I’ve had Arsenal fans bombarding this blog, telling me how good Mikael Silvestre is and what a good signing he is for Arsenal. I struggle to believe that any of these fans would have been saying the same thing a week ago if TribalFootball was running the story. Whilst admittedly having a soft spot for Silly, as he is affectionately known amongst our fans, he has been one of the worst players we’ve had in our squad for the 9 years he’s been with us (which isn’t a horrible slating, when considering the talent we’ve had in our team in the time Silvestre has been with us). Kleberson, Djemba-Djemba and the like, have relieved Silvestre of the unwanted title at times, and bless him, he does try, but he never fit in at United. Whilst doing a job for us, getting on with it quietly and without complaining, the shouts of criticism from the stands are more often than not directed at Silvestre when he’s on the pitch.
Now, we can (and have) been accused of being bitter. Now, if United had just sold Wayne Rooney, Owen Hargreaves, Patrice Evra etc. we’d have every reason to be bitter. But I just don’t understand how we possibly could be over Silvestre. I’ll be amused by this far more than I’ll ever be upset, whatever the transfer fee or whatever he does in an Arsenal shirt, because it is funny that Arsene Wenger wants to sign players from us who are nowhere near our first XI.
The Guardian is less biased or connected with the club than I am, so maybe we can trust their viewpoint on him better than mine? Let’s just see how bitter we stand to be that Silvestre has signed for Arsenal with a short review they gave on Silvestre back in May.
What he does: Mixes imperious 70-yard crossfield balls with pitiful seven-yard passes straight to a member of the opposition. Defends immaculately for 89 minutes and 58 seconds before going for his siesta and being punished for it by top-class wingers such as Gary Teale and Glen Little.
How fans view him: As something of a pea-brain, sadly. An easy scapegoat, given his sporadic shockers; most fans feel that every Silvestre lining has a cloud.
Sorry to break it to the Arsenal fans, but we really have no reason to be bitter, and are typically united in finding the comedy value in this situation. So, what do the Gunners really make of this signing?
From Arseblog, August 20th
“A Terrible Waking Nightmare, it must be”
I have these strange and weird dreams that make no kind of sense to me at all. Vivid motion picture dreams but at the same time I’m convinced that I’m not asleep. It’s all terribly confusing. I mean, last night I dreamt that we were about to sign Mikael Silvestre from Manchester United…
… Anyway, we can all look forward to the ‘Mikael is an experienced, versatile player who can play at left-back, centre-half, left-wing, central midfield, up front, did I mention central-midfield?, all across the back four and, most importantly, in central midfield’ statement from the boss when he signs. I don’t know whether to cry or weep. In seriousness though, I’m weeping…
…This is ridiculous. I mean, Silvestre. I’m going to wake up any minute now and have a good laugh, like when you dream you kill someone and you can’t believe it and the police are after you and then you wake up and you go ‘Phew, it was all a dream’.
August 21st
I have to admit being somewhat underwhelmed by this signing. Leaving aside the personal enmity I have felt for the player during his United days I’m asking why Alex Ferguson would sell him to us. Reverse the situation – would we sell United a player who we thought would improve them? It would be extremely foolish of us to do so, wouldn’t it? And whatever you might think of Demento he’s no fool. Does he believe Silvestre is past it or is he just not that worried about us?…
…Then I look at the fact that the only other clubs interested in him were Sunderland and Manchester City and I just can’t help feeling we’re scratching around in the bargain bins again. I don’t think too many people would argue that our defence could do with some improvement but if the boss is really serious about it wouldn’t he be better off bringing in somebody better than a United cast-off? Where is our Vidic or Agger or Laursen?
It really is a very strange deal altogether and I’m struggling to see the logic of it – especially when you read about us letting Djourou, who has impressed in pre-season, go out on loan because we have Silvestre now.
I suppose the fact of the matter is, if Sir Alex Ferguson, who knows far more about Silvestre than Wenger, really believed the defender to be any good, he would not be selling him to our supposed title rivals. People haven’t already forgotten the stink Fergie kicked up to prevent Gabriel Heinze moving to Liverpool? Injuries and ability combined, 31-year-old Silvestre is not going to be a loss to our squad. I’d far rather see one of the impressive Da Silva twins filling in.
If United had just bought a past-it Arsenal reject, there is no doubt in my mind I’d be on here trying to seek out the benefits or the story behind Fergie’s logic. I’d be reading up on any good games the player had and trying to work out how it could reflect positively for us. United fans would be posting on the laughing Arsenal blogs about what a coup it was, whilst the Arsenal fans thoroughly enjoyed the moment. Fortunately, it’s United fans that get to do the smiling today.
Football fans eh?
Man Utd News 24/7
I’m an Arsenal fan, and I’m surprised and a bit bemused by it too. Still at £750k it’s hardly a gamble, fitness permitting. Guess it means Djourou and Traore could get a loan deal as a result.
Its probably good business all round really, we get £750k for a player who could leave on a free at the end of the season, Arsenal get a bit of cover, and Silvestre can feel at home in little Paris or better known as Highbury!
omg his not worth 1k wenger is taking a big gamble with us 1 to 1000 it will be good
u no arsenal is not worse than united were taking someone from reserve making it first team that would be embarsing
Precisely- I believe you’ve got those Brazilian twins as cover at full-back, plus Brown and O’Shea? So you’re sorted. Plus Traore is still a bit raw, as you lot know too well after turning us over in the Cup last season.
better than a kick in the bollocks, marginally.
in all seriousness, good back up and nothing more
i dont think he is a bad signing for wot we payed for him but and i dont think that we will use him as a first choice anything, so it was an alright deal for us
Its obviously not the coup of the summer, oreven the signing that us gooners are hoping for, but we have nothing to lose from it. 750k for someone who’s probably better cover than senderos aint too bad.
On the other hand it means Utd’s defensive cover is Neville (long past it), O’Shea (rubbish) and two untested and probably unready Brazillian teenagers.
Best hope Vidic or Snoop Dogg don’t get crocked…
Another Arsenal fan here (where are the United fans??). Not a signing any Arsenal fan would have predicted or wanted, but it’s not terrible for us all the same – effectively, we’ve swapped Justin Hoyte for Mikael Silvestre. No problem with that.
I can understand why United fans wouldn’t be upset to see us sign Silvestre, but I’m interested to know whether you think United have enough CB cover. Vidic and Ferdinand are the best CB partnership in the league, no question, and Wes Brown is a decent back-up. But after that, what have you got? O’Shea has been terrible for two seasons now, and Ferguson has now sold both Pique and Silvestre in one summer.
Is there someone else we don’t know about? Or are you relying on Ferguson signing some cover in the next week? Because if you have to field Brown and O’Shea for any length of time this season, everyone else would be delighted.
Just an odd one, not normally Wengers style purchasing a player of that age, but I suppose he is better than Senderos, we also have Evans who looked good on loan last season.
Highbury you know, lol. Aaww, a Man U supporter nostalgic for the old days, how sweet. I don’t care about Silvestre, never liked him, never will. As long as he doesn’t become a first evelen regular, who cares? Could do worse, but I would’ve preferred the 750k went towards Fabregas’ wages or a better signing though.
Think it might be a case of simply not being disaterous for anyone. Would he have made positive difference when we threw the title away last year? Possibly. Could Fergusson have under rated both the player and the team to which he is destined, not impossible but unlikely. The pice tag means that the gunners will not cry if it doesn’t work out, just short term stop gap to bolster a young team while some great talents develop. He’s no vincent Kompany, but then I still wouldn’t swap my gunners season ticket for one at eastlands.
HI MANCS,
It seems to be bothering the Mancs more than us about this situation – we are all generally quiet on the matter – people are banging on about our squad not being strong enough – so where better to go to strengthen your squad than Man U’s bench for a bargain as well!?
I am neither super happy or unhappy, just a good player that will fit in well with us because of the french contingent we already have, he knows the premiership and has played for one of if not the best team in the premiership but all of a sudden a lot of MANCS are saying he is no good? strange because if he were no good – I am sure a man of Sir Alex’s calibre would have spotted that and offed him way before 9 years.??
Anyway one more to come – see you soon Alonso in the Red and White of North London.!!
He’s the new Oleg Luzhny – an experienced, unglamourous journeyman. We were crying out for someone like that to fill in at the back last season. If he stays fit he’ll have a job to do at some point.
One of the worst players at Utd? Other than the ones you mention, there are/have been; Eagles, Wallwork, Fletcher, Campbell, Veron etc. There’s nearl a whole XI in front of him. Don’t be bitter now he’s left for a rival.
He’s a good solid squad player and his medals tally at Utd speaks volumes considering over the 9 years he averaged 40 games a season.
Fergie’s dropped the ball on this one if for no other reason than Mikael can give us a huge insight into Utd’s practices and game preparations.
Personally I’m more than happy with this signing as a short term measure to shore up the defence.
It tells the true story of Gooners … eternal optimists in Wenger’s ability to pull transfer gems from the woodwork. Being a Gooner with a vaguely decent ability to have a laugh at our own crowd, I still feel like we’ve got great reason to trust Wenger’s judgment in the transfer market, and it’s really on that basis that most us are trying to make sense of this one.
Silvestre is surely not first choice – what we’ve got is better as it stands, but to decry us for wanting to have a few extra bodies in there for an emergency is stupid. We were being blamed for lack of depth in last season’s title failure, and now we’re to blame for signing some backup experience? Is Silvestre so useless that he can’t even serve as a backup? Get a grip. How can you turn on your own player so quickly?
The only other thing I can see Steve is possibly Toure moving into midfield, with Silvestre partnering Gallas.
Nik – I suppose that’s the point, even with 7 subs now available, Silvestre doesn’t make our bench.
DT – how many of the players you mention have ever held down a first team place in our squad? Clearly a redundant point then, trying to compare Silvestre with a load of kids trying to cut it from the Reserves.
Erichero – we haven’t turned on him so quickly. My opinions of Silvestre these days are far more positive than they used to be. Now I look back over the years through sentimental specs.
Goes completely against AW’s principles.Giving a 30+ yr old a 2 year contract. I hope I’m proved wrong, but don’t really see the point of the signing. Any chance of Vidic as well?
yo most arsenal fans are cringing. i’m lovin it. wenger will get more from silvestre than fergie did in nine years. all fans, united and gooners will be shocked when we concede fuck all goals. silly is french yeh, he’ll play better for wenger, just like gallas has since coming to arsenal from chelsea. arsene wenger revived adams, dixon, winterburn when they were old dogs. wenger made gallas a better player by far, even though he was 30. fergie may know silvestre well, but he wont believe its the same player, wenger is the best in getting it outta the old dogs. i wouldnt want to sell our worst player to united, not cos of hatred, but cos fergie is a quality manager and could surprise us. see we could sell eboue to tottenham, an so what i dont shit ramos. but eboue to united, no way, not to ferguson.
i’m sure arsenal fans are worried, but have faith.
and united fans, no you cant have any of our players, none. cos we at arsenal know theres a risk in selling a ‘crap’ arsenal player to fergie. silvestre is not crap.
anyway. well played united on the double, congrats. cheers for silvestre18, future arsenal legend! tell us something good about him init. go ahead and weaken tottenham for us too wiv berbatov, cheers. all the best.
Arsenal doesn’t have a back up left back, Traore has been playing left midfield in the reserves and cannot defend regardless. Cost is minimal and by next season Arsenal will have and much better centre and left back replacements.
It’s about time Wenger started signing mature players to fill in the gaps before the youngsters come through.
Good signing.
to all u arsenal fans..atleast u have a champions league winner in ur team now!!
A strange signing for us. I can’t work it out. I’m not unhappy about it but I think that there were probably better defenders out there.
I don’t think he’s rubbish, but your nickname of “Silly” sounds about right. Kolo Toure does the same thing for us anyway!
The plus side to the signing is that it leaves United with one less player as cover. I wonder what would happen if both Ferdinand and Vidic (the two best defenders in England) were injured. That would be interesting.
Conclusion: Gooners are as puzzled as Mancs!
DT we can all play that game, Senderos, Maltz, Reyes, Stepanovs, Diawara, Jeffers, Wright ect.
Jeoff surely Toure is your best defender, obviously behind Clichy?
Maybe Stephen isnt aware that we left Highbury 2 years ago, obviously an Avid football fan. Only time will tell if the signing works is a good deal or not. However, we need the cover and it gives the team more options and angles to work with. As long as you keep buying Spurs best players i cant fault United! Being French i agree he is more suited to our squad and will feel more at home in a London, slighly classier environment and wont be looked down upon for not being an aggressive thug. Let both sides be happy with what they have achieved from the deal, The devils content they are rid of an incompetent plater and the gunners bolstering a squad that hopefully will be able to stay top the whole season as apposed to looking thin and tired in the crunch games.
Funny how many United fans I’ve been hearing regard him as rubbish but they were the same ones praising him, I remember them saying “Sly is one of the top quality defenders in the league. Man. U has the best defence!”
I think it’s good business. Brings us great experience and good cover for Clichy. What we needed was experience.
Football fan yes Arsenal fan no, it was a cock up on my part I must say.
I rate Gallas and Toure equally myself, I actually think Sagna’s our best “defender” for what it’s worth.
Traore will be loaned out to Portsmouth anyway, left-winger or not.
No prob about the signing, cheap and can do a job when called upon.
Does Fergie really want a guy who’s been with the Mancs so many years divulging all that inside information though? That’s a surprise.
But he’s never gonna be a first choice player for Arsenal, will only get games via injuries or resting players. also allows Djourou & Traore to go out on loan as he’ll be cover for Clichy and centre-backs.
Put it this way – £700k is a better deal than spending £9m on the likes of Corluka or the £4m wasted on Ben Haim.
Mmm you will then have an entire French back four, thats works I suppose.
Would rather Toure plays there ahead of Silvestre, but then he speaks French too…
As an Arsenal fan i think he will provide good cover for the centre backs and for Clichy but i dont think hes good enough to make the first eleven.I seem to remember him making some terrible mistakes in the past while playing for United so not overly delighted with the signing.
confusing choice but all parties have to admit he carries experience at the highest level, will add to the squad, is not too old to still come in and do a job, and is dirt cheap.
not in my top 1000 of who i’d hope/desire us to have signed, but there he is.
as said before, what he’ll also bring is inside knowledge at manure…
Trust me you don’t want Silvestre @ centre back, but a half decent back up full back.
At the end of the day we sold Hoyte for £3.5M and got Silvestre for 750k. We needed someone to cover for Clichy as we already have cover for Sagna. He can hang around for a couple of years, play some games here and there. Pass on his experience to the likes of Traore and Djourou, so I just dont see why its such a big deal for either set of fans. There’s no rule saying a transfer must be a blockbuster.
In an ideal world we wouldn’t have signed Silvestre, but lets face it 750 grand is a lot less than you paid him in wages while he was injured, or what you paid Rio when he was off work for 9 months.
I am also sure he has younger legs than Henrik Larsson who did a bit of a job for your boys a couple of seasons ago, so all in all I’m not too disappointed.
i gotta admit im not even bothered by this signing,i always hated this fella and i dont rate him highly but i have to admit this is the type of squad player we need,people who think this means kolo toure will play centre midfield need to contact a science lab and buy a brain cell, freddie ljundberg turned out to be a pratt with too much to say when we sold him so the fact this geezer nutted him matters nothing now! he has a chance to help the squad and earn another set of stripes maybe! if he dont he can go at the end of the season!
to be honest the gunners coach is exercising his Degree in the wrong industry hw can we win the title or any cup without midfield please Mr Wenger i wish if u can get atleast two Holding midfield players coz to be honest AR needs to be playing in Carling Cup only.
Never underestimate football fans ability to turn on their own. Arsenal fans have done it with Adebayor, despite half of the supposed quotes turning out to be spurious.
It’s great to have a dialog between Man U and Arsenal fans, although I question where you get your quotes from. Most Gooner blogs are positive about this signing, so the quotes you’ve used at the top of this post are not reflective. Given your comments on a player that has served you for 9 years and played for the French national team, which not even Pires could get into, I’m beginning to wonder if this is the Man U equivalent of the “Le Grove” blog in the Gooner blog world, where all the Les Miserables go to hang out?
Corresct, and Arseblog has actually discussed the merits of the signing, despite the segment quoted above.
Well finally Utd have offloaded “Le Camel” o/k its to Arsenal. I just wish it could have been the Chavs. He is not a player who will be sadly missed.
Scotty Scotty Scot – Kleberson and Djemba Djemba regulars were they? I know for a fact that Veron was and so is Fletcher. O’Shea has been good in the past but has recently lost it so I left him off my list though plenty of others haven’t I see.
I think the main point here is that Utd fans have turned on him now he’s left in the same way us Goons did with Flamini. Matthieu left for money and that is an ugly indictment of the modern game, but IMO 99% of fans would want him back. It’s the same with Mikael; I’m sure you’d rather have him than not, given the cover you’re left with now.
Agree?
I dunnno, I feel kind of sorry for the guy, the way you’re slating him. All that time at Man U and he was some sort of dud all along. Make you wonder what he was doing in your first team for all those years. Sounds to me mate, like you’re trying to reassure yourself that he’s a terrible player instead of thanking him for what he’s done for you and wishing him well, which would be a more graceful way of looking at it.
I never had too much problem with silvestre. Granted he did cock up a few times and cost us in Europe but I thought he was solid. Now there is no room for him at united, he’s been gradually worked out with the signings of heinze then evra. Now we have o’shea, evans and fabio understudies. You couldn’t deny Silvestre the opertunity to go to arsenal for the twilight of his career.
My fondest silvestre moment was definatly the headbutt on ljungberg in the 4-2 win.
Sagna is easily our best defender, followed by Clichy (he’s better going forward than he is at defending though) and then Gallas or Djourou.
Can’t hurt to have an extra defender in case we have an injury crisis at CB or if Clichy is injured at LB.
I am really gutted that fergie would sell one of our best ever players(hahahahahaha) to our bitter rivals.
Cheap cover. Can’t complain about that. Costs peanuts. Can play central or left. Served UTD and Fergie wants to start getting some more youngsters experience. Arsenal almost has too many youngsters.
Do I want him as my first choice CB. No. But, for 6-7 games he is more than adequate back-up. We actually have incedible depth in that position now.
A win for all.
I sort of don’t blame Flamini, didn’t Wenger try to sell him @ the beginning of last season to Birmingham? he probably felt a little un wanted but correct me if I am wrong, but anyway he is a footballer and money motivates the large percentage of them.
Fondest Silvestre moment? It has to be them 2 goals against the scousers in the 2004/05 season. One things for sure hes no William Prunier.
I think my fondest moments are to come!
come off it goons. who are some of u trying to kid. urselves?
silvestre has never been anything more than a pain in the arse. not cos of his attitude or anything like that(which is why uve prob not heard many bad words about him, either that or u aint listened hard enough!)
the guy is an accident waiting to happen. fortunately not for us anymore.
but hey, hes a LOT better backup than senderos. he needs to drop down a league. so its a good move for you guys that should ensure you keep ur status as champions league backdoor boys!
I am lazy.
I always let sentiment go before sense when it comes to players, so I have never really had a problem with him. He has like Fergie said been a great servent to the club, remaining a loyal squad player for years.
I also for some sick reason kind of like the dealing being done between us and Arsenal, after all I have more respect for them than any of our TROPHY rivals. I love the way Arsenal fans are salvating over him after being the first to slag him off too.
“Arsene Wenger can turn a mediocre player like Silvestre into a tremendous player”
Silvestre is hardly potential! He’s a seasoned pro, he’s played for United for almost 10 years, it’s not like he is going to learn anything new. Just get more games which is good where ever you are.
I think it’s a good deal getting rid before he’d be offered a testimonial. 750k though, that’s cheap as Arsene Wengers other chips!
It is a strange signing as I believe he was one year away from his testimonial, but only time will tell whether he was worth it, but his experience could be valuable in a lot of ways
Is it me or is ‘Jeoff’ on here an awful lot for a gooner? I don’t just mean this post – he’s popping up everywhere with snide comments. I suppose it’s a compliment really, obviously nothing worth reading on the Arse blogs.
Hey Scott, MH here from TGM.
Just thought I’d give my 2 cents on this random signing.
I’m far from satisfied in all honesty, much prefered someone with a longer shelf life. It could turn out to be a shrewd bit of business, but only if this signing is complimented with another. I just hope this doesn’t spell the end of our shopping this summer, because if it does then I’ll be very concerned.
As far as back up/squad players go, I’m comfortable to have Silvestre slotting in ahead of Senderos/Djourou. Plus he has stacks of experience and is bound to have a winning mentality after all the medals he chalked up with you guys. I just wonder how much injuries and age have taken it’s toll on him.
Time will tell.
I think this is sound business for both clubs. Being at OT on Sunday, we had four(!) defenders on the bench, yet Silvestre was in the stands (or wherever they kept him). United have too many 30+-players as it is. One thing Ferguson has always kept an eye on, is the age structure of the squad. Silvestre is a good defender, but he’s not Vidic nor Evra, which is why I think many United fans now says good riddance. He did overall a good job for nine years, and though opposition fans doesn’t want to hear it, Fergie actually has a lot of time for loyal players, and I don’t think he minds Silvestre joining a rival one bit. It is nice to see that our defender number nine joins one of the other so-called big four. And compared to Chelsea and Liverpool, there is no doubt which club United respect the most, even with the media-created anomosity between Wenger and Ferguson
As for all the so-called secrets, I don’t think we should over-intellectualize a dressing room…
Arsenal gets a solid defender, we get one less excuse for not putting a youngster in the squad. Good luck, Mickael, you never wailed in Marca about wanting to join someone else.
Hahaha…..I have waited all my life to hear this good news!!!getting rid of silvestre with 750,000 to pocket…..Fergie you’re a genius!! Also it doesnt surprise me that it’s the gooner fans who are making the whole noise out of this laughing stock of a news.Poor gooners.u all must be feeling a little confused,sad or happy right now…aren’t u?
Thanks for taking him off our backs.Now Fabio can get a proper run out. Merci beaucoup Monsieur Wenger!!!!
Viva Manchester United.
Finish work soon Anto, so sadly you probably won’t hear from me again for a while.
It is a compliment, very few of the Arsenal blogs are this unintentionally amusing.
Silvestre, not good enough for Man United cover, but good enough for Arsenal cover…wow…nuff said
To the people asking who is our CB cover if Rio or Vida get crocked, honestly haven’t you ever heard of the name JOHNNY EVANS???? the Irish boy who we loaned to Sunderland and we can say was one of the main reasons they stayed up, so good that the Sunderland fans were already talking great things he could do for the club if he stayed, Keane was also ready to fork out money in the region of £10m+ plus for him at 20. To see how class he is, watch the Ireland vs. Scotland game yesterday…cover for Vida or Rio is the least of our problems.
Silvestre is grand, he’s no superstar but he’ll fill a gap when needed, his concentration is disastrous and he can be a liability at times but he’ll get stuck in. Not a bad crosser of the balls (on occasion) either.
To suggest Utd fans thought he was great until he was sold to Arsenal is a serious stretch though. He’s been berated for a long time and I personally have never heard a Utd fan sticking up for him. Is it not obvious that when everyone is wishing a player good luck with our title rivals that we don’t rate him too highly?
Regarding Fletcher, Campbell and Veron, I reckon that’s a bit rich. Fletcher has dominated the much-lauded Arsenal midfield on a number of occasions, Campbell is a young kid with bags of potential and a genuine love for the club and although Veron didn’t shine as expected he put in some amazing performances and I still regard him as one of the most talented, if not impact full, footballers I have ever seen.