Arsenal last night responded to Patrick Vieira's disparaging remarks about the club by making Sol Campbell an improved offer worth £200,000 a week to move to Highbury.
The deal matches what Campbell has been offered by Barcelona and suggests Arsene Wenger feels the defender's arrival would be an important statement of intent after Vieira's fierce attack on the club which signalled his determination to leave.
Vieira called Wenger's new buys, Giovanni von Bronckhorst and Francis Jeffers, "hopeful players who haven't proved themselves in the Premiership" and insisting: "Comparing Arsenal to the big clubs in Europe this season is going to be quite ridiculous."
Arsenal, who reiterated that they plan to keep Vieira, have offered Campbell a basic weekly wage of around £45,000, with the remainder coming in instalments from a huge signing-on fee. Campbell, who refused a new contract at Tottenham, is expected to announce by Saturday whether he will move to Arsenal, Barcelona or Inter Milan.
Wenger has to hope that Vieira's criticisms do not put Campbell off. Vieira, who feels he has to leave to win trophies, said he could not see Arsenal "finishing in the top five in the league - and you can forget the Champions League".
He added that French team-mates who have urged him not to leave, should "stay and try to win things for the club before they open their mouths".
Such remarks seem designed to make a return to Highbury impossible, but Arsenal said that they intend to hold the 25-year-old to his contract, which expires in 2004. "He's not for sale," said the chairman Peter Hill-Wood.
Arsenal, who know Vieira needs first-team action in the lead-up to next summer's World Cup, may threaten to dump the midfielder in the reserves if he refuses to co-operate. But a leading sports lawyer suggested they will be fighting a losing battle if they try to keep the midfielder against his will.
"Whatever a contract says, at the end of the day a contract can be compensated for by monetary value," said Parul Patel, sports lawyer at Townley's. "No English court is going to say to a player 'You have to stay with a club'. That would be tantamount to slavery."
Arsenal would still hold Vieira's registration but under the new transfer regulations, which are due to be ratified by FIFA's executive committee on July 5th and would come into force before next season, they would have to hand that over to his new club in return for compensation, provided Vieira had served notice he will be leaving.
Chelsea yesterday claimed they had the signing of Emmanuel Petit in the bag following reports that Manchester United were making a late attempt to prise the £7 million-rated Petit risks facing a legal battle if be goes back on his word to Chelsea and opts to sign for United. Chelsea signed the French midfielder on a pre-contract from Barcelona for £6 million, and he will officially become their player on July 1st.
"Our position is quite clear," said Chelsea managing director Colin Hutchinson. "We've got a signed contract with Barcelona and with Petit. To cover ourselves, we lodged copies of these pre-contracts with the FA and the FA Premier League two weeks ago.
