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Is Wenger doing the trick once again? By Walter Broeckx
.We all know that if Wenger wants to buy a player who shows great prospect he is willing to do something special.
The story on how Wenger beat SAF when he signed Aaron Ramsey right under his nose is well known. Ramsey who had been shown round at United by Neville and who had not seen SAF in person on that occasion than was invited by Wenger. Wenger took Ramsey on the plane to Austria and talked with him in person on how he was seeing the future of Ramsey.
United who had already mentioned the fact that Ramsey would sign for them as a 100 % sure had to eat their words as Ramsey was so impressed with the personal contact and attention that Wenger gave he decided to go to Arsenal. A great move from Aaron and from Wenger.
But this was not the first time Wenger used this tactic, for there’s also the story of when he made a personal contact with the Cesc and his family. We can see that our manager really is a man who is not only interested in the player but also tryies to do his best to accommodate the family of the player as well.
Certainly if you go to another country as Cesc did I think it is very important for the family of the player to know who you are dealing with. Well I, as a father, would take that in a account if I had to make such a decision.
The story about Vermaelen is another example of how Wenger deals with players he absolutely wants to sign for Arsenal. The negotiations had been going on between Vermaelens’ manager and Arsenal for some time. And then Wenger decided to take his phone and talk direct to Vermaelen when he was on holiday to talk about the way Wenger was looking in to it and the fact that he really wanted Vermaelen to sign for Arsenal. Thomas admitted that to get a phone call from Wenger was really one of the biggest and most important things and played a major part in his decision.
I really think that the fact that Vermaelen at first hesitated a bit on joining the Arsenal had everything to do with the fact that he could have stayed his whole career at Ajax, where he was already a captain at a young age. His bread was baked over there (as we say in Belgium).
And maybe he feared a bit the fact that he maybe just wouldn’t be good enough. That old Flemish habit, (a bad habit it seems), of being modest about your own performances. But just the fact that Wenger found Vermaelen so important to give him a personal call was the last push he needed to take on the biggest challenge of his life. And how well did he do.
So these are three things in which Wenger made a vital and final contribution on bringing in players that really have been great signings or will become in the future (in Aaron’s case).
But now onto today’s issue.
One of the hottest prospects in European football is another Belgian player and every transfer period, (well the last one anyway), he has been linked with moves to whatever club you can think of.
His name is Eden Hazard and he plays for Lille, in France. He was chosen as best young player in last season in France.
Real Madrid, Liverpool, Barcelona, Milan, and Arsenal all have been named as possible buyers of the biggest hope and prospect of Belgian football. Even this week media reports suggested that Liverpool has asked Lille how much he would cost and the put a price of 22 million euro on his young head.
Hazard himself has recently signed a new contract with Lille, but this could have been a smokescreen so Lille can be sure they hold the cards when other teams come in to try to buy him away.
And today the news got in the papers in Belgium that Eden Hazard, who is 19 by the way, has received a phone call from Wenger himself. The press reports don’t mention what was said exactly but they all point out that this looks like the Vermaelen transfer all over again. As with Vermaelen Arsenal has been sending scouts to almost every game he plays for the last season, to training session to see how he lives and to practice games. So yes it looks like Wenger is really interested in him like he did with Vermaelen.
But Hazard was quoted as having said: “He had signed a contract with Lille but that he was very flattered with the interest in him and it could be a dream come true to play in the EPL at some stage in his career”. He also has said that one his dream teams was Arsenal.
We will soon know if Wenger has done the trick once again. If he comes it will be another nail biting moment I must confess. When Vermaelen came I hoped and prayed he would be good enough. I would have been afraid to show up in London if Vermaelen would have done it all wrong. Instead Thomas did us fans from over here a big favour. If we now say we are from the same country as Vermaelen we only get extremely good reactions. Hope that if Hazard does come over he can do the same trick like Vermaelen did. And if he comes you will have known why and you have read it here first.
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