Out of his Head

Most of the time I believe that Arsene Wenger is a football genius. Then, he starts off flirting with the idea of re-signing retread Nicholas Anelka to replace the sublime Thierry Henry and I have to wonder whether Henry's departure has made him a bit loopy.

We have a saying on this side of the water, Arsene: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

You've been down this road before, and was not a happy camper and became disruptive to the team. He demanded to be let off. In fact, he carried his attitude problem with him to subsequent clubs. It's why he's known as "The Incredible Sulk."

Six teams in 10 years. This is not a player who will be anything more than a band-aid. He won't be long at Emirates before his wanderlust returns.

And as for the product that strikers are signed for, goals, there's not much there. Last season, Anelka had 11 in 35 appearances. Granted, it seemed like half of them were against Arsenal. But if you sign him, you'll want him to be scoring at the other end of the pitch and there, he's not a proven commodity anymore. In fact, in his entire career he's never scored more than 17 goals in a season. That was at Manchester City four years ago.

This isn't a real striker signing, Arsene. Resist the temptation to revive past relationships. Challenge the big clubs for a real striker.

The other big four clubs have all strengthened themselves. Liverpool nabbed Fernando Torres (who, by the way, I think is going to be huge in the EPL. This kid really impressed me in the World Cup). Man U looks set to nab Carlito, who is also the real deal. I don't know about the Hargreaves kid; he just doesn't strike me as the second coming of Roy Keane. Chelsea - well, they actually stepped back a bit with the loss of Robben, who I thought was one of their most important players after Terry, Drogba, Essien and Cech. Malouda does not fully compensate. But, after all, they are Chelsea and they are still loaded for bear.

My point being that signing Nicholas Anelka does not even keep the Gunners at pace with the other big EPL clubs. Those youngsters had better be ready to evolve this season.

Meanwhile, I hope Arsene comes to his senses.