Gilberto for Panathinaikos???

Invisible Wall, thats what all Arsenal fans better know Gilberto Silva by , as he truly has been one over the years for Arsenal.Reports emerging from Greece suggest that Gilberto has signed for the Greek outfit of Panathinaikos for £1 million on a 3 year contract.Rumors were going of his exit from Emirates since January of this year as he was unhappy with the number of league starts awarded by Wenger, were restricted to just 12.The transfer will bring to an end Gilberto’s Arsenal career which began in 2002 when the player signed from Atletico Madrid. He has enjoyed a successful spell in North London winning two FA Cups and one Premier League title with the club. Ken Friar, Arsenal’s acting managing director, confirmed the news. He is quoted as saying in The Sun:

“We have agreed to the transfer and signed the papers. It is now an official agreement.We had other offers but we respected Gilberto's desire to sign for Panathinaikos."

This will come as a shock if the moves go through to Arsene Wenger, who after already loosing Lassana Diarra to Portsmouth in January and Matthieu Flamini to Ac Millan for a free transfer are set to loose another of their holding midfielder.Gilberto's departure would be a major loss as he was 31 years old and was front-runner for captains armband last year after the shocking departure of Thierry Henry to Barcelona.He was seen as someone with experience that would balance out Wenger's youthful side.Personally I still believe that this is all bull shit and the deal wont go through .I personally regard Gilberto highly after what he has done for Arsenal is tremendous. He is the person who doesnt make noises and quietly goes about his business.However,for some reasons last season his performance dipped or should I say Flamini's performance peaked ahead of Gilberto's.Last season was quite difficult as per Gilberto's standards as he failed to make any impression on Wenger.Although he has a great professional attitude which has also been appreciated by Arsene.I think he would also wish to end his footballing career by playing football and that too for Arsenal. I can understand if he does wishes to move away for playing football coz after all, that is all what a footballer really wants to do in the end.I would be happy if he moves to Greece and not to any of our rivals in EPL. I was disheartened last year at the same time when Arsenal's long serving player Freddie Ljundberg decided t move for West Ham.Thats what happens in football, loyalties change quickly, though i still regard highly of Freddie.

Some reports suggest that we may be interested in Garreth Barry . There has been reports suggesting that we might whisk Barry right under the Liverpool boss's Rafa Benitez's nose.Now that is what I as an Arsenal fan would love to see happen. However we might have to part with quite a stack of cash as Martin 'O' Neil seems to be adamant of not letting go his captain of Aston Villa for anything less than £17 million after rejecting Liverpool's 4 bids.I think we desperately need a good qulaity CDM and especially if Gilberto's so called move materializes....Keep posting ur comments till then Go Arsenal Go.....