Thierry Henry has cast doubt on
his future at Arsenal by leaving open the possibility of a transfer
this summer. Two months after saying that he intended to finish his
career at the club, the striker went no further yesterday than
saying: "For now I'm an Arsenal player."
Henry was responding to a question, during a promotional tour in
Beijing, about suggestions he may leave for Barcelona, who hope to
buy him. He noted separately that there has been "a lot of stuff
happening at the club recently", which includes the departure of
David Dein, the former vice-chairman, and made clear his
disillusionment with Arsenal's Premiership placings over the past
two years.
"This year it was pretty difficult to see once again that we
finished so far behind the top teams," he said, adding: "I'm
actually getting annoyed that we're finishing at the end of the top
four."
He believes the squad lacks experience: "Sometimes having a lot of
youngsters in your squad you cannot have the same spirit or the
same result that you had the year we stayed unbeaten [in the
league]. We had guys who had been in the game for 15 or 10 years
and who had won a lot."
Portsmouth have signed Ghana's Sulley Muntari from Udinese for a
club record fee, thought to be about £7m.
Liverpool are considering offering Sami Hyypia a new two-year
contract to stave off interest from Wigan Athletic. Rafael Benítez,
who is increasingly confident his demands for significant transfer
funds will be met by the club's American owners, also hopes to buy
the the Real Zaragoza centre-half Gabriel Milito.
Oldham are set to sign Lee Hughes when he is released from prison
this summer. Hughes, 31, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment
in August 2004 for causing death by dangerous driving.
Ronaldinho has received a one-game ban for last Saturday's red
card, clearing him to play in Barcelona's final Spanish League game
against Gimnastic. Celtic are to sign the striker Chris Killen from
Hibernian on a free.
