Montpellier centreback Emir Spahic has told Sport.co.uk in an exclusive interview that his dream is to move to the Premier League at the end of the season, while also revealing that he was very close to signing for Arsenal last summer. Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier is also an admirer of the Bosnian international and could be a potential suitor.
 
Spahic, 30, has impressed at Montpellier since joining the club in 2009, although a number of long-term suspensions have angered the club and have led to the player confirming his desire to leave at the end of the season. The Bosnian international is currently serving a ban for an elbow on a Lens opponent in March; a punishment which follows on from a five game suspension served in December for a similar incident.
 
Spahic is a good option for Arsene Wenger after the Gunners boss was priced out of a move for £20 million PSG defender Mamadou Sakho, while other options include Blackburn Rover’s Phil Jones, Everton’s Phil Jagielka and Bolton Wanderers Gary Cahill.
 
In an exclusive interview with Sport.co.uk, Spahic admitted his ambitions for the summer and revealed for the first time his take on why a move to the Emirates broke down last summer.
 
“I cannot speculate about a move to Arsenal. I have had contact with a number of clubs in England regarding a transfer this summer.” Emir Spahic told Sport.co.uk.
 
“It is my wish to push myself and play in another top league but I have also had contact with a couple of clubs in Germany and Spain. So at the moment I cannot tell you 100% what will happen or where I will be playing my football.
 
“I am still a Montpellier player but I have told my teammates and the club that I wish to leave France. And that is for sure.
 
“I don’t know what happened last summer. My manager had contact with Arsenal and I don’t know what happened in the end to be honest. I have heard a lot of differing stories, but the bottom line is the job wasn’t finished and I stayed in Montpellier. The truth is it is my dream to move to England and play in the Premier League.”

The Man Utd coach Alex Ferguson has just led his club to their 19th League title, and they are in the final of the Champion League for the third time in six years, but it seems it could have all been different if he had accepted Arsenal’s offer to become their manager.

Ferguson said, in the Rangers programme, when he was talking about his relationship with the retiring Walter Smith.: “I was offered the Arsenal job and I wanted to take Walter with me.

“I thought I would sound him out when we were on Scotland duty together. We were going to play in Israel and I didn’t know that Walter was going to Rangers at that time.

“I told him that I had been offered the chance to go to Arsenal and I asked him what he thought. He was positive about it, saying they were a big club and that kind of thing.

“So I said to him: ‘Do you fancy coming with me?’ Then he dropped the bombshell that he was going to Rangers.

“The thing about the Arsenal offer was that they wanted an answer right away but I couldn’t give them one because I was going to the World Cup in Mexico with Scotland.

“So the Arsenal thing fell by the wayside. Walter went to Rangers and then later that year I went to Manchester United. ”

Last week was very bad for Arsenal fans. First there was the price hikes for season tickets holders. Then there were the ticket membership scheme price hikes and misc. price hikes and then to top it all off, we play utterly crap against Stoke. Is that really what we can expect to see after these hikes ? I mean, it’s bad enough that we already pay a fortune to watch Arsenal in TV subscriptions let alone the vast prices for tickets, but moreover to watch our beloved Arsenal could cost an average fan £1500 a year if you hold the cheapest season ticket and you subscribe to all sports channels. For the membership scheme it could even be around £1200 per year. Then on top of that you have petrol, train fares, food etc…. And Arsene wonders what is there to moan about? It’s a lot of money to watch fancy football Arsene! It’s not like the old days where live matches were on the free channels and it only cost you a fiver at the north bank turnstiles. Losing was part and parcel of being a fan and we accepted it. Nowadays not only do we have the pain of losing but also the pain of feeling cheated by the club you love. And in all fairness, the club couldn’t care. I mean, it’s too big as there are years of waiting lists, so even if ‘you’ gave up your season ticket or membership, the club will not give a rats *** as they know someone will fill the gap you leave behind. It’s good to see that a group called Black scarf is doing something about this… AN OPTIMISTIC POINT : Now if we won trophies would we still moan? In my opinion, no we wouldn’t. Of course you would get the odd few who would but if we had the type of players we had in 2002 and 2004 and won competitions I don’t think we would moan, I think we would consider it money well spent. SOLUTION : So what is the answer to all these problems? One idea I propose is that if the players underperform like they did against Stoke and so many other teams, they should give the ticket paying fans 10% of their ticket price out of their wages. Will it work? Yes I think it would. I wonder how many poor performances we would see it if that was introduced? Plus the fans won’t feel so cheated. Will it ever be introduced? Not a chance in hell. What about sacking Arsene Wenger before the summer break? The new man can get the players we need in before the new season starts. And there will be a huge amount of rebuilding…A point worth discussing indeed. How about one more season?  Because there’s no point sacking him once the season starts as the new man won’t be able to sign any new players as well as having the no pre season to install his training plans and ideas. That’s a difficult one on so many grounds. Who would we want as a replacement? Would he fit into the philosophy of Arsenal FC ? Personally, I think the problem is with Arsene. It’s that he knows he is ‘un sack able’ or invincible. If I owned Arsenal, I would call in Mr Wenger to the board room at the end of the season and tell him this season was not good enough, if we have the same thing next season, then we will have no option but to give you a gold watch, a painting of a spitfire and offer you a seat at this table. You have been warned Arsene! Another idea I have is to call George Graham back to Arsenal to either act as a defender scout or a defensive coach. Yes he took a bung but I think a lot of managers did back then and he was made a scapegoat. Plus he handed the money back to Arsenal, so what did they do with the money? Anyway that’s another topic. He at the end of the day is a proven defensive manager and a massive Arsenal lover who knows the history and beliefs of Arsenal unlike some of the players we have today. But as football fans we are all great football managers and all believe we can do better than the current boss. Arsene, you have been given a final written warning, see that this does not happen again!

Датский форвард, как говорится, изложил всё, как есть.

Нападающий "Арсенала" Никлас Бендтнер, которого нынче сватают в различные европейские клубы, рассказал, в какой команде он хотел бы играть.

"Я мечтаю играть в "Барселоне", с такими чемпионами, как Хави и Иньеста - это было бы великолепно", - цитирует датчанина The Sun.