Gunners lose Hleb

Hleb: Will enjoy the peace and quiet

The Gunners exodus continues as busybody midfielder Alexander Hleb hotfoots it to Barcelona in a £12m deal.

Hleb who recently complained that the chaotic life in sleepy Hampstead was driving him away from the Emirates will have left Arsene Wenger thinking what does he have to do to keep players at Arsenal?

After Gilberto Silva’s recent move to Panathinaikos, Kolo Toure is now the only member left of the ‘Invincibles’ squad that romped to the title without losing a game in 2003-4.

Wenger has secured fledgling star Aaron Ramsey and highly regarded French midfielder Sami Nasri this summer. What chance of them demanding pay hikes and transfers after their stock rises under the tutorage of Wenger?

Meanwhile Euro 2008 and Real Madrid star Wesley Sneijder is not keen on Cristiano Ronaldo coming to the Bernabeu.

But not for football reasons, for Wes it boils down to who has got the biggest packet in the changing room.

‘It would be bad for the dressing room as he would earn better wages than the rest of the squad.

‘It would not matter to me but I know there are other players who would not like that. Maintaining the stability within the squad is important.’

A thinly veiled dig perhaps but Sneijder stuck the knife in further with the oft-levelled criticism that he is a big game bottler and no better than Real’s current crop of fancy Dan forwards.

‘To speak highly of him would be slightly disrespectful to the players that are here and have shown their class,’ said Sneijder.

‘There are already similar players to him here like Arjen Robben.

‘I want Robinho to stay - he is almost the same as Ronaldo.

‘People criticise him a bit and say Robinho does not play well in big games but I’ve seen Ronaldo disappear in some of United’s big games.’

Yeah - he was rubbish in the Champions League final Wes? We wonder if it’s sour grapes as he has been linked as a makeweight for any move for Ronny.

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