Arsène Wenger last night condemned David Bentley's advice that
Theo Walcott should follow his lead and leave Arsenal in order to
further his career. Wenger insisted that despite being limited to
mainly substitute appearances since joining the club, Walcott has a
bright future and suggested the reason Bentley did not make the
grade there was because he lacked the character to fight for a
place in the side.
"Bentley is entitled to his opinions but it doesn't mean he's
right," Wenger said. "I don't know why one player should incite
another to leave his club. It's not his job. When you are at one of
the biggest clubs in the world you have to accept competition. If
you accept it, competition makes you better. If you do not then you
have to move down and accept no longer being at the top. Theo will
establish himself here. People forget he is still very young."
Bentley joined Arsenal as a trainee in 2001 but left after five
years in which he made only one Premier League appearance for the
club. The 23-year-old's career has flourished since he signed for
Blackburn in January 2006, the same month Walcott arrived at
Arsenal from Southampton. Bentley has become a regular for Mark
Hughes' side and made an impressive first start for England in the
victory over Switzerland last month.
"If he is not getting the minutes at Arsenal, he's going to have
to look elsewhere. Your career doesn't start and end at Arsenal. It
can flourish somewhere else," Bentley said yesterday. "At the end
of the day you want to make a career for yourself. You want to play
football and you want to make money as well. You can't afford to
stay at a club where you might be 24 or 25 with 30 games under your
belt."
Walcott has made 28 appearances for Arsenal this season but 13
of those have been as a substitute. The 18-year-old's latest
appearance came at San Siro on Tuesday when he set up Emmanuel
Adebayor for Arsenal's second goal in their 2-0 win over Milan but
he will not be able to build on that cameo at Wigan on Sunday after
he injured his thigh in training yesterday.
Arsenal's striker Eduardo da Silva has told the Croatian
newspaper Jutarnji that he fears being sidelined for up to 15
months after his leg was broken by Birmingham City's Martin Taylor
last month. Eduardo said: "Some people tell me that my
rehabilitation will take six months, others say nine months, while
there are some who still talk to me about 15 months."
Bentley,the idiotic cunt.
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