When we blogged the story that FC Barcelona is in 'Pole Position' for a possible transfer of Thierry Henry from Arsenal to Barcelona, we asked you to post us your comments.
I am extremely surprised with the amount of comments but am even more surprised about some of the abuse we got. It seems that most of the commentors did not read the article properly. Maybe its the tension and excitement but I'm convinced that a lot of Arsenal fans haven't been properly informed, in which case I'll take this opportunity to bring some light to the situation and hopefully the information is taken in the right context.


Anyway, it seems that two days after the fact, the British press is picking up on the story. Better later than never! At least it shows that the story might be interesting enough to be published in England.


The Mirror.co.uk - "The best newspaper on the web" (unquote) claims to be "... first with the big stories". Unfortunately it reported FC Barcelona Blog's story 2 days after we did about the possibility of Thierry Henry's transfer to FC Barcelona and the 'verbal agreement'.

This straw was clutched at by several online sport services, such as 'Team Talk' and 'Sky Sports', not to mention the rest of the vultures and have deemed it significant enough to release articles about the possible transfer of Henry away from Arsenal to the Nou Camp.


One 'Professional Journalist' (an oxymoron? - Ed.) and Arsenal fan commented on our FC Barcelona Blog (Comments, half way down), that it seems that their is no truth behind our story because (and I quote) 'the English press would not miss out on this sensational news'. Oh ye of too much faith...
Well now it appears they didn't miss out, they just took their time about it. Maybe because they just copy their stories, maybe they take longer to research, but clearly they've finally picked up on it.


But what I find a little more bothersome is that after receiving mountains of abuse from Gooners, its self-evident that most of these people haven't digested the article properly and moreover are not very well informed about the rules and regulations of the game of football.


My Point is:

1. The article does not say that Thierry Henry is definitely going to FC Barcelona (although, if you read the sensationalist British press, that's how it now looks). The article says, if (I repeat, 'if') Thierry Henry leaves Arsenal FC then Barca is in pole position to secure his transfer because there's a verbal agreement in place between the player and the clubs.
So, all that's now required is a decision from Thierry Henry to sign the new and very lucrative contract offered by Arsenal FC or at least make a clear promise to all Gooners that he will sign the new contract - none of which has happened to date. Thierry Henry can rubbish all these rumours and sign a lifetime contract (or even a 3 year deal) for Arsenal.

The fact remains, TH14 hasn't and that might be a worry for some Arsenal fans who, quite justifiably feel that something 'not quite right' is cooking here.


2. I want to pick out another important point that Arsenal fans should know. If (and yet again I state: 'if') Thierry Henry should leave the club he genuinely loves (and let's face it, even the greatest of cynics would agree that it'll be a very difficult decision for him), could he possibly join a better club than FC Barcelona? This might not be of any consolation to the real Gooner losing the Club's icon, but you should know that Barcelona is a 'real' club in every sense of the word.
(Here I'm reminded of the classic line about losing a girlfriend: 'Do you love her enough to see her happy with someone else?')


FC Barcelona is not a PLC that has to satisfy any shareholders and has to increase "Shareholder value" or pay dividens to its investors, neither it is a money making machine for a single person nor it is run by a single "Owner" who can make illogical demands on the club based on financial viability. FC Barcelona is a Community Club run by about 125,000 members who are responsible for the club's fortunes and they elect their presidents themselves. The members are in charge and they (we) are proud of the fact. They can state with pride that the Nou Camp (Europe's biggest stadium with 100,000 seats) is their stadium because it was build and paid for by the fans. They can state, without fear of contradiction, that the seat they are sitting on is their seat, because it was build with their money and they pay every year to sit on it.

Barca fans have been proud to be the only big team in the world to play without a shirt sponsor because they gladly give their money when it's needed. (Having said that, this might change soon because even Barcelona fans accept the bigger picture: that incredible money is paid for shirt sponsorship and a shirt deal would probably make FC Barcelona the most lucrative club in the world).
Barca is not a Real Madrid and Barca is not a Manchester United or Chelsea. FC Barcelona is the biggest Football Club in the worldn(about 125,000 card-carrying 'owners') and one of the last surviving real big football clubs.

So, why on earth should a football professional like Thierry Henry not consider signing his last big contract with the biggest club in the world. Who, realistically could blame him!


3. Another important fact that a lot of Gooners should realise: Arsenal has no firepower in a bidding war for Henry and will not be able to increase the transfer fee. May be this is a very good reason for already having a verbal agreement in place between the clubs. I believe that the likes of David Dein and Arsene Wenger understand the terms and requirements of their jobs very well and have proven this in a succession of inspired transfers. It is better to have an agreement in place (Worst case scenario: Thierry Henry leaves), that brings more money in than they can reasonably (or legally) expect. If both parties hold to their verbal agreement (should Henry decide to leave), both clubs will be happy because Barca gets the player they desire while paying a premium (like an option for the verbal agreement) to Arsenal, which is more money than they should pay, given FIFA contractual legalities.


It seems, that most readers do not know about the FIFA rule that has been in place for many years but kicks in now but can be backdated for prior contracts which states that:

Players who are under 28 at the time of signing a contract have a protection period of 3 years. [If a player is over 28 years old the protection perid is only 2 years.]

This means that they can only leave the club during this period with the permission of the board. After this 3 years period, the contract is unprotected and the player can leave without the permission of his club. In this case, FIFA will set a compensation fee for the transfer if both clubs do not find an agreement.

In Henry's case, Thierry signed his extension of the contract in May 2003 which means his contract should be unprotected in May 2006 (maybe June 30th, if the new contract started with the new season on 1st of July 2003).


The verbal agreement about the transfer fee between both Clubs seems to be €15 mill. (£10 mill.). This is more than the expected FIFA transfer fee set for a player with only 1 year left on the contract.


Should Thierry Henry decide to join Barcelona, it doesn't matter if the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid or Juventus bid more money for the striker. It is up to Henry to choose which Club he wants to join and if the transfer fee is not agreed by the clubs, FIFA will decide how much Barcelona has to pay.


By the way, anybody who plays 'Football Manager' on their computer has to deal with this FIFA rule! So do real-life football managers!


Enough said! Should Thierry Henry leave Arsenal, he will most likely end up at FC Barcelona. I am sure that Barca is the most realistic choice for him - better than Real, Chelski or Juve!