GUNNERS ADMIT HENRY OFFER
Sunday 14th December 2003
Arsenal have admitted Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich made a formal big-money offer for star striker Thierry Henry.
The Russian billionaire will stop at nothing to bring the Premiership title to Stamford Bridge, and earmarked the Frenchman as his prime target.
However, with the former Monaco and Juventus ace paramount to The Gunners' hopes of securing the championship, the bid was rejected.
Despite the prospect of a £40 million deal on offer, Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein is not interested in offloading the club's prized asset.
"Roman Abramovich came to Highbury and presented us with a formal offer for him," said Dein to the Sunday Mirror.
"But we told him the same as we will say to Real Madrid or any other club if they are planning to present an offer to us - Thierry Henry is not for sale."
With Henry unavailable, Chelsea are believed to have switched their attention to Roma's Italian international forward Francesco Totti.
阿森纳承认切尔西有意购买亨利
阿森纳承认,切尔西老板阿布拉莫维奇已正式提出以巨资购买亨利。
这位俄罗斯亿万富翁将不惜任何代价帮助切尔西夺得英超冠军,并将法国前锋亨利列为收购的第一目标。
然而,曾效力于摩纳哥及尤文的优秀前锋亨利,现在已成为阿森纳夺冠的一大法宝,因此阿森纳拒绝了切尔西的购买请求。
尽管出售亨利将带来4000万英镑的收益,但阿森纳副主席大卫戴恩表示俱乐部不会放走宝贵资产。
“阿布拉莫维奇来到海布里,正式提出想购买亨利。”戴恩接受《星期日镜报》采访时说。
“但就如我们对所有有意购买亨利的俱乐部,比如皇马所说的,亨利是非卖品。”
如果无法引进亨利,切尔西有可能会将目标转想罗马队的意大利国家队前锋托蒂。