Wenger turns to Grimandi as he ushers in new era
Former Arsenal midfielder to be director of football
Strong hints of manager committing to 2011
Matt Scott
Monday June 25, 2007
The Guardian
Gilles Grimandi is expected to become Arsenal's director of football this week as Arsène Wenger moves on from the turbulence of the past three months.
The former Arsenal midfielder's appointment is believed to have been a key topic at the board meeting four days ago during which the £16m sale of Thierry Henry to Barcelona was approved. Grimandi, who has been the Gunners' scout in France after retiring as a player, will take on the player-recruitment duties previously performed by David Dein. The Bolton Wanderers and former Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka is believed to head the list of summer targets.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The appointment of the 36-year-old Grimandi would provide Wenger with a key strategic ally and introduce fresh football expertise into a boardroom that has lacked such experience since Dein's departure as vice-chairman in April. It is not thought to be the only announcement due from Arsenal this week, with clarification of Wenger's position also expected.
After Henry used Arsenal's official website on Saturday to reiterate his feeling that Wenger's commitment to the Emirates Stadium was uncertain the club will not permit the drift to persist. There are strong hints of an announcement that the Arsenal manager has signed a £15m-plus, three-year contract extension that would tie him to north London until 2011.
It could be said Wenger has never had it so good. Much has been made of supposed restrictions on his budgets inflicted by the £400m Emirates Stadium construction but in reality the Gunners are wealthier than ever.
Even after debts - £262m at the last count - the stadium generates about £20m more net income than Highbury did. Although interest-rate hikes have affected repayments on a £50m floating-rate bond, the £210m in 5.69% fixed-rate borrowings are beginning to look very good value. There is also the 50% increase in television income that is being spread across the Premiership, giving Wenger a bigger-than-ever transfer kitty.
The Arsenal manager's head for figures - he has a masters degree in economics from Strasbourg University - means he is given a budget from which to apportion transfer fees and wages as he sees fit and there are important calculations ahead as he and Grimandi turn their attention to replacing Henry.
Grimandi was one of Wenger's first signings at Arsenal, joining from the manager's former club Monaco in June 1997 for £2.5m. He left Highbury in 2002 for a very brief spell at the Colorado Rapids before returning to France. Grimandi played 84 matches for Arsenal in midfield, right-back and centre-half and won the Double in 1998 and again in 2002.
There are a number of possibilities in the search for strikers, with compelling reports in France suggesting Anelka will return as the Gunners' No9 in an £11m move from Bolton, who would be expected in turn to enlist Djibril Cissé for £7m from Liverpool.
With Henry's £6m-a-year salary no longer burdening Wenger's budget, £2m raised from Jérémie Aliadière's move to Middlesbrough and £8m to be generated by the expected sale of José Antonio Reyes to one of three interested clubs in Spain, the Arsenal manager has the means to recruit two strikers and a left midfielder. In the latter position the Ajax and Holland international Ryan Babel's name has been raised along with that of Lyon's France international Florent Malouda.
Nicklas Bendtner will replace Aliadière in a reserve-team and Carling Cup role after a loan spell at Birmingham City but, even if Arsenal land Anelka after the striker's return from honeymoon, there will be another vacancy up front. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, another young Ajax forward, Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen have been linked with Arsenal.
The Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva will inherit the captain's armband from Henry and there may be a few private sighs of relief in the Arsenal dressing room that the Frenchman has left. Some within the club felt Henry had become a destabilising figure in the self-regarding final months of his eight-year stay and the team might find his departure liberating.
Many perceive Henry's complaints about the departure of Dein as an excuse that does not bear scrutiny. The former vice-chairman has not been seen at the Emirates Stadium since departing the club in April after a boardroom wrangle but it is thought a route back will open up for him before the end of next season.
That would be possible if the billionaire American Stan Kroenke steps up his purchase plans, which is expected once capital-gains-tax liability of the largest single shareholder, Danny Fiszman, is reduced. Fiszman is shifting his assets to Switzerland and would make at least £100m from the sale of his 24.11% holding in the club to Kroenke.
Despite the so-called "lock-down agreement" limiting share sales, insiders suggest this will happen in the next 12 months, with Dein's return then a real possibility. The club Grimandi is joining are not as unstable as Henry made out.
Login