Deak’s Football Blog

Emmanuel Adebayor, Man City’s £25M summer signing from Arsenal, had an interesting weekend. Saturday’s 4-2 defeat of his former club Arsenal saw him taunting his ex-team-mates by prancing into the Arsenal half of the field before the kick off, then there was his deliberate stamp on Robin Van Persie’s face, and finally, there was that celebration.

And, make no mistake, that celebration was golden. Even if you like Arsenal — and I love them — that image is brilliant, iconic, exhilarating.

In this age of lifeless all-seater stadiums, the interaction between fans and sports stars is not something I would like to see discouraged.  It is very unfortunate that a steward was hurt at Eastlands because of a few idiots, but I think this is the kind of moment that only augments football as a spectacle. I watched Eastbourne Borough vs. Chester City at the weekend and the ongoing banter between fans and players was an excellent addition to the game itself. (It was a 1-1 draw by the way; Boro gave away another soft penalty at home.)

The assault on Van Persie was obviously not something we want to see — I think there’s universal agreement on that — however, I wonder if we’re missing a trick here regarding Adebeyor’s gamesmanship and crowd interaction? If only people could learn than offence is taken and not given.

It looks like Brazilian wonderkid Wellington could be heading to Arsenal. What’s more, Wenger could nick the 16-year-old forward for next to nothing since he doesn’t have a professional contract with his club Fluminense.

The Fluzão player spent a week training at Ashburton in January, where he turned out for the Gunner’s Under 16 side against Norwich. Impressively, the cheeky whipper snapper bagged himself four goals against the Canaries in an 8-4 victory. He’s been doing the business for Brazil’s Under 16s too — check this goal (around 50 seconds in) against Peru.

Scoring against youth teams from Norwich and Peru is all well and good, but whether or not he can deal with the pace and energy of the Premiership is another question entirely. However, if anyone can mold a player into something special for Barcelona to sign, it’s Arsène Wenger and his team of umpa lumpas at the Ashburton Chocolate Factory of Football Goodness.

Wellington would be in good company at Arsenal, who already have two young Brazilians in Denlison (21) and Pedro Botelho (19), but a last minute contract offer from Real Madrid may scupper things.