Arsenal, Manchester United, Premier League
Making sense of Silvestre’s move
An intriguing - and rare - transfer between Man Utd and Arsenal means an aging Mikael Silvestre is heading to Arsenal, leaving Tim Wigmore fascinated.
Arsenal’s signing of Mikael Silvestre is nothing if not intriguing. Arsene Wenger has broken with his convention in signing a player who, at 31, has probably already peaked; and Sir Alex Ferguson is selling to a rival club, something almost unheard of. So what can we make of Silvestre’s signing?
Fundamentally, Silvestre had become a peripheral player at Manchester United. Over nine seasons and 249 appearances, he completely vindicated his signing. Silvestre’s pace and versatility – he proved adept both at left-back and in central defence – were an important asset to the club. When playing at left-back, his relentless forward thrusts and fine crossing ability created many goals, especially for Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Yet, after Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic settled following their Januray 2006 moves, Silvestre became increasingly marginalised. Injuries then served to decimate his final two seasons at the club. After nine years in which his contribution to Man Utd’s success was undeniable, only the most churlish of fans will be angered that he has joined Arsenal.
But Alex Ferguson is a man not accustomed to doing favours that have the possibility of backfiring. Had he blocked the move to Arsenal, allowing Silvestre to join Man City instead, few would have been too surprised. There are three explanations. Firstly, Ferguson’s judgment has been undermined by sentiment for a player whose commitment over nine years was unwavering. As this is Ferguson, however, such a notion can safely be rejected. Trying to read his mind is a thankless task, but one can surmise that allowing Silvestre to leave boils down to two opinions he holds. One, Silvestre has been so hampered by injuries that he will make only a negligible impact; and, secondly, that Arsenal can no longer be considered direct rivals. Because, can one really imagine Ferguson allowing anyone to leave for Chelsea?
Arsene Wenger’s logic, conversely, seems rather simpler. His squad, for all their multifarious talents, are universally recognised as too young, insufficiently battle-hardened and lacking experience of winning trophies – as supposed to falling, brilliantly and spectacularly, just short of triumph. Silvestre is a man accustomed to Premier League success, someone who he will hope will imbue Arsenal with a true winning mentality.
In a purely football sense, too, the decision makes obvious sense. Arsenal are desperately bereft of adequate and experienced defensive cover. For all Wenger’s burning faith in youth, Silvestre would be a more reassuring presence in a crunch match than, say, Armand Traore and Johan Djourou. His concerns about the back-line, and his desperation to recruit a versatile and seasoned defender, were also apparent in Wenger’s unsuccessful pursuit of Lillian Thuram earlier this summer.
Silvestre is the first man in 34 years to move from Man Utd to Arsenal. Providing he is able to remain fit, his vast experience and class could prove invaluable in helping a richly talented squad reach footballing maturity. For Wenger, this possibility is clearly enough to justify a relatively small outlay. Arsenal fans should be pleased.
There is, however, one caveat. A week ago, Wenger said he would make a new signing within the fortnight. Given the weaknesses elsewhere in their squad, Arsenal supporters should hope Silvestre was not who Wenger envisaged – and there is still one more player to be unveiled this transfer window.
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i dont think it was silvestre AW was talking about. im sure this was a late decission to sign him once he laearned about his availability as he was about to sign for men city.
i know from the past whenever AW said he is only signing one player he has always signed more, eg Diarra last seasoon.
AW has always said if a quality player comes up he will always sign him for the right price. i hope we get Alonso but if it is him it wasnt happen till the last day of the window.
Great article. I completely agree with your assessment. I think Wenger will buy at least 1 more player, as this particular purchase was totally opportunistic and not the intended midfield signing Wenger has been talking about.
Wenger also said that if a super player became available at the right price, he would sign him.
Although I wouldn’t call Silvestre a ’super’ player, he is good and experienced and therefore could fit into this caveat.
I expect to see Inler soon!
Excellent balanced article, best I’ve read on the topic so far today
Good signing I say, just what we need, but clearly a bonus rather than the one signing mooted. One still to come.
Because, can one really imagine Ferguson allowing anyone to leave for Chelsea?
You say that but it depends on the player. If you said can one really imagine Ferguson allowing Silvestre to leave for Chelsea? then I don’t think that is a definate ‘no’.
However Silvestre is a good defender. I wouldn’t say he is ‘injury prone’, just been unliucky recently. He’s only 31. If I were your lot I’d rather have him in my defence than say Senderos? so at the price I’d say bargain
That’s a fine piece of brain storming - especially your assumption of how sir Alex might have analysed the whole situation.I would readily agree with you that sir Alex might think that the player’s impact is highly compromising but hardly that Arsenal is no more a direct rival to his club!Except when engaged in his usual mind games,sir Alex has almost always held our club in high esteem in the game.He was one of the few people in the game last season that still believed in the threat our youngplayers could impose after the exodus of Henry.So i personally don’t think he regards Arsenal as a minor threat - on the other hand he might be setting a precedence in agreeing to sell to Arsenal so he can - in the future - undramatically try to buy an active or former Arsenal player as the most natural thing to do!
I was always hate to see every match Man Utd play Mikail in their defence.Not because he was Man Utd player.But an excellent defender which made it hard for any team to exploit utd defence easily. Now i love him to be in Arsenal.Good luck Mikail
I wouldn’t make too much of the fact that Ferguson doesn’t consider Arsenal serious rivals anymore. It was a free transfer. Ferguson can’t block the deal. Silvestre can go where he wants.
Silvestre may appear old but experienced .As Arsenal is a retired team as Gallas,Silvestre and perhaps Mr Wenger also
I agree that it’s likely Wenger still has one more rabbit to pull out of the hat.
Lex - Silvestre was still within contract at Man Utd, so, even if the transfer was for no fee, Ferguson could still have blocked the move had he really been determined to.
You delved on one issue a bit which I think was the critical issue: he was surplus to United’s need this year. Ferdinand, Vidic, and Evra seem relatively injury free and Ferguson seems intent on developing O’Shea and Brown as backups . Not just for quality purposes , but for development of other players. Silvestre was simply not going to play. He has served the club well, and a club can’t be seen blocking the move of such a loyal servant.
Wenger made an interesting comment over the summer, something along the lines that a lot of players will come to Arsenal because Arsene will let them go if they want to leave. This is a player who would have been first choice outside of UTD, arsenal, and Chelsea most of his career in England, but served the club well. An unhappy exit for Silvestre would have looked really bad for Ferguson and limits trust in his own dressing room. While they are a business, in cases like this, a club is in a tough position saying no.
We need atop class number six in our midfield if we want to win anything this season.But at the moment arsenal
can do nothing with our small and weak squared and very young players compared to teams like chelsea.Thanks.
Another explanation for this mysterious unlikely transfer could well be this: Remember the old saying “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts” well could it be that manure are going to sign Henry? that in their eyes would be fair.Lets hope not. Anyway let’s give the lad a chance and wish him well although age wise Kompany for us would have been much better. Man City are close to signing him. What the ‘ells going on at Arsenal? Have we got dosh or ain’t we? if not we should have stayed at good ol’ Highbury.
I would trust Djourou in a crunch match more than Silvestre. He’d be better than Traore though. His main purpose would be to cover Clichy at LB and in the case of an injury crisis, CB as well.
Great article. It was a good read and I agree with you conclusions. However , I think sentiment may have come into it for Ferguson. He obviously has alot of respect for Silvestre, and I think had the player requested the move, he would have sanctioned it.