FC Barcelona are preparing to hold further negotiations
with Arsenal to sign Thierry Henry, according to French sports
paper L'Equipe.
The clubs are very close to agreeing a price after Gunners manager
Arsène Wenger met with officials from the Catalan club in Paris
recently.
Despite Henry denying a story in France Football last week that he
had agreed personal terms with the Blaugrana, L'Equipe insists that
the deal is close to being concluded.
Arsenal are demanding 30m for the French superstar, who will be 30
in August, and Barça are ready to increase their original bid of
25m.
The huge fee would allow Wenger to set about bolstering his side
and, ironically, bringing in the kind of players that Henry has
said to be demanding join the club.
The ongoing saga may not be as close to being finalised as FC
Barcelona stated on Thursday that all talks over future transfers
were being put on hold until after the final game of the
season.
Constant speculation surrounding players coming in and those who
are likely to leave is said to be unsettling the squad ahead of
Sunday's meeting with Gimnàstic.
"Our objective is to win the last match and to win La Liga," a club
spokesman told Sport.
"The question of players is on stand-by until the end of the
season."
hmmm... 