then three days after the Manchester United game I went to Holland for the operation. The game was on the Sunday, and on the following Friday I had the op. From that moment I slowly started doing some things, with the crutches at first of course. But for the first two weeks all I could do was sit at home. That moment was very hard for me. I was watching lots of football but there I was, not even able to go to my kitchen to get a drink. Everything had to be done for me.”

With the operation a success, Robin then had to begin the long road to recovery. He was initially ruled out for three months, which would have meant he could have returned for the end of the season.

“I spoke to the Boss just after the surgery,” Robin continues, “I had a good chat with him and the physiotherapist I was working with in Holland had good communication with the Club as well. We talked about my programme, and exercises. Everything went quite smoothly. (more…)