SOCCER: There was growing speculation yesterday Thierry Henry could reveal whether he intends to stay with Arsenal as early as the coming days although opinion both inside and outside the club still appears to be divided on what the 29-year-old Frenchman will do.
In the wake of Wednesday's defeat to Barcelona at the Stade de France, Henry talked about the need to come back next season and "do everything" which some observers were taking yesterday to be a hint he would stick around. Others close to the club, however, remain inclined to believe he will seek a new challenge with the Camp Nou his most likely destination.
Asked about his captain's future after the defeat in Paris, Arsene Wenger said that he did not think Henry would leave but said he too remains in the dark.
With a year remaining on the player's present contract Arsenal are anxious to tie their inspirational star's longer term future down but Henry has been repeatedly linked with the new European champions and he has previously admitted that he is tempted by the idea of playing in Spain.
Laurent Blanc, Henry's former France team-mate, said that he feels the defeat in Paris makes it more likely the striker will stay where he is. He would, the national team's former skipper suggested, feel he has unfinished business with the Londoners after their failure to secure the European crown.
There is considerable doubt, however, as to whether Arsenal could expect to repeat their achievement even of reaching the Champions League final over the next couple of seasons.
True, their league form during the second half of the season as well as the string of inspired performances they produced in Europe certainly go a good way towards justifying Wenger's claim that the team is capable of moving forward. Ultimately, however, achieving fourth place in the league proved a major challenge for them while it might be argued both Real Madrid and Juventus fell hopelessly short of what would have been expected when they met the Londoners in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
If some progress remains to be made Wenger does at least appear to be in a strong position to strengthen his squad in several areas for next season. While Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp are set to depart neither represents a major loss at this stage and while Ashley Cole is also being strongly linked with a move to Spain, with Real his strongest suitors, he remains under contract leaving Arsenal in a position to demand a large fee from would-be purchasers.
Henry's position is more complex. Two years ago Chelsea were reported to be prepared to pay £50 million for his services but Arsenal would only get a fraction of that for him now.
The money, as it happens, appears not to be a burning issue for his employers. Wenger is believed to have more than £30 million to spend during the summer even as things stand while he has considerable room to manoeuvre on the wages front given that Pires, Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira, who left last summer, were between them earning more than £200,000 per week.
The question then could be whether Arsenal, with their new 60,000 seat stadium ready for occupation at the end of the summer, a string of new sponsors coming on board and a renewed sense of optimism regarding the ability of their current team to challenge Europe's best, might even decide, in the event that Henry opts not to sign a new deal, simply to let him see out the remaining 12 months on his current and write off his transfer value entirely.
The reality, after all, is that the club would not have come close to qualifying for the final this year without him and anything approaching a similar level of success next time around would more than compensate for the lost transfer fee.
Another consideration is that with Chelsea reportedly in the market for strikers as both Hernan Crespo and Didier Drogba pursue moves to Italy, and Manchester United almost certain to have one vacancy in that department, this may not be the most opportune time to end up in a bidding war for a proven marksman.
