A defining day

The subplot for Arsenal in tomorrow’s Champions League Final is what happens to some of the Gunners French connection’s afterwards.

The good news is Arsene Wenger said in an interview today that he would like to finish his career with Arsenal and has no ambitions to manage a national team, hard luck England.

Everyone seems to have a view on whether Thierry Henry will be at Barcelona in July. Ronaldinho was grinning more than usual in a TV interview last week when he was talking of his ‘great’ friend and how good it would be if he chose to play for Barca.

Today former France captain Marcel Desailly told the BBC he thinks Henry will remain where he is, saying, ‘He will stay to lead Arsenal into the new stadium and finish his career at Arsenal like Baresi and Paolo Maldini finished their careers at AC Milan.’

Desailly added, ‘I think the lifestyle he has in England is exactly what he is looking for, and changing clubs would create a little bit of problems for him socially’ and that in Spain ‘ your lifestyle becomes complicated if you are a huge soccer star, and this will be an element Thierry Henry won’t like.’

Robert Pires says he hasn’t decided to go or stay yet but most reports you read have him pretty much set to go to Villareal which is a shame.

If Arsenal do manage to beat Barcelona the club says they’ll be a parade on Thursday afternoon starting at 1pm at Highbury and lots of people will be skipping off work and school.