Bitter Wenger to sue Hleb
Saturday 10 May, 2008

After slamming Mathieu Flamini’s move to Milan, bitter Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger warns he’ll take Alexandre Hleb to court rather than let him join Inter.

The Belarus midfielder has been repeatedly linked with a move to San Siro and agent Nikolai Shpilevski commented on Friday that the £11.5m signing from Stuttgart in 2005 was “leaving Arsenal.”

Although the Nerazzurri have consistently denied making any illegal approach for Hleb, Wenger is on the warpath, even if the midfielder tries to buy out the last two years of his contract under Article 17, the so-called Webster Clause.

"It is not as simple as it looks, this Webster clause, you can't just come in next day and buy out, there is no rule that says that. And you should not forget what clubs can do," said Wenger.

"You have to first go to a FIFA tribunal and if you don't agree with FIFA, you have to go to ACAS. It takes a lot of months. You can be banned for the whole period if it's not done in a proper way."

The French Coach has already threatened to report Inter to FIFA for “disrespectful and illegal” courting of Hleb, although the Italians released several statements denying any approach.

It would be another bitter blow after Flamini penned a massively improved contract with Milan this week on a free transfer.

"I know the rules in this job, the guy is free, he can go to somebody who pays him more," continued an infuriated Wenger.

"But he said he wanted to stay. If you say, 'no I want to go somewhere' that is OK. But you cannot say, 'I want to stay, but I go.'

"This club here has a history of being built by people of values. I'm not sure that in the history of Milan you'll find the same values, even if you dig well."

Milan are expected to retaliate with a statement of their own, as they do not take kindly to comments on their part in the Calciopoli scandal.

The club has always maintained its innocence in that affair, even though they were docked eight points from last year’s Serie A standings and stripped of a spot in the Champions League – albeit qualifying via a preliminary round.

channel4

I think all managers at big clubs are, they get stroppy when a player wants to leave, they're blinded by their own arrogance that they are the best.

I recall Carlo saying that Sheva is a traitor.

Ermm... no! I can't remember any other similar incident. I've heard managers bash the player that leaves but to disrespect a club like this... I have not seen it before.

“He played a nasty trick on us, yet it is difficult to speak ill of him even now because of the great affection everyone had for this person. In a word? Traitor.”

I was actually talking about the Hleb thing.

Who cares about Hleb? That's his own issue... did you read the whole article to see what says about Milan!??

And Arsenal have now reportedly agreed terms with Ben Arfa. So they are allowed to talk with players but Inter are not!??

Anyway... I don't care what Wenger says about Hleb and Inter. But Milan did nothing wrong. He should stop being a loser and admit he made a mistake in not offering Flamini a contract sooner...

I'm not going to get into whether or not we did anything wrong.

We were allowed to talk with Flamini weren't we?

Oh, we did nothing wrong in talking with Flamini, that's for sure. I just don't think calciopoli needs dragging up again!

Whether we did something wrong in the Calciopoli or not, this is not our entire history is it?

I never said it was. I'm not going to continue with this.

Jack@ss!

He talks like he is an angel but has poached countless youth players without consent of the clubs many times (Lupoli, Merida, Cesc etc). If our integrity is low, then he has none whatsoever

The 'traitor' comment was well over a year after Sheva left. It was this March in a Iene skit.

Wenger needs to acknowledge that Milan can no way be spoken of on the same breath as Arsenal. Let alone insult the club.

He can talk ... And say whatever he wants to say. I don't really care. For his team is the most overrated team in this century. With all the fuss and hype Arsenal are getting, they are not delivering.

I think that's a little disrespectful towards Arsenal if I'm honest.

As for not delivering, they were expected to finish 5th this season, they've over-acheived in the minds of many.

We were allowed to talk with Flamini weren't we?

Imagine if he signed for Milan in Jan and then scored to knock us out the CL. That wouldn't go down well!

We didn't play Arsenal until March, so if we signed him in January how could he score for Arsenal against us? 

You can sign a pre-contract agreement from January, so he'd still be under contract at Arsenal, but would be a Milan player as soon as the season finished.

For his team is the most overrated team in this century. With all the fuss and hype Arsenal are getting, they are not delivering.

I'm surprised nobody signed him up in Jan to be honest.