After accepting a bid for £1 Million from Panathinaikos it appears Gilberto will complete his move away from the Emirates stadium...
It is a sad day to see the man dubbed 'The Invisible Wall' walking away from his Arsenal career but it is certainly understandable. He spent the majority of last season on the bench, despite having spent the 2006/2007 season as our captain, and one of the best players of the season. You could see his disappointment in the situation whenever shown sitting on the bench, looking like the glum naughty boy who had just been sent to his room.
Whilst the move is understandable from Gilberto's point of you it is also understandable from Arsene's point of view too. I mean I would have been OK with Gilberto playing some part in the following season, he has great experience and also showed towards the end of the season that he could still perform well, however there were many Gilberto performances last season that were extremely painful to watch. At times he looked like a 45 year old who had come back for a testimonial game who hadn't exercised in 10 years. He was off the pace, lacked awareness, and managed to give away possession with almost every pass, he looked a shadow of the 2006/2007 season player whom many had expected to retain the captaincy after the departure of Henry.
However despite his disappointment of being dropped to the bench Gilberto always remained a complete professional, and for this we must salute him. He didn't come out in the press saying detrimental comments to the club, or Wenger, and also said that he accepted that Flamini and Cesc were playing so well in central midfield.
As he becomes the highest paid played in Greek football we wish Gilberto the best of luck, and thank him for the role he played as part of the record breaking invincibles and the 2 FA Cups Arsenal won during his reign in the red and white.
Hleb also looks certain to secure his long drawn out transfer to Barca...
It is not yet clear how much the transfer fee will be but Barca have confirmed on their official website that Hleb has arrived for a medical.
Hleb was an important part of the Arsenal engine during his spell at the club, he didn't always receive the credit he deserved because he didn't make the final 'assist' and was almost always involved in some way in goals scored in open play. Unfortunately though he never got the goals from midfield that we so desperately needed post Pires and Ljungberg. Hleb only scored 10 goals in 130 appearances for Arsenal which is just not good enough given the positions he got himself into, and the amount of shooting opportunities he would always turn down. It will be interesting how Nasri will work in his position if he is given it... can we expect more goals?
It is a shame to see Hleb leaving under less respectful circumstances to Gilberto. After the ice cream 'tapping up' saga with Inter officials the day before our match against AC Milan, his annoying agent, as well as his unnecessary comments in the media, I think most Gooners will be glad to see this transfer completed.
You would hope that he is being sold for atleast £13 Million, he must surely be going for more than we signed Nasri for, although it would have been nice to see Yaya Toure coming this way as part of the deal given the departure of Gilberto Silva...
Lets hope Hleb continues his frustrating football at Barca, would hate to see him suddenly scoring bucket loads of goals and 30 yard screamers!!
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