Three of the first team squad are up for awards at the UEFA Player Of The Year shindig in Monaco before the European Super Cup. Given that it is based on club performances, at least one of the three might win something. Jens Lehmann is up against Buffon and Coupet in the Best Goalkeeper. Despite the dismissal in Paris, I would have said he had a fair chance of winning this on the back of the teams clean sheets record last season and the penalty save in Villarreal. Emmanuel Eboue is up for Best Defender and for an impressive debut season, he could be a winner. I would be surprised if he did win though, as Puyol and Cannavaro are in this category. Supposedly, the award is for club football only – making Puyol favourite – but it is impossible to ignore Italy’s World Cup win so Cannavaro may sneak it. You get no prizes for guessing that Thierry Henry is up for Best Forward and it looks like the overhyped Ronaldinho will probably edge Eto’o for this one given coaches lack of imagination.
Full list of nominees is as follows:
UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year:
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Grégory Coupet (Olympique Lyonnais)
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal FC)
UEFA Club Defender of the Year:
Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus)
Emmanuel Eboué (Arsenal FC)
Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona)
UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year:
Deco (FC Barcelona)
Juninho Pernambucano (Olympique Lyonnais)
Juan Román Riquelme (Villarreal CF)
UEFA Club Forward of the Year:
Samuel Eto’o (FC Barcelona)
Thierry Henry (Arsenal FC)
Ronaldinho (FC Barcelona)
The UEFA Player Of The Year is chosen from the above twelve and I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be Puyol who wins it. Anyone but Goofy will be good for football.
Theo Walcott made a storming start to the Under 21’s game against Moldova, a cracking header after two minutes showed that maybe Eriksson did take four strikers to Germany after all. Not quite the same level as the World Cup 2006 but congratulations to the lad anyway. The appearance made him the youngest ever Under 21 debutant and the goal, the youngest ever goalscorer. No doubt the media pressure on Wenger to play him will start now.
Disappointingly Ashley Cole is still an Arsenal player, £25m would come in nicely to the coffers. Recent media reports suggest that Chelsea are coming round to the idea of selling William Gallas but quite how much truth there is in that I know not. Jose Antonio Reyes is seemingly set to sign for Real Madrid on Friday but depending on which media outlet you read, he will or he won’t because the clubs are €10m apart in their valuation. The Baptista swap plus cash seems to have lost its momentum in recent days but one can never be sure if that is because everyone is bored out of their minds with running that one or it is genuinely off the agenda (if it was ever there in the first place).
Final titbit is that Graham Poll will be showing his latest three card trick at The Emirates for the Villa game. Expect plenty of witty chanting to accompany his appearance and the usual diabolical performance from him. All of which means that The Emirates may well see its first goalless draw on the opening day.
