He will miss at least 3 months of football, more to follow. Not good news for Arsenal, as they want to finish in the top 4, ideally finish 3rd.
I am hoping the finish 4th, just in case Liverpool do not want the CL. the team who finishes third goes into the final-round of the qualifiers, while 4th place goes into second-round.
"The French striker damaged groin and stomach muscles in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with PSV Eindhoven and, as a consequence, will miss the next three months of domestic and international football. Arsenal hope to have him back to full fitness for the start of the 2007-08 campaign".
Eto'o had an interview with Sky Sports before the first-leg of the knock out round. From what he was saying he does seem he will leave.
I doubt Henry will be stripped of the captaincy, the fans will not except that. Swapping Henry for Eto'o is an option, but Barca would want some money too.
Having failed to sign Henry in the summer, they may not want him.
Personally, I think Arsenal need him. It is all well-and-good talking about the younger players, but what about now? Can Arsenal fans wait 3 years for success, I think not. Chelsea have won a cup, Utd look set to win the league and Liverpool could win the CL. That would mean Arsenal's main rivals have a trophy at the end of the season and Arsenal with nothing.
Arsenal like Liverpool, need to make two or three good signings and both should be challenging for the title.
Yes he is important, but more for commercial reasons, and simply his presence - training would not be the same if he left, who would the younger players look up to?
However, we have played alot better this season when he has not been playing, the team seem alot more free. When he does play everyone tries to pass to him and it just isn't working at the moment. Which is why his injury is a blessing in disguise. The player we have really missed is RVP he was on fire with Adebayor. He will be back soon then we'll be firing.
That is the problem with having so many young players in a team, they all pass to the main player.
Another disadvantage is being ready for the big games but not those tricky trips to Bolton or playing against a team that puts every man behind the ball (e.g. Sheffield United).
In think you are missing Pires too, Reyes on loan to Madrid did not help although you have Baptista instead.
If you can keep Henry and some how find the cash for Eto'o, you should do well. The latter has been offered to all top four English clubs, but I do not know how much Barca want.
Cheslea will not sign him, which leaves Utd (who want Torres) and Liverpool (if we do not sign Villa), as well as Arsenal.
Torres has a release clause of 40 million euros, which is about £27.5m. Utd wanted him last summer, but did not want to spend that much.
Villa is likely to be available for £25m. There are rumours Barca will sell Eto'o and sign Torres, so they would be looking at about £20-25m for Cameroon international.
Henry is still a world class player, despite not being at his best, he's still gotten arsenal 14 goals. when he comes back rejuvenated, hell be on fire again.
Etoo said a few weeks ago that in spite of turning Arsenal down initially he'd love the opportunity to play under wenger. He's always stated he'd like to play alongside Henry aswell.
After Arsenal's poor season, Wenger might pull out the stops and sign him
Dein's said that the money's there for top quality players if Wenger wants to use it. Whether or not he was just saying this to please the fans and if Wenger would actually want to spend such sums of money will be seen at the end of the season I guess.
With regards to Baptista, once he's improved his confidence and has adjusted to the premiership, I think he can shine. I expect Real will want to keep Reyes so I can see the swap becoming permanent, not sure if Arsenal will get any money from it though
Will be interesting to see who Benitez signs in the summer once the club has been taken over. I think Montella would do well for them, but he'll probably move to Fulham. They need to improve their defence in my opinion as well
Fulham cannot afford him and I doubt Rafa wants him.
The Spanish experts on Sky sports reckon Real want to keep Baptista. However, it seems they will get a new manager, so I guess it depends on him, where Baptista plays next season.
Rafa may be given upto £100m. We were supposed to get Villa in January but Valencia rejected £15m, they want between £20-5m. Chelsea may want him too, after they failed to get Baros they went after Villa. It seems Crouch and Fowler will leave, Newcastle will buy the former for £8m, as agreed in January.
Mascherno will be signed and Zenden may be sold to a Dutch club. We need:
1 centre-back (Hyypia only got another full season left), someone to play left or right midfield, a centre-midfielder (besides Mas') and a striker (hopefully Villa).
Carson will come back from loan, so Dudek is likely to be sold. Kirkland is set to sign for Wigan, after his loan finishes.
We may do a swap+cash deal for Owen with Newcastle. There were rumours, that is has a clause of about £12m to sign for Liverpool in his contract. if we did that, it would be brilliant: Owen, Villa, Kuyt. Bellamy and Veronin.
Today's papers, suggested Barca signing John Terry because of the wage row at Chelsea. So Puyol may be available too, although they may do a swap deal.
