Whats wengers thinking behind selling Clichy ?

I dont think any Arsenal fan can doubt Clichys loyalty and his service. If Wenger wanted, he could have easily convinced Clichy to stay at the club. But Clichy wants a new challenge and I think Wenger now realise that if someone doesnt want to play for the club, he shouldnt be forced to stay.

Anyhow, We havnt been linked with any left backs at all, if Clichy does indeed move. What is wengers thinking about that ?

There are 3 options

1) Gibbs

2) A new Left back

3) Vermaelen

We all know gibbs has talent, the only thing stopping him from becoming a great left back is his injuries. So do wenger want to gamble on him ? Cashley took over Bronckhost at the same age but Cashley was really something else.

A new left back? but who ? Aly cissokho? baines ? Hakan Balta ? i highly doubt wenger will get a new left back but if he does then oh well, good for us

If wenger wants Cahill and/or samba, then that will mean we have 5 or 6 CB without counting Bartley who isnt a kid anymore. So what does that mean ? Vermaelen at left back like he plays for Belgium? Or Koscielny at left back which is a very unlikely move tbh

What do you guys think ?

I agree that if a player wants to move on then there is no point in trying to hold on to them as clearly they won't be fully committed to the cause.

Clichy as we know has his moments which can be very costly but as you said he has been very loyal and is surely reliable enough for us to want to keep him despite his mock ups.

With no rumours of an alternative LB coming in I do find this rumour a bit strange but who knows in football these days.

As for someone to replace him from the current crop Gibbs to me still isn't ready and I'm not sure if he'll ever be with all his injuries unfortunately.

Wegner likes to stick to one CB partnership as much as he can and with Vermaelen already proving his worth at CB I don't see him being pushed to LB. I'm not sure how good Kos is at LB but and I'm sure Eboue won't be given the LB spot full time.

Also I surely don't see us buying 2 CB's even if Squillaci is released, the most I see is one coming in which looks to be Smaba at the moment and if Bartley has a good pre-season he may get a chance but that would mean only CC games and maybe FA Cup and with him getting a decent run at Rangers I'm sure he will be wanting to see more regular playing time.

Clichy won't be sold...

Vermaelen is the first choice CB, no matter who else is there in the squad! No way we should ove him to LB.. I have a lot of inertia to this thought..

I think we will spend on Baines then.. But quite honestly, I don't want to lose clichyand then have one more unnecessary hole to plug in the team..

I strongly feel that clichy will sign on soon enough and not leave, as all the media stuff is more speculations.. They got tired of Nasri saga and decided to bring clichy in to spice things up.. Like the fact that Kaboul gave diaby a shirt is making a rumour that diaby is a closet spud.. Phewy!!

I agree with jayp, in that Wenger won't sign two centre backs. He'll most likely Samba, as he's the cheaper one out of him and Cahill, and then use Vermaelen, Djourou, Koscielny, Squillaci and Samba as his centre backs next season with Kyle Bartley on loan to Rangers.

We have been linked with a couple of left backs like Leighton Baines and Emiliano Izaguirre but the one who I think would be a good replacement would be Jose Enrique. I believe he is a very solid all round player, with good pace and strength, decent going forward and good defensively.

I do, however, want Clichy to stay above all else. It'd be a great shame to lose a player who has been loyal and respectful to us for a number of years now. Unlike his compatriot Samir Nasri and his agent, Clichy has been almost complete silent about any potential move away. In any club you need players who are loyal and understand that they are contracted to a big club with a rich history that is hugely respected around the world.

I've got a feeling Clichy may stay, in the end. I can't really say why with any certainty, but I just think he will, ultimately, sign an extension.

Enrique would be a decent replacement strong player and pretty decent both defensively and going forward.

Still think Clichy will eventually sign on as well though...

how can you guys think that Clichy would leave? Clichy dedicated his LIFE to Arsenal, they rescued him from the gutter, or at least that's what he says they did, he said they took his mentality and changed it, made him optimistic. (If memory serves right that is what he said, it was a while ago (07/08 if I recall) I know it's been a long time, but we've believed in him the whole time and he knows that, there was long periods in which Clichy was playing horrible and we all backed up (last year Barcelona *cough* ). He has to appreciate that! He plays with his heart on his sleeve! He would never leave for LIVERPOOL ( no offence to them, I mean that they are our rivals! ) .

RANT OVER.

Clichy, like any other footballer, wants to experience some form of success in his career and right now, regardless of his love and appreciation for the club, he may feel he has a better chance of trophies at another club.

When you consider that, right now, the club isn't in the healthiest of positions - 4th place finsih, 6 whole seasons without a trophy, key players wanting to leave, little ambition in the transfer market, etc. - then its perfectly natural to think that some players, no matter how loyal, are going to consider their options.

If I were in Clichy's shoes, I'd wait and see what kind of players Wenger brings in for the next season.

If it's the same kind we always buy, untapped potential, I'd leave. I'm 25 already, and have a much higher chance winning silverware elsewhere.

If it's experienced, top class players, I'd stay. It would be good for relations with the fans, and the fruit of such a long wait for trophies may finally manifest.

We don't even know if the Clichy rumors are true. I mean Nasri had to come out and calm people down personally, Arsenal is just in a weak position and rival clubs are going at us like sharks, prying whatever player they like out.

I can't rule anything out, of course, since we all know our total lack of ambition, but I won't resign myself to doom. Because that's what would come if Nasri, Clichy and Fabregas go.

No no no we can't sell Clichy.

We already need to rebuild in the striking, DM and CB departments.

No need for more problems. Gael will stay. Trust mé!

I'll respect him even if he leaves unlike Nasri...

Some of us are getting a little bit emotional in regards to Clichy-gate. The guy REJECTED upto 2 contract offers already. I think its fair to say that he's looking for a new challenge.

RG, I respect you and your opinions, but you've contradicted yourself in your initial post. You said "wenger could easily convince clichy to stay". But how can you convince someone who want a new challenge to stay put. When the person WANTS a new challenge. In that case, AW has actually FAILED in convincing Clichy to stay- and you better believe that he tried his best!

People whack on about Clichy having wet dreams and masturbating about Arsenal and how they rescued him from an orphanage, but what you're all forgetting is that Clichy obviously doesn't see Arsenal achieving much and would probably rather be a part of a transitional L'pool squad who could well be the 'dark horse' come what 2011/12.

EDIT: Clichy has been a good servant but if the guy wants to leave, then so be it!

SUPERCARTTS wrote:Some of us are getting a little bit emotional in regards to Clichy-gate. The guy REJECTED upto 2 contract offers already. I think its fair to say that he's looking for a new challenge.

RG, I respect you and your opinions, but you've contradicted yourself in your initial post. You said "wenger could easily convince clichy to stay". But how can you convince someone who want a new challenge to stay put. When the person WANTS a new challenge. In that case, AW has actually FAILED in convincing Clichy to stay- and you better believe that he tried his best!

People whack on about Clichy having wet dreams and masturbating about Arsenal and how they rescued him from an orphanage, but what you're all forgetting is that Clichy obviously doesn't see Arsenal achieving much and would probably rather be a part of a transitional L'pool squad who could well be the 'dark horse' come what 2011/12.

EDIT: Clichy has been a good servant but if the guy wants to leave, then so be it!

What would your proposed replacements be?

Well there's 2 options imo:

1) Use the ever injured Gibbs and hope he has a change of fortune and consolidate the LB position.

2) Sign Contento from Bayern IF Clichy goes to Bayern ahead of Liverpool. However, I think Contento want to go to Italy. He is very underrated, and I saw enough of him in 2009/2010.

3) Sign Baines. Besides Evra and Cole, he's the only person I'd happily accept. Every other LB in the epl are not even '2-bob'.

Sell his ass if he thinks he is too good for Arsenal, our weakest player in many games, Eboue can play his position better then him I think.

vertogen would come for AJAX and fill clichcy gap. Vermaelan would be happy and wont try to fake injuries. we would have consistent back four

VERTOGEN - VERMAELAN - DJOROU- SAGNA 1st team

GIBBS- KOSC - SAMBA - EBOUE 2nd team

If Clichy is leaving i say we stick with Gibbs.

and against more physical teams like stoke we play vermaelen as LB.

We're looking at the tree and missing the forest..

We could have a backline of Sagna-Vidic-TV-Coentrao but we would still concede stupid goals. Why? Our tactics in defense are suicidal and our work rate off the ball is almost non-existent. I'm not worried if Clichy leaves, plug in an above average LB, change our tactics to more aggressive and bull-dog like, and we will concede lesser goals overall.

Adams was right, Wenger does compromise defense over attack a bit too much.

how we going to sell out clichy? FFS he is the most experienced and loyal player in the squad...

If u are going to sell how much do u reckon Wenger will want for Clichy ?

Honestly, I have no idea. Ideally, we'd want 20-25 million but Wenger has a soft spot for loyal players and might let him go for less if the club that he wants does indeed make a bid for him.

Like I said though, we have no clue. Recent reports suggest that he will sign a new deal, but they just keep on changing every day so its impossible to tell

looking thru these posts its funny, seeing tht 90% of forum wanted clichy sold not so long ago lol....football is one hell of a game i swear

Rumours that Arsenal are watching Ukranian left-back in u21 euros

while we do need clichy, i would respect his wishes if he does want to leave.. one of the longest serving arsenal members and hasnt won a single trophy for years..