Invisiblewall.net: Gilberto Silva News

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Gilberto and Aliadiere to miss Liverpool game

Arsène Wenger has confirmed Gilberto and Jeremie Aliadiere will miss the trip to Liverpool on Saturday.

The Brazilian midfielder hurt his hip on international duty while the French striker picked up a foot injury in training. Apart from that, the Arsenal manager had only good news to report as his side return to Premiership action after a fortnight out.

The return of Emmanuel Eboue (ankle) and Gael Clichy (hamstring) means Wenger will have the luxury of fielding arguably his first choice back four — Eboue, Gallas, Toure, Clichy — for only the third time this season.

“Gilberto is out and so is Aliadiere for a kick on his foot,” he said. “I am pleased to have Eboue and Clichy back. It means I am capable to play with this back four. It means there is a lot of experience and a lot of creativity on the flanks. It is good to see them together again.”

Meanwhile Wenger expanded on the news that Robin van Persie would miss the rest of the season. The Dutch striker’s absence is not completely concrete but highly likely.

“We’ll see how he comes back,” said Wenger. “The earliest he could come back is the end of April/start of May. We are not involved in any competitions apart from the Premiership and they told me that the chance of a recurrence of a fracture on a metatarsal was bigger if the player was out for a shorter time. So if we are not desperate we will not take a gamble.”

Booo!

Gilberto was injured in Brazil`s game with Ghana. He faces a fitness test tomorrow (Friday) over whether he will be available to play against Liverpool on Saturday. He injured his hip.

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Gilberto says Juve are nice

“Juventus are a great club which appeals to me and wants to return to winning ways,” Gilberto told the Corriere Dello Sport. [However,] I have a contract until 2009, and Arsenal will decide [what happens].”

Gilberto’s agent (Paulo Villana) distanced Bert from the rumours: “Gilberto has a contract at Arsenal with two years remaining on it and he intends to honour that. That is the situation today, but in football, like in life, things can change very quickly.”

Wow, an agent who doesn’t want his client to move! Fantastic. Two more years of Bert at Arsenal, I look forward to them both.

Bert plays in Brazil game

Gilberto played 77 minutes in Brazil’s 4-0 win against Chile on Saturday night.

The game was played in Goteborg, Sweden, and Bert was subbed off for Dudu Cearense.

In the 16th minute, Gilberto was in Chile’s penalty area, and he was taken down by Alex von Schwedler. The ref gave a penalty, and Ronaldinho scored from the spot.

Gilberto will probably start in Brazil’s next game against Ghana on Tuesday. The game will be played in Stockholm. Good luck Bert!

Click here to read the full match report.

Ronaldinho celebrates with Gilberto (click image for enlargement)

Gilberto: We have all got to stick together now

Gilberto has called on his team-mates to stick together through this “hard and painful” period of the season.

The Brazilian has shouldered more responsibility than most as Arsenal try to recover from bowing out of three competitions in quick succession and then seeing their hopes of second place in the Premiership all but dashed at Goodison Park on Sunday. The 30-year-old has taken the captain’s arm-band and moved back from midfield to the centre of defence to lend his experience. He believes it has been a tough but necessary move.

“It’s been hard to adjust because it’s been a long time since I played there,” he said. “I’m happy to play in midfield rather than in defence but I spoke to Arsène and when he needs me, I’m glad to help.

“The situation we are in at the moment, everybody in the squad needs to co-operate with the manager. Kolo Toure played at right back against Everton, for instance.

“At this time we must stick together, especially after the hard weeks we have had. The last few days for us have been hard and painful.”

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From Arsenal.com

Gilberto – Anfield encounter will be decisive

Gilberto believes Arsenal’s trip to Anfield on March 31 will decide who takes third spot in the Premiership.

Arsène Wenger’s side were eyeing a late bid for second before Andy Johnson’s injury-time goal consigned them to defeat at Everton on Sunday.

After a break for internationals, Arsenal return to Merseyside to face fourth-place Liverpool. The Brazilian international believes it will be crucial in determining the winner of the mini-battle between the two sides.

“It can be decisive,” said Gilberto. “But we know when we play there it is always hard. We need to keep our shape and we need to put other things out of our minds. We can’t afford to miss our concentration like we have in a few important games.

“At times like this we must stick together. Especially after the hard weeks we have had before.

“We have an international break now but afterwards I hope we will be very focused because have to be ready for the run-in to qualify for the Champions League.”

From Arsenal.com

Arsène Wenger has slammed the door shut on the possibility of Gilberto moving to Juventus.

The story surfaced recently in the Italian press but was flatly denied when the Arsenal manager spoke at his usual Friday press conference.

“He is under contract, we have had no offer so the subject is closed,” said Wenger.

“Let him go to the end of his contract and then we will see. But we might well extend because he is an important player for us.

“To be honest I have never heard the story. In the Italian newspapers they talk about him, the German newspapers talk about Lehmann, the Spanish newspapers talk about Baptista and the Swedish papers talk about Ljungberg. I simply can not control all that.”

Sorry, Juve!

Rumours from Italy keep stirring. Apparently, Gilberto could be prised away from Arsenal for a few million pounds. Some say that Juventus will get Gilberto, while others suggest that it’s an anonymous bidder. It is likely that Wenger will be EXTREMELY reluctant to sell Gilberto. He’s arguably Arsenal’s most senior figure, and with Henry out injured for ages, it makes no sense for Arsenal to let Gilberto go.

Gilberto is contracted to Arsenal until 2009, and while I can’t personally say whether he wants to leave or not, he has said in the past that he wishes to see his career out with Arsenal. Plus, would Gilberto want to sign for the same team who bought Patrick Vieira then proceded to get beaten by Arsenal and get relegated to Série B? Doubtful indeed.

If Gilberto wants more money than he is currently earning at Arsenal, he may go. But knowing Gilberto, I would say that this is unlikely to happen. Every season at Arsenal is a “new challenge” for Gilberto, as he becomes more and more senior, taking on younger and younger players. He has settled into Arsenal, and so why would he want to move to Juventus for three years – just for a bit of extra cash? He is not that type of character.

I believe that Gilberto will not leave Arsenal this summer, or indeed any summer until 2009 when he will move back to Brazil.

According to this weird website: (link), Juventus have a sack load of cash, and want to sign Gilberto, along with a load of other players.

Me think not.

TeamTalk link

Gilberto has been called up to the Brazil squad for games on the 24th and 27th of March. Everyone is talking about how Dunga has left Adriano out of the squad. I’m not sure why this is though, since it’s only because he’s injured.

Anyway. Bert will travel to Sweden with the Brazil squad in 2 weeks time.

The Brazil squad goes like this:

Helton (Porto), Julio Cesar (Internazionale); Ilsinho (Sao Paulo), Daniel Alves (Sevilla), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Kleber (Santos), Alex (PSV Eindhoven), Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Luisao (Benfica); Diego (Werder Bremen), Dudu Cearense, Elano (Shakhtar Donetsk), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Josue (Sao Paulo), Kaka, Mineiro (Hertha Berlin), Ronaldinho (Barcelona); Fred (Lyon), Rafael Sobis (Real Betis), Robinho (Santos), Vagner Love.

The only other games Gilberto has left this season are Premiership games with Arsenal, after which he will have a big rest for the summer. Well deserved, I say.