The big story doing the rounds was Wenger’s admission that Arsenal was inches close to signing Cristiano Ronaldo before the Portugese midfielder decided to move to Old Trafford as his club Sporting Lisbon broke off Arsenal’s offer for a bigger bag of donuts from Sir Alex.
Wenger mentions that there is no better person than Ronaldo himself to give us the lowdown on what actually transpired. These tidbits are the stuff of biographical revelations. But there is a suggestion that Ronaldo would shockingly reveal himself a closet admirer of Arsenal soccer but stopped short from coming out with the threatened loss of his private parts at the hands of Sir Alex.
Anyways, the timing is really interesting. Ronaldo, the player instrumental for leading Man Utd’s charge this time as well as winning last season, is revealed to have considered Arsenal as his first choice before the Carlos Queiroz cabal moved in. Many know the story but Wenger makes it a point of highlighting it at a sensitive time. In a tight race that is as much played on the sidelines as it is on the pitch, these sort of stories feed the trope that Man Utd might attract the big players but it is Arsenal that plays the better soccer. Score one for a moral victory.
Man City lost its first EPL home game continuing its downward trajectory as it took on a re-configured Arsenal which still had enough in its tank to put one over Sven and his men. Arsenal was missing Almunia in goal with Lehmann getting a rare look in. Apart from missing Toure and Eboue at the ACN, Arsenal were without Rosicky and RVP. But Adebayor is almost automatic now and his two goals with a little beauty from Eduardo ensured the Gunners victory.
3 comments on “Arsenal win as Wenger reveals a Ronaldo link”
I don’t think it would matter if Ronaldo liked Arsenal or not. Sporting Lisbon is his team for life, and when he was growing up, Europeans paid so little attention to the English league, supporting Arsenal meant little.
As for who would’ve signed him first, why did Arsenal wait so long to try for him? The only reason United got him was because of how well he played against them in a pre-season friendly and Neville and Giggs begging Fergie to sign him. Three days later he was given the number seven. It’s possible Arsenal wanted him, but apparently not enough to get him.
Another thing, on the topic of who plays the better football. Don’t forget that United have been playing attractive football since the 50’s, and Arsenal have been for about two years. The years with Vieira and Adams as your captain produced some of the most boring predictable football of that time. So while I applaud Arsenal on playing such beautiful football, don’t get too entitled with it. Arguing over who plays the better football is a stupid argument because the truth is, they are the two best club teams in the world to watch, hands down.
Andrew
My POV was that it is a perception that Wenger actively feeds- Arsenal’s system of playing beautiful soccer through his eye for spotting cheap talent.
Wenger is suggesting that the same thing happened with Ronaldo. He spotted his talent first before Man U woke to his potential and used its Sporting Lisbon ties to break a potential Arsenal deal. From Wenger’s perspective Man U’s winning form is the result of this ‘borrowed glory.’ He is trying to take the shine of Man U. Its a way of working SAF on the sidelines in one of the tightest EPL races.
Lots of Arsenal fans admit that the George Graham days even as it turned around club fortunes was the best sedative for insomnia. It was effective but boring. The transformation to effective and attractive soccer is a welcome one.
Ultimately, I agree that both clubs play the best soccer there is, even as I remain biased towards Arsenal.
Ok, I could see that about Wenger being a great judge of talent. However, I make make a positive argument for Ferguson as he tries very hard to bring in people from the Man United youth teams, especially English ones. I’m not the kind of guy to criticize Wenger for not playing English players. He should play the best players he can. However, I will give Ferige some credit for actively trying to find the best English talent and produce some of the best English talent.
I would be curious to know what Ronaldo’s side of the story is, but it wouldn’t change anything in my opinion. Hell, Essien, Benni McCarthy and Sulli Mutari have all come out in public proclaiming their love for United and how they’d love to play for them, but it doesn’t change anything for them or their clubs. It’s likely none of them will ever play for United either.
Wenger is great with the mind tricks, but you know as well as I do that Ferguson is just as good at them. Just ask Kevin Keegan.
I also would make a point that if Ronaldo had gone to Arsenal would he have become the same player he is now, or would he have been convinced to stay after what happened with Rooney at the World Cup? Being teammates, Rooney was able to help convince Ronny to stay, but being on opposite teams, you could be assured that wouldn’t happen.
I’m getting a bit off topic. Well, at least we can agree that our teams are great to watch, and that we hope other top European clubs adopt a similar style. Especially Inter Milan. It’s hard to watch a team that fields 8 defenders.