Wenger speaks about Director of Football & more 17 July, 2007

This article on Arsenal.com featuring a not so flattering photograph of Arsene explains why we still haven’t replaced David Dein. His departure has really unsettled the club and it’s down to Arsene to find a suitable replacement. Arsene explains that director Ken Friar has been helping him out with transfers at the moment as a stand-in but someone needs to be found soon. Here’s what Arsene said about the situation:

“I wanted to do it before the end of the season when I started buying and selling. But then I thought that now is the worst time because I have no time to tell someone how I want to do things. I did not want to unsettle the team before the end of the transfer market. So at the moment I work with Ken Friar and it is working well for us.”

So maybe we’ll have to wait until September to see a new Director of Football at Arsenal but I’d rather Arsene takes his time appointing the right man than rushing into a decision.

There’s a long piece from Arsene on last season, the new stadium and that sort of stuff here which is quite interesting. He’s also said we’ll all get a chance to see our new signings in action in the Emirates Cup. Also Arsene has told us not to compare Eduardo with Henry. The striker was signed not long after Thierry’s departure so it’s easy to try and draw a comparison. Here’s what Wenger has told us to expect from our new forward:

“Eduardo is a completely different player (to Henry), he is less individual. Thierry Henry could take ball in the middle of park and score a goal that no one else in the world could score. Eduardo is more of a mobile guy around the box with a nose for a goal. He is more a team player but he does not have the individual potential that Thierry had to score from anywhere.”

Not very uplifting words there in my opinion. We all know how incredible Thierry’s talent is was, and Arsene has basically said that Da Silva isn’t as good as him…he’s more of a player that knows where the back of the net is when needed. To be fair though, that’s exactly the sort of player we needed in most games last season, however after seeing him on Saturday, he doesn’t look very built up and we’ll have to see if he’s got the strength for the Premier League.

If you saw Arsene’s interview after the Barnet game, he was asked about whether he’d be signing a new contract. He didn’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but it did sound quite promising. Anyway, Hill-Wood is hoping he will extend his contract.

That’s enough for today. See ya.