Emmanuel Adebayour Is On A Dark Road....

by Puneet Singh

There was once a young striker in the 1990's that Arsene Wenger plucked out from France and turned into a star. Over the two years that that forward plyed his trade in Arsenal (from 1997-1999) he became more and more known to the world and his ego became bigger. With his bigger ego came desires for a bigger paycheck. So Arsene let him leave for Real Madrid cashing in on him for a nice fee of £22.3 million pounds.

This forward went on to have a career filled of futility with highs and lows. This striker also had a stint at Manchester City, albiet before the Abu Dhabi era.

In case you can't figure out who I'm referring this story to, it is none other than "Le Sulk" Nicolas Anelka.

Anelka was plucked out of PSG for a lowly fee of £500,000 in February of 1997. During the 1998-1999 campaign (the year United would win the treble) Anelka had a solid season scoring 18 goals in 45 games for the Gunners. At the tender age of 20, Anelka had put himself on the map as an up and coming striker.

With demands for higher wages being sent out as a threat by Anelka to Arsenal they made the move to sell him rather than having the distraction of him in their locker room. It also helps that they had an up and coming striker in the name of Theirry Henry and Dennis Bergcamp.

Fastforward 10 years. Now at the age of 30, Le Sulk has played for Madrid, PSG, Liverpool, Manchester City, Fenerbache, Bolton and Chelsea in that 10 year span. Finding a home just doesn't seem logical for him given his nature to not fit in locker rooms and being a headcase.

Outside of Bolton and only a few dustups in Chelsea, Anelka has been unwanted by everywhere else he's gone.

The parellels to Adebayour are scary.

Adeybayour was signed from the French club Monoco in the January 2006 transfer window for £3 million pounds. During his three seasons at Highbury//Emirites he popped in 58 goals in 130 games including 30 goals in 48 games during the 2007-2008 season.

This is when the buzz became really big around "Adey."

That summer window, Adebayour was the hottest name on the market. (NOTE: I would say Cristiano Ronaldo, but only Madrid were pursuing CR7). With Barca, Milan, Chelsea, and Internazionele amongst the clubs vying for his signature, demand was at a high.

Luckily Wenger ponied up the cash to upgrade his wages to €80K a week. That kept him content....for the time being.

Another year goes by and Adebayour doesn't quite have the year all expected of him, disappointing some but still managing to find the back of the net 16 times in 38 games.

Demand is still high with Milan and Barca again contacting Arsenal about his services. But they view Adey as a plan B or C.

Manchester City give both Adebayour and Wenger a call. They tell Adey they will pay him more than TWICE his contract, meaning wages of €170k a week. They give Wenger a good offer (€25 million; better than what should have been given for this years work, but not up to par with last years offers. When it is all said and done, by July 17th, 2009, Emmanuel Adebayour is officially a Citizen.

Adebayour is on the same path of Anelka; naive youngster's who let fame and fortune get the best of them. Both left Arsenal and Wenger for dreams of a bigger paycheck without ever fully winning much or helping Arsenal. Both were bad for their team and had/have high expectations put on them. In the case of Anelka, he lasted one year at the Bernabeau and then was shown the door due to his bad temperment, lack of hustle and effort and me first attitude.

How long will Adey last at City? Just enough to see another big name striker come in next year take his spot and have him shipped out into mediocrity.

Adios Adey and Adios Fourth Place For Arsenal

by Puneet Singh

As much as I dislike Arsenal, I have a huge respect for them. I respect the fact that they play beautiful football and have an economic way of going about the transfer market.

But what happens when that economic side gets the best of you? Better yet what happens when you don't sell on a high or this "economics" game is preventing you from moving further in terms of success?

This is the case of Arsene Wenger.

To my recollection, Wenger opted to sell Thierry Henry and Emanuel Adeybayour after the down years. Henry and Adeybayour brought in €16 million and Adeybayour netted them €25 million. While many Arsenal fans are delighted, does anyone recall when Barcelona and Madrid offered €30+ million bids for Henry the year before he moved to Barca? Or last year when Barcelona and Milan were both offering upwards of €40 million for the Togolese strikers services?

It seems that Wenger has slowly just come to the philosophy of "those who don't want to be here can leave." While it's a good theory and philosophy, it's probably not so good when key players to your franchise are leaving.

Case in point: Henry, Matteiu Flamini, Adeybayour.

The loss of these player's has and will continue to hurt Arsenal. They still have not found a suitable replacement for Flamini who was a rock in the midfield and the Ying to Cesc Fabregas' Yang. Those two should have been the foundation for the Gunner's midfield for the next five to six years. Clearly that's not the case.

Now onto this Adeybayour move.

It would make a lot of sense if Arsenal's remaining strikers weren't Robin Van Persie, Andrei Arshavin, Carlos Vela, Nikolas Bendtner, Eduardo Da Silva and Theo Walcott.

Walcott, Arshavin are more of wide players. Vela, Eduardo and RVP are supporting strikers and Bendtner is just a tall goof. Say what you want, but when you take a respectable goal threat like Adeybayour out of the picture, this doesn't look like the strongest of strike forces.

It also doesn't make sense selling Adeybayour to a team that's hungry and on the rise.

Say what you will about Manchester City, but Abu Dhabi and Matt Hughes are an ambitious bunch, and have slowly built a squad talented enough to hang with the biggest of challenges.

This being said, with the sale of their most lethal striker, it seems as if Arsenal may have sold their ticket for fourth place.

Without another young goal scoring, in the box threat on their roster Arsenal stand at a fork in the road. Clearly another forward is needed, and Arsene needs to address this issue before the season starts, so this doens't end up like the Arshavin saga of last winter.

In the end I hope this; Arsenal can find a way to battle it to fourth and higher, that way we don't have to see City fan's rejoice a la Chelsea fans circa 2003-2008.

Get The Lad His Pacifier and Binky

Puneet Singh

The success of Manchester United over all of Europe for the past two years can be pointed to through many different aspects of the team; our great depth of the bench and reserves, Sir Alex Ferguson's unparalleled coaching tactics and mind games, Cristiano Ronaldo's 42 goal tally last year....the list is endless. One of the unsung heroes on our squad who gets lost in all the fame and praise of the other stars at United is none other than "El Apache" Carlos Tevez.

Since arriving at United on a two year loan in the summer of 2007, Tevez has earned a reputation as a bulldog and a grinder. This is evident in his style of play and his never quit attitude on the pitch. Through the 98 games over the last two years that Tevez has featured in, he has netted 34 goals and in the process formed a dynamic partnership with Wayne Rooney, known to the Manchester faithful as RooVez.

He has been unsettled though this year, starting less games because of the signing of Dimitar Berbatov, an in the box monster and front line carrier that Manchester have been lacking since selling Ruud Van Nistelrooy off to Real Madrid prior to the 2006-2007 campaign.

It seems like by not starting consistently at Manchester and United having not secured his long term future from the 3rd party group of MSI by now, that Tevez is now irate and frustrated, thus prompting rumors of his departure. But Tevez has to remember that Manchester United are an elite club, if not THE ELITE CLUB in all of the footballing world. There will be all world talent here and players will want to come and play for Fergie and the Red Devils. Look at the likes of John O'Shea, Darren Fletcher, Park Ji-Sung and Johnny Evans, all role players for United, but could easily be starting for 12 to 13 of the other Premier League teams today. The key is that each of these players is a vital and integral part to our organization and have a certain role, and as long as they do their job, they will continue to have that role. Tevez needs to realize that he too is highly regarded not only by the organization, but the fans that sing and chant his name. He will always have his place at United should he choose to stay here.

If Tevez believes that his situation is unfair and he does not get enough playing time, try explaining it to these players from these teams. In 2005 Real Madrid has Fernando Morientes, Raul, Ronaldo, Robinho and Michael Owen all as their forwards, and all were all world talents at the time. Playing time was beyond scarce for Owen and Morientes whom both would eventually leave after the season while Robinho was in the process of being converted from a CF to a Winger. In 2000 Inter Milan had the dilemma of deciding who to start out of a group that included Hernan Crespo, Christian Vieri, Alvaro Recoba, Robbie Keane and Ronaldo again.

So where oh where could Carlos be headed? The man himself has said he would love to stay in England and in his own words "Any club I join, whether it be Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool or Everton, will be a rival of Manchester United." This all but shows that his mental state has already left United. Outside of England, Tevez is heavily being pursued by Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.

Should Tevez sign with another club it would not be the end of the world for United, but the end of the world for him. There is no bigger of a winning culture in all of Europe than Manchester United over the past three years. Walking away from that to go to a team such as say Liverpool or Real Madrid which has not won much over the past three to four years, would seem questionable. Although he will be getting a great amount of playing time, he will be going to two areas where the culture is completely different. Liverpool is always in a state of panic and breakdown so long as Rafa Benitez is the skipper there, and at Madrid there is no continuity with their coaching carousel. Manchester City can afford to pay him beyond his wildest dreams and start him all the time, but the case comes up that they are at the bottom of the barrel and as far away from winning the Premier League as anyone. In addition to that, they are still a year or two away from Champions League play.

Tevez should know this, although the grass may seem greener outside of Manchester, there is no one out there who can offer him more as a whole than we can. Playing time and a heftier paycheck may be nice, but at the cost of being a legend and a winner, is it really worth it? Carlos should realize, he's not irreplaceable as he thinks in his own mind. If United can replace icons such as Roy Keane, David Beckham and Eric Cantona of recent times, he should feel honored to be wearing the same shirt as that elite company. Playing for United is a privilege one that he should look forward to continuing for years coming. We embrace you Carlos, its time you show us love back.