Arsenal & St EtienneThanks to Simon Dickson for spotting this in the Evening Standard (19th June). It claims to be an exclusive...Arsenal today unveiled an historic partnership with French club Saint-Etienne - and their first signing of the summer. As part of a unique youth development project in English football, last season's Double winners are signing 18-year-old David Grondin, the best young defender in French football. Grondin has emerged through the ranks at Saint-Etienne, in much the same way as Anelka developed at Paris Saint-Germain before moving to Highbury and breaking into the Arsenal first team. Liam Brady, head of youth development at Arsenal, today flew to Saint-Etienne, one of the World Cup's host cities, for the official announcement of the five-year deal between the two clubs. "It's a pilot scheme as far as we are concerned but if it's successful it could be extended," said Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein. Arsenal and Saint-Etienne will exchange between 10-20 players in the 14-18 age group at various stages through each season. "It's a cross fertilisation of ideas, culture and language," said Dein. "We'll accommodate their young players. They'll look after ours. It will broaden their outlook and education as well as benefit them from the football point of view." There's now some stuff about this on ANR and AFCi. More links below.
Latest transfer gossip from the ever reliable (!) Soccernet is a 16 million swoop for Henry, Trezeuget, and Lizarazu! Don't hold your breath... 98-99 index page copyright belongs to original author where credited. otherwise © Rupert Ward, ArseWeb MMV ArseWeb is NOT the official Arsenal site. The (excellent) official site is here |
