Stupid Is As Gallas Does?

When Arsenal failed to reach an agreement with Gallas I was not really concerned. The Frenchman, while a very good defender, has had more than his fair share of problems both on and off the field. In fact, I was a bit annoyed when Toure left and Gallas stayed as I saw the former as an Arsenal man and a much better player. Anyway, all that’s water under the bridge.

I think Wenger set a deadline for Gallas and that passed, probably before the World Cup. Arsene would have wanted to be certain about his first choice central defenders and so the early move for Koscielny made sense.

It wasn’t a bit surprising that Gallas was struggling to find a new club. His injury problems are fairly well known and his contract demands have been equally big. Even then I’d a feeling some club in Europe will be willing to pay a big salary for a star on the wane. We’ve seen that quite often in the past.

When news of his transfer to the Tiny Totts came up, I just laughed. It seemed like good old ‘Arry was up to his usual wheeling and dealing. I was also amused by the thought that Spuds will be stuck with another injury prone central defender. At that point I was wondering who in their right minds would give Gallas a two year or longer contract on insane wages.

Then came the big surprise as Redknapp mentioned that Gallas was on a one year deal. He also said that the Frenchman was on less money than he was at Arsenal. That, I must confess, was a real shock. What was William Gallas thinking?!

He’s moved from a big club to a Tiny one for a deal that was worse than what was offered to him. In all likelihood he will end up below Arsenal in the League table and will also have a poor Champions League campaign. That’s right, he seems to have lost on all fronts. Perhaps, the only gain for him might be that at Spuds he might end up as one of the better outfield players. And he might actually pick up a Carling Cup medal.

I’m ready to acknowledge the fact that Gallas might have his own reasons and I don’t really know what’s going on in his head or life. Having said that, I’m also willing to stick my neck out and say that his greed and stupidity have put him in this situation. That’s just me speculating and I’d be happy to listen to a counter argument.

Ultimately, Gallas joins a list of players who’ve undervalued what they had at Arsenal and made a poor choice of moving on. There is a good chance his career could also end up in obscurity from this point on.

One aspect that surprises me a lot is that some Arsenal fans tend to put a lot of the blame on the manager’s shoulders and on the club. Arsenal should’ve offered Gallas a two year deal, we should have given Flamini what he wanted, and so on. Very few actually say that these players are making the wrong choices.

Arsene has often talked about keeping the squad together and there is no doubt in my mind that we will get better if our players stop leaving. The club extended the contracts of 16-17 players last season (not sure of the exact number). Obviously, majority of the players had the sense to do the right thing. Fabregas’ extension also made it easy for us to give Farcelona the finger.

In big games familiarity amongst team mates can make a difference, especially when a team likes to play a fluid game like we do. It’s not difficult to understand why Arsene doesn’t like the idea of bringing in more than three outfield players during a transfer window.

If our players stick together they will achieve the success they deserve and I hope Gallas will serve as the latest example of stupid decision making that will help us keep the squad intact.