Here is what Gilberto says:
“My contract runs until August, 2008. I am extremely calm and happy with the possibility to renew the contract. We will sit down and talk about it.
“I will only leave Arsenal if a wonderful chance appeared to leave here. I share the will of the club, know the staff well and already I’ve made some history here.”
Good news indeed.
He will probably get a 2 year extension, even though he is worth a 20 year extension.
Gilberto played in the second half of the community shield, and even if you don’t consider that this is his first game in an Arsenal shirt this season – he did very well.
He made some good interceptions, made quite alot of tackles, and did three bits of excellent skill.
His passing seems to be 100% too.
Henry had this to say on the central midfielders during the game:
“Cesc played really well against Chelsea and Gilberto came back really late from the Confederations Cup so he was short to start. But when he came on, he looked good. I would like to think that they can cope with the departure of Patrick.”
Cool.
While this was a ‘friendly’ game, the opposition wasn’t friendly.
Basically, if Gilberto can play that well against Chelsea with no pre-season, he should be absolutely fine for the opening premiership games against Newcastle and Chelsea.
He does travel to Croatia in between those two games though – so as has been mentioned before, he might miss those two games.
Arsenal lost 2-1, but well done, Gilberto. Great to see you back in action.
Wenger said “Gilberto is doing well but he is short for Sunday.”
Basically, he will miss the community shield game against Chelsea.
This is weird news, since that means Gilberto will go to Croatia with Brasil having not played a game for Arsenal yet.
Then he will go back to Arsenal tired from playing in Brasil.
I suppose that’s the down side of being a Brasil international.
Yep, our man Gilberto Silva has been recalled to the Brasil squad for the international game in Croatia.
Ronaldo has also been recalled to the squad – a sign that Brasil really want to win this game. So really, Gilberto should start the game. It’s good for Gilberto fans, but bad for Arsenal.
The game takes place on August 17, which is during midweek – slap bang in between Arsenals two opening Premiership games against Chelsea and Newcastle. It is unlikely that he will feature in either, due to Wengers nervousness with recently played internationals such as Gilberto.
Gilberto probably isn’t anywhere near match fit, as he hasn’t played in ANY of Arsenals pre season friendlies yet. So he really doesn’t seem that well prepared to be flying off to Croatia to play.
It will be a blow for Arsenal not to have Gilberto – especially against the likes of Chelsea. Let’s hope that he is somehow fit enough to play 3 games inside a week.
His most likely opening Premiership game will probably be against Fulham on Wednesday the 24th. Silva and Hleb’s first pairing together in the league. Exciting. Then again, I am easily excited.
Back to Brasil though – the Brasil midfielders chosen for this Brasil game are all very strong. Here is the list of challengers for his place in the team:
Emerson (Juventus)
Juninho Pernambuncano (Lyon)
Ze Roberto (Bayern Munich)
Ricardinho (Santos)
Kaka (AC Milan)
Renato (Sevilha)
Julio Baptista (Real Madrid)
He will do well to start, with the likes of Kaka and Emerson available for selection.
On a seperate note: Gilberto is rumoured to be back in England, where he is probably doing light training on his own. He must be lonely. I bet he wants a hug. If anyone sees him, please, send him a hug from me.
Talking about the Tuesday night match against Beveren, Wenger said:
“No [I won’t use them]. In Beveren we’ll have six players from Sunday night. Also it will be the first game for Van Persie, Fabregas and Quincy but it will still be a little early for Gilberto.â€
So, there you go.
He’s not injured, so he must be resting up at the training centre.
Source
If I get any news on Gilberto’s pre-season development, you lovely Invisiblewallers will be the first to hear it. Well, second to me, of course.