EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger is optimistic that both Flamini and Gilberto will sign new contracts at the end of the season. 24 year old French Mathieu Flamini has been playing with Arsenal since 2004; Flamini began playing with Olympique de Marseille and gained attention during the UEFA Cup win over Newcastle. In 2004, Flamini signed a contract with Arsenal despite agreeing to sign with Marseille again, Marseille’s manager said that it was “a beautiful treason. He used me.” Flamini has played as a defensive midfield, right winger, or left back defender. Despite being successful and producing important goals and effective game play Flamini was unsatisfied with his non-starting role at Arsenal and was considering leaving during the 2006/2007 season. He remained at Arsenal and during the next season started; Flamini managed to start over Gilberto Silva. Wenger has stated that “negotiations are going well and we hope to sort that out in April.”

Gilberto Silva joined Arsenal in 2002 for €4.5 million as a defensive midfielder. He is contracted until 2009 and during the 2006 season he held the vice-captains band. During the 2007 season one would have expected him to hold the captains band, especially with Thierry Henry’s transfer to Barcelona, but instead William Gallas got the honor. He has been described as an invisible defensive wall as his role is often overlooked despite how effective he is; he destroys the opponents momentum in the midfield before it can gather strength. Gilberto described discontent over not starting this season and expressed his intent to leave Arsenal if he could not reach first string. “It’s too early to say that [he will leave], it is more down to Gilberto’s desire because at the moment he does not play. We will sit down together, we are adults, Gilberto is a very strong man with a big personality and he will know what he wants to do at the end of the season. I’m happy if he stays but we’ll sort it out at the end of the season. He’s a fantastic player, a fantastic person and has a lot of credit within the group. He has a lot of quality, but his bad luck was that the team started (the season) without him and did well.”