What made Invincible Clichy turn into a traitor? Money?

The last Invincible – By Alessandro Pace

Back in 2003, Arsenal signed a highly regarded yet still unknown young Frenchmen who went by the name Gael Clichy.

At the age of 16, Gael was put in as direct back up to who we now know as in Gooner slang “Cashley Cole.”
In Clichy’s first season at Arsenal, he started 11 times and 2 as a substitute. At this point everyone was singing praise on the young Frenchmen to say the least…

Moving on 8 years, Clichy did not only start most games for Arsenal, he won countless titles and came close to gaining captaincy after William Gallas’ demise.

We are now in the summer of 2011, and all misguided eyes are on Gael Clichy once more… and this time, it’s not for his performances or signing a multi-million dollar (Pound) contract, It’s for rebelling against a club who nurtured and trusted him to become one of the best in his position to date.

Reports have claimed that Clichy has denied contracts with Arsenal to either force a move this summer or move for free in 12 months’ time… Now this would not bother me if he wanted to move abroad but when I hear and read that he wants to join Liverpool or City, I ask myself… why?

Arsenal is a team on the up; we have countless titles waiting for us and a team which basically speaks his native tongue, a beautiful stadium and a decent wage that would let you buy an Aston Martin every month.
At Liverpool, he should expect lower wages, a historically filled stadium that is falling into pieces with supporters that abuse your every move and at City, expect massive wages and to play the first 6 games then be dropped to reserves, because… that how the never-ending money Manchester City roll.

Clichy has it too good at Arsenal to realise what he would be leaving behind. All I have in the back of mind is another Hleb saga, thinking leaving is the best option to further his career when its only taking 3 steps back.
If I was in Gael Clichy’s boots, I would be signing a brand new contract and reporting back to London Colony on July 7th to train with a team that has loved him since the very first day he signed.
http://justarsenal.com

Footballers are business people. It's their profession to play. And even if you think they get paid "enough", their careers last 10 years when you can work for 40-45 years at a normal job. So in those 10 years, they have to make as much money as possible.

I hate to say this... But wenger relies on players to be young and stupid enough to leave money on the table. Nobody in their right mind does, which is why you have players flocking towards madrid, Barca, city, man u, etc.

loyalty is a one way street too. If a player is struggling, the club and fans drop him in a second. But when a player shines, the expectation is for him sacrifice?

I don't buy any of this. This is a profession in a competitive world. Both sides need to compete or stfu.

I honestly believe that in the case of Gael Clichy, he is leaving for a new challenge.

I don't believe he is leaving because of wages.

Clichy has been here since 2003, he was an invincible squad member and is as hugely popular member of the squad. However, he has been our first choice LB now for 5 seasons and I think the prospect of an 8th season at Arsenal is not exciting enough for him.

He wants a new challenge imo. Liverpool would have been a strange move seeing that we are better than them but Man City represents a good opportunity for him to compete for trophies - something we don't show great signs of doing in recent times.

Clichy leaves with my respect.

Samuelj29060 wrote:I honestly believe that in the case of Gael Clichy, he is leaving for a new challenge.

I don't believe he is leaving because of wages.

Clichy has been here since 2003, he was an invincible squad member and is as hugely popular member of the squad. However, he has been our first choice LB now for 5 seasons and I think the prospect of an 8th season at Arsenal is not exciting enough for him.

He wants a new challenge imo. Liverpool would have been a strange move seeing that we are better than them but Man City represents a good opportunity for him to compete for trophies - something we don't show great signs of doing in recent times.

Clichy leaves with my respect.

Sam if you had a job and were to be offered double that with more to come, wouldn't you take, I would take that for sure. But Clichy leaving Arsenal for Man city is just a insult, if he say its for new challenge or trophies. He has been here for many years, the least he could do is respect Arsenal finish his carrier at Arsenal.

What is the deference between clichy and Ashley Cole? nothing the same.

Raptorgunner wrote:
Sam if you had a job and were to be offered double that with more to come, wouldn't you take, I would take that for sure. But Clichy leaving Arsenal for Man city is just a insult, if he say its for new challenge or trophies. He has been here for many years, the least he could do is respect Arsenal finish his carrier at Arsenal.

What is the deference between clichy and Ashley Cole? nothing the same.

What is with your insistance that Clichy is leaving for money?

Clichy has spent eight years with us. These days that's a very long time to stay at one club. He feels his career has stagnated somewhat and wants to move to a new environment just to freshen things up.

There's a whole lotof difference between Clichy and Cole. Cole wanted a wage we didn't want to give him, and so he forced a move to a club that would pay him what he wanted.

We offered Clichy a big pay rise for him to stay but he's turned us down. Yes, City will be giving him big wages in all likelihood but that is not his main incentive for leaving.

^^^ Exactly Jay.

By your logic raptor, every single player who leaves arsenal is just leaving for money?

Thats a silly logic.

Can we stop beating the dead horse...PLEASE! He's going to City for £90k a week- not £150k a week. I'm pretty sure Arsenal's offer would've been close if not the same as that. Nothing annoys me more than trying to convince someone to change their mind about something they feel so strongly about.

he was last of the invincibles? wasn't fabregas part of it? like 2 games?
but he's leaving to break the jinx, once we forget about them we will win!

2nd option: he had a ruffle with wenger or some players

3rd : he's gay

Raptorgunner wrote:Moving on 8 years, Clichy did not only start most games for Arsenal, he won countless titles and came close to gaining captaincy after William Gallas’ demise.

since when did countless trophies mean three trophies, and one of which was the community shield which isn't held in a particularly high regard

Samuelj29060 wrote:I honestly believe that in the case of Gael Clichy, he is leaving for a new challenge.

I don't believe he is leaving because of wages.

Clichy has been here since 2003, he was an invincible squad member and is as hugely popular member of the squad. However, he has been our first choice LB now for 5 seasons and I think the prospect of an 8th season at Arsenal is not exciting enough for him.

He wants a new challenge imo. Liverpool would have been a strange move seeing that we are better than them but Man City represents a good opportunity for him to compete for trophies - something we don't show great signs of doing in recent times.

Clichy leaves with my respect.

IMO this hits the nail on the head 100%

and to what you were saying about "if he leaves claiming hes after trophies i wont believe it" (something along those lines) id have to disagree with that, the last time the lad won a trophy was in, SIX years ago!! now the lads 25yo and nearing his prime and say what you want bu hes at a club that's long overdue for a trophy so really i cant see any good reason for him to stay at aresnal, assuming his number 1 intention is to win trophies

as for the money thing, if clichy is to do a chashley cole and goes money hunting at city then what can you do, hes only got limited time to make as much $ as he can, its a sad truth to the game, although if his sole intention of leaving aresnal is for $ then surely a club like aresnal would have the financial powers to match the wages offered elsewhere, especially if he is considered to be a vital member of the starting XI

Raptorgunner wrote:He has been here for many years, the least he could do is respect Arsenal finish his carrier at Arsenal.

so youre saying because aresnal bought him through the ranks and brought him from a nobody to a regular in the XI he CANT leave arsenal because he is indebted to them? common, be realistic

silly article to say the least

He is going to man city to win trophies and not for the money, how I didn't see that. This is really going no where, I dont give a crap about any player wants to leave anymore.

Raptorgunner wrote:He is going to man city to win trophies and not for the money, how I didn't see that. This is really going no where, I dont give a crap about any player wants to leave anymore.

like it or not, its no longer a case of "will city win the league?" but now its very much a matter of "when will city win the league?" and although none of us like it, IMO it wont be long

fatman123 wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:He is going to man city to win trophies and not for the money, how I didn't see that. This is really going no where, I dont give a crap about any player wants to leave anymore.

like it or not, its no longer a case of "will city win the league?" but now its very much a matter of "when will city win the league?" and although none of us like it, IMO it wont be long

Man united just got stronger, City has no chance vs United. And I dont think every player leaves Arsenal for the money, I believe most Arsenal players that leave cus they are tired of the Board not bringing players that they can win with.

fatman123 wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:He is going to man city to win trophies and not for the money, how I didn't see that. This is really going no where, I dont give a crap about any player wants to leave anymore.

like it or not, its no longer a case of "will city win the league?" but now its very much a matter of "when will city win the league?" and although none of us like it, IMO it wont be long

Definitely not this season. The traditional top 4 will be back on top, with Spuds nd shitty fighting for UEFA.

I really laugh when I hear a player going to Money City for trophies.