 players, hoping his special knowledge of the French game will help him to repeat the trick that found Vieira, Petit, Anelka and Henry for less than £15m.
Financially, his ruthlessness has been a virtue, accruing £51m for his club on the sale of Vieira, Petit and Anelka. But Henry, who is yet to sign a long-term contract, is a different case. No matter what Barcelona (currently the most likely poacher) are willing to pay for him, the loss to the club of its brilliant centre-forward would not be worth it.
Yet it now seems certain that Henry will demand to be sold in the summer if Arsenal do not qualify for the Champions League, which would make their debut season at the new Emirates Stadium a damp squib.
The 70,000-capacity stadium - built to allow Arsenal to compete financially with Europe's elite, with the great Henry captaining the side - would instead be home to a youthful, largely French team playing its only European games in the UEFA cup, which is all their current fifth-placed position would entitle them to.
Yet that is the situation in which the
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| It seems certain that Henry will demand to be sold if Arsenal do not qualify for the Champions League |
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dogmatic Wenger has placed them. Why has the Arsenal board not forced Wenger's hand? Such is their gratitude to him for what he has achieved that his position is impregnable, whatever the final league position at the end of this season.
The club and its fans have long recognised that their messiah is their cerebral manager - not the mercurial Henry nor the dynamic Vieira.
In the short-term, running down their local bitter rivals Tottenham, now in fourth-place, for the last Premiership Champions League spot would give Arsenal fans far more satisfaction than a meaningless second-place finish to Chelsea.
After all, a five-point Premiership gap must be easier to bridge than the £200m one that divides Arsenal's and Chelsea's investment in players since Abramovich assumed control at Stamford Bridge in 2003. 
FIRST
POSTED FEBRUARY 20, 2006
The First Post sporting calendar 2006
Turin shows how to blow gold with style |
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