Chelsea's £50 mil bid for Henry

[Fudge]

Arsenal insisted on Sunday evening that Thierry Henry is not for sale at any price after defiantly fending off Chelsea's second attempt to sign him in six months.


Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein denied reports that Roman Abramovich had made a £50million bid for Henry after last Wednesday's Champions League tie against Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow.


However, he revealed that he had rejected a 'face-to-face formal approach'' from the Blues earlier this week, just as he did last summer.

Dein also made clear that attempts by any club, such as Real Madrid, to 'unsettle'' Henry would fail as he stressed Arsenal's determination to keep hold of the striker shortlisted for the FIFA world player of the year award.

He said: 'There has not been a bid tabled by Chelsea, but they asked 'are you interested in selling Thierry Henry?' We said no.

''There was also an inquiry last summer from them. There was no price mentioned but it doesn't make any difference what the figure is.

'The message that has to go out loud and clear from Arsenal is that Thierry is not for sale. He doesn't want to leave, we don't want to sell him and he's under contract to 2007.''

Henry recently declared that he had found 'paradise'' at Highbury, with Wenger credited for having transformed his career after his unhappy spell at Juventus.

The Arsenal boss is similarly determined to keep hold of his leading scorer, who will compete for the FIFA award along with Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.

Wenger told BBC Five Live's Sportsweek programme: 'I would say no to £50million for one of my stars. When you have the money and not the player any more, it does not help you.

'The target of a club is not a bank full of money, but a good team on the pitch. People can understand when you do not have the money to buy the best, but they can never understand when you sell your best players.

'That is a completely wrong signal to give to anyone, inside or outside the club.''

The Arsenal boss added after his side's 1-0 win against Blackburn: 'We are a big club and I don't know why we should sell a player like him to Chelsea. That's completely ridiculous.

'We want to get better every year and the only way to do that is to keep our best players.

'We are trying to become one of the biggest five clubs in the world and it takes 10 years to do that but just five minutes of nonsense to destroy it, so let's not be stupid.''

Arsenal are nevertheless wary of the tactics employed by Real, whose president Florentino Perez was quoted earlier this week as having earmarked Henry as his main transfer priority for next summer.

Dein has seen how other players, such as Ronaldo, Luis Figo and David Beckham, have been lured to Madrid by months of courting both in public and behind the scenes.

The Arsenal vice-chairman, who has no problem with Chelsea's conduct, added: 'Certain clubs work to unsettle people. What happened to Ronaldo is part of the same thing.

'It's the way that some clubs in Europe work. They unsettle the player and his head gets turned.

'They use other players to influence him. It would be like us saying to Liverpool - we want Steven Gerrard or Michael Owen. But they are all wasting their time.''

He's not going to be at Arsenal forever.

While they couldn't replace him with that money, it'd go a long way to getting them the new home they want. And possibly some more squad depth, which they're always chasing... kinda makes me wonder why they loaned out Jeffers and van Bronckhorst o0

Also rumours Chelsea will snatch Nedved in January as well.

So, Henry... 50million? Discuss

[Kroll]

without henry arsenal would lose any chance of winning the premiership imo, and i think they know that however if they don't win, or come very close this season, and fail to get much futher in the champions league, i think by the end of the season henry might start considering a move

as for nedved, being a juve fan (lived in Torino for 7 years), i'd be greatly dissapointed to see him leave them however i don't think he would be too keen to move either, as juventus are a very big club, and he is very well recognised as a player of great calibur there... although all football players like a change sooner or later ><

[meris]

i heard it was 40mil and that chelsea have no turned their attention to totti

[LeedsUnited4eva]

Originally posted by Fudge
He's not going to be at Arsenal forever.

While they couldn't replace him with that money, it'd go a long way to getting them the new home they want. And possibly some more squad depth, which they're always chasing... kinda makes me wonder why they loaned out Jeffers and van Bronckhorst o0

Also rumours Chelsea will snatch Nedved in January as well.

So, Henry... 50million? Discuss

and pennant i dont beleive henry will be at arsenal until his career is ova he will soon join either real madrid or chelsea....would suprise me abit if he did join chelsea cos he seems to like arsenal alot but every1 knows what money grabbing players r like nowadays

[Bulma]

Originally posted by meris
totti

If they get him that would be amazing.....i hope he dont go there cus i support newcastle and totti is my fav player (although i would get to see him play more often)

[Detomah]

It would be suicide for Arsenal if they even consider it, the only thing holding Arsenal so close to the top is Henry in my opinion, without him they are nothing more than average.

Worse though would be selling to a local rival. That for me would be a bit like Newcaslte selling any player to Sunderland or vice-versa...

[Merlin]

If they sell him they will not need there new stadium. Henry scores the goals and without him where do you see them coming from ? Its amazing how prices have dropped tho. Beckham sells for 25 now Henry only being offered for 40

[teflon]

Abramovich reminds me of someone having their first ever go at championship manager
buying about 6 world class strikers for stupid sums, and obviously not being able to play them all at once
i think he should buy defenders, coz theyre crap in defence, and i dont want to hear any1 say john terry is good, coz he clearly isnt

i dont support chelsea, but its good to see another team thats better than man utd

[Radon]

Originally posted by teflon
Abramovich reminds me of someone having their first ever go at championship manager

lol, first ever go with a money cheat on

[teflon]

Originally posted by Radon
lol, first ever go with a money cheat on

lollll i was gonna actually say that. but i didnt coz i suppose if u went a really top team u could buy those folk he bought
but yeah, thats what i was thinking

[Artifical]

Henry is worth alot more than that 2 arsenal I don't think they would be in the top 10 without him, he is prob the best attacker in the world IMO at present

his stride skill is all outstanding I dont support arsenal and h8 the way the played against us when they beat my team in the FA cup final last time

[exellus]

ye im a man utd fan (watch em play) and i ave to say that Henry is the best attackin footballer in the world he beats ronaldo IMO (not better than zidane YET) cos he is a player who scores and sets up hed be better if he was more complete since he cant header a fkin ball he has pace work rate flair.