Newcastle have made
a shock bid for Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos, increasing the
growing tension between Arsene Wenger and his board over the
continuing exodus of players.
The Arsenal manager was stunned when the offer of about
£4million arrived on Wednesday and even more bemused when it was
not rejected out of hand by the club.
Arsenal's board will hold out for about £6m, but their
willingness to consider allowing another first-team squad member to
leave after four high-profile departures this summer will alarm
supporters and Wenger.
Fans are already concerned that the loss of Alexander Hleb,
Mathieu Flamini, Gilberto Silva and Jens Lehmann has damaged a
squad that is weaker than the one whose Premier League title
challenge collapsed under the weight of injuries and
inexperience.
With the future of top scorer Emmanuel Adebayor also uncertain,
the signings of teenage sensation Aaron Ramsey and France
midfielder Samir Nasri have not been enough to quell a sense of
growing unease.
Senderos is far from a supporters' favourite, having made costly
mistakes in high-profile games, and Wenger agrees with his board
that the Swiss stopper struggles at the highest level.
But while the manager wants to keep the player, his directors
believe selling at the right price would represent good
business.
The only significant obstacle to a deal appears to be concern
over Kolo Toure's bout of malaria. It is thought Toure will recover
to start the new season, but if that assessment changes, Senderos
will be required to stay, especially since another cover player,
Alexandre Song, will be playing for Cameroon at the Olympics.
The Arsenal board's response to Newcastle's bid gives further
weight to rumours of financial problems at The Emirates, which were
fuelled by the sudden sacking of chief executive Keith Edelman in
May.
The search for Edelman's replacement continues and further
off-field instability, including the stand-off over Uzbek
billionaire Alisher Usmanov's desire to buy Arsenal, has not made
life easy for Wenger.
When former vice chairman David Dein was forced out more than a
year ago because of his support for a takeover - he is now chairman
of Usmanov's Red and White Holdings, the largest single shareholder
in Arsenal - Wenger lost a trusted friend and ally who handled
every aspect of transfers at the club.
Senderos, though, would be a welcome addition to Kevin Keegan's
squad as the Newcastle boss revamps a defence who conceded too many
sloppy goals last season, and who lost 1-0 at Championship side
Doncaster yesterday.
'I'm expecting one or two new faces to come in,' said Keegan,
who is pursuing Blackburn left-back Stephen Warnock, despite having
a £3.75m bid rejected. 'We only have one right-back and one
leftback. We do need one or two additions and things will start to
happen in the next week to 10 days.'