SOCCER PREMIER LEAGUE:ARSENE WENGER has invited the president of Bordeaux, Jean-Louis Triaud, to a public debate in order to clarify the position over his interest in Marouane Chamakh. Triaud's reported complaints that Wenger had been underhand in his pursuit of the striker, who has less than one year to run on his contract, clearly got under Wenger's skin.
“If he is ready to make a comment, I’m ready to sit down with him here and to explain to you what he said,” Wenger said.
“Then I will answer eye to eye. It’s very difficult for me to understand any statement of that kind from him. I don’t agree at all.
“I’m not angry, because I look in the mirror and know what I did – I don’t need any special comment. We can sit down here with the player and the president of Bordeaux and have an explanation. I’m sure the president of Bordeaux will agree with what I say.
“I have never seen a story like that where something is in the newspapers every day because they talk. I’m not completely convinced about your translation (of the stories), but the communication between the president of Bordeaux and myself is very clear – I kept him informed on everything that happened.”
The frosty nature of the dealings does not appear to have put Wenger off the player.
“The boy is fantastic,” he says. “But I feel it is very important to keep confidentiality. You talk when you sign the player. All the rest is the procedure of any transfer.”
Wenger claims his squad is as good as anything in the Premier League despite their having already lost to two major rivals from Manchester.
“We think we are stronger than Manchester United and Manchester City and we have to transform that into points and wins,” he said.
“Against Wigan we won 4-0 with (Nicklas) Bendtner on the bench and (Theo) Walcott, (Andriy) Arshavin, (Samir) Nasri and Denilson did not play. Where do you play all the talented players? I had £30 million in the summer for me and I spent £10 million on Thomas Vermaelen. Apart from that I did not want to buy.
“We came out of the two games with City and United with a feeling completely opposite to what people think.”
Meanwhile, Joe Cole says he will not take a return to the England fold for granted, as he works towards full fitness following his comeback game after recovering from a knee ligament injury against Queens Park Rangers in the English League Cup on Wednesday night.
The Chelsea midfielder, who ruptured a cruciate in January at Southend United in the FA Cup, last played for England in the 4-1 victory in Croatia more than a year ago.
He had previously been a regular in the national team, but would now appear to be in direct competition with Steven Gerrard for the attacking midfield role on the left of Fabio Capello’s 4-2-3-1 formation.
“I’d like to get back but that’s for the future,” said Cole. “It’s day-by-day, keep working hard and when that challenge comes along I’ll attack it.
“But I really don’t want to get into talking about England. It would be stupid for me to say ‘I’m back now and I’m going to be here, there and everywhere’. I just want to be stronger every day.”
Much has changed at Chelsea since Cole’s injury, including the manager and the formation. Carlo Ancelotti has frequently used a midfield diamond and Cole, more or less, played at the tip of it against QPR.
Although Ancelotti has said Cole could also play on the right or the left of the diamond, it is the central attacking role the 27-year-old craves, and that would place him in competition with Frank Lampard who is a virtual fixture in the team.
“The system he’s playing suits me down to the ground,” Cole said. “Against QPR, I was sort of in the middle and it made it a lot easier than being a winger, and having to run past people when you’re not quite 100 per cent fit.
“Chelsea are playing well and so are England. All I can think about is doing the best I can do as quickly as I can.
“I’m confident once I get there, I’ll play many games this year.”
Guardian Service
