Ian Adams is State of the Game’s new Arsenal columnist

If anyone had told me after the final whistle on “that night” last season in Paris that getting beaten in the Champion’s League final would be the best thing that could have happened to Arsenal Football Club then I probably would have lamped them one.

No defeat in any previous season compared to the heartache we felt after Barcelona’s comeback but looking at it now, and especially after last night’s performance against Porto, I think I’m ready to say that last season was just the final part of the European learning curve for Arsenal and this season we are ready to claim what should have been rightfully ours so many times over the past ten years - the Champion’s League.

It might have taken a last day stroll past the Spuds to get into the qualifying rounds this time but did anyone really doubt that we’d get there especially past the lasagne eaters and bottlers from down the road and with hindsight I think it was meant to be like that. We broke the Spuds hearts just like Barcelona broke ours and now as we power through clubs who have won the European Cup in the past few years they are struggling against the second best team from Prague in the UEFA Cup. “Big club”? Yeah right.

Big clubs sign players like William Gallas who has been immense for us since we stole him from Chelski. Big clubs have players like Thierry Henry who is never afraid to stand up and be counted when it really matters and big clubs play on the biggest footballing stages that the world has to offer. Comparing Arsenal to Spurs these days is as useless as comparing Arsenal to Accrington Stanley. At least Accrington Stanley can put the ball in the net occasionally.

This is Arsenal’s year for European glory, Henry has got his 50th European goal now and we look unstoppable. Watch out Europe, the big boys are in town.

Only 4 games into the new season and the first major crunch point is just around the corner. Reigning champions Chelsea face off against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, while Manchester United entertain Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Chelsea v Liverpool ? 1330 British Standard Time
Jose and Rafa will have to put their hand-shaking feud behind them when they kick off Sunday, at 1330. Rafael Benitez will be looking to get a good result against a star studded Chelsea team, after losing to them twice in the league last season.

Jose Mourinho is also out for revenge having suffered defeat in the Community Shield and FA Cup finals, losing 2-1 on both occasions. Joe Cole is still out for the blues after he renewed his knee injury in the Champions League game versus Werder Bremen. On the other hand Arjen Robben returns to the squad following his calf injury.

Liverpool?s John Arne Riise being out injured is the only definite thing about the line-up. Benitez has different options all over the pitch especially his front men with such strikers as Kuyt, Crouch, Bellamy or Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler.

Expect a feisty game, Chelsea?s exceptional home form under Mourinho should give them the edge, but with Liverpool you never know.
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Chelsea and Champions League holders Barcelona will renew their rivalry after they were drawn together in the first phase of this year’s competition. The two sides, who have now been paired for the third time in three years, also face Werder Bremen and Levski Sofia.

Manchester United will meet Celtic in Group F with Benfica and FC Copenhagen.

Last year’s finalists Arsenal take on Porto, CSKA Moscow and Hamburg while Liverpool face PSV Eindhoven, Bordeaux and Galatasaray.

British teams in bold and the top seeds in CAPITALS.
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It’s hard to believe that the recently finished World Cup was Jens Lehmann’s first as the undisputed number one of the German national team and even more so when you consider that the Arsenal man is now well into his veteran years at the age of 36. Of course the fact that his main competition for most of his professional career has been former German captain Oliver Kahn puts something more of an understandable spin on things but with Kahn now seemingly out of contention, Lehmann has set his sights on Euro 2008 as his career swansong.

With only one year left on his contract at Arsenal and having expressed a desire to play for one season in Germany before he retires it may be an early hint to Arsene Wenger to keep his eyes peeled for goalkeeping reinforcements for next season. Lehmann may be many things (completely bonkers being the primary one) be he seems to plot his own course through his career and if he says he’ll be back in Germany for a season before retiring after the European Championships in two years time then Arsene had better believe him. I can’t see too many “will he, won’t he” situations previously favoured by the Arsenal French contingent of Patrick Vieira (before the decision was taken out his hands last summer) and, lately, Thierry Henry.
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It looks like even Chelsea’s never ending bank balance has a limit when it comes to buying players from one of their biggest rivals as they’ve told Arsenal that they will not be going above their current ?16m bid for outcast Ashley Cole. This may cause some problems for all concerned as Arsenal are demanding that Chelsea match their previous outlays on English players and stump up around ?25m to take the England left back off their hands.

Problems indeed. Arsenal don’t want a moody player on their hands causing trouble in the ranks as he doesn’t want to be there, Ashley Cole obviously doesn’t want to be there and really seems to fancy the big payday of a move to the Russian firm and Chelsea have to make a stand on transfer fees that they pay out to their rivals as they don’t want to pay too much and then see Arsenal use the money to strengthen and hurt their own prospects.

Who blinks first? Arsenal have threatened to field Cole in their Champion’s League match against Dinamo Zagreb in a fortnight if Chelsea don’t cough up thereby making him ineligible for any other club if he does move after that. Chelsea have told them that they won’t be held to ransom for their previous transfer exuberance and as the only bidders for the player feel they are offering a reasonable deal.

It’s certainly an interesting one and we’ll get to see just who has the most bottle as it unfolds. Either way it’s not going to help the relationship between the two clubs as Chelsea find yet another Premiership foe to line up off the pitch againstand Arsenal find that even at the top of the food chain there is always someone bigger ready to try and gobble you up.

So Arsene Wenger has got a sense of humour after all it seems as his jibe in the title of this piece about Sol Campbell’s proposed move to the English South Coast as opposed to the foreign league he previously talked about shows. Maybe it’s just been a tough week for Arsene with his continued standoff with the now universally reviled Cashley Cole and the prospect of a European upset tonight in their Champion’s League qualifier against Dinamo Zagreb.

Wenger does have a point concerning Campbell though and maybe he’s finding out himself just how duplicitous and money hungry his former turncoat centre back really is. News is even reaching us this morning that after completing a medical at Portsmouth yesterday Campbell may yet decide to move to Manchester City as Stuart Pearce has entered the race (now a two man race obviously) to sign the former England defender and has obviously been able to stump up a larger stipend than Harry and his own Russian down at Portsmouth. Unsurprisingly this may turn Campbell’s head again.

The main points of this issue are Sol Campbell’s grandiose ideas of his own value and self worth and another example of the man’s unerring mission to bring himself the largest possible share of the purse regardless of his previously spoken words or vows. Sol Campbell was quoted as saying when he left Arsenal that he wanted “to go to the continent and make a major statement in a foreign league too.” Rumoured interest from Fenerbahce seems to have been clever marketing from his agent Sky Andrew and with no interest from across the water Campbell looks to have been foiled in his European adventure plans.

Foiled or over ambitious? Maybe there has been interest but listneing to Campbell you would imagine that he would feel only a club such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Inter Milan would be of a suitbale standard for him. It must be some comedown to be choosing between Portsmouth or Manchester City with both clubs unlikely to trouble the top half of the table all season never mind challenge for a European spot.

It looks like Sol has found his new home. Only the amount of money on the table will allow him to decide which of Fratton Park or the City of Manchester Stadium it is.

Nothing like the most blatant of come and get me pleas from Jose Antonio Reyes to really get his unofficial transfer request the most publicity without actually breaching his contract but can any rightminded football fan not be disgusted by the actions of a player who so blatantly pimps themselves to another club with the season only a matter of days from starting?

Reyes has had this to say in Spanish newspaper Marca:

“I don’t know anything but the days are going by and I am not going to deny I am a little worried by the rumours.

“I know I am wanted (at Arsenal) and that the fans are behind me but I am not adapting to this life.

“I am missing Spain and I have a unique chance to come back with Real Madrid. Everyone must understand I can’t let this chance pass by. Madrid are unique.”

“The boss (Arsene Wenger) has said nothing to me and I don’t know if I will play or not,” said the former Sevilla favourite.

“I hope everything is sorted out before. It’s obvious if I play (for Arsenal) in the Champions League the signing for Madrid will become quite complicated.

“But if I have to play I will.”

Now I understand homesickness and failing to settle in a foreign country can play havoc with anyone?s mind and their professionalism but to openly court the biggest club in your homeland as being your only saviours really highlights exactly what?s on Reyes mind. He wants the big move to the most high profile of high profile clubs and he isn?t afraid to use a little mind games and the press to achieve. Player power has gone mad and when last season?s Champion?s League finallists are suffering from it on two fronts, with Ashley Cole and Reyes, maybe it?s time UEFA and FIFA looked at some way to redistribute the power in the modern game.

The clubs are being messed around, the fans are being messed around and some opportunistic young men are making a mockery of the game we all hold so dear. I don?t want to hear about the old arguments about being offered more money for a cushier job as if they are civil servants or office workers or City bankers, these guys are professional footballers and whether the European Union employment legislation views them the same as every other worker or not, football is a unique kind of industry and working environment and it needs protection, not the blanket freedom for players to hold clubs to ransom whenever they feel like it.

Arsenal?s defensive troubles look to be growing after Chelsea finally made their move for Ashley Cole, a whole year after the tapping up affair they were found guilty of beginning to unsettle the player.

While Arsenal have turned down the initial 16 million pound from the west Londoners, they are expected to agree a fee somewhere in the middle of the 16 million offered and the 25 million they will demand and finally bring an end to the most drawn out transfer process in recent English football history.

It has been no secret amongst footballing circles that Ashley Cole had a clause injected into his contract last summer after the initial clandestine meetings with Chelsea and that after another year playing for Arsenal that clause could help spring the left back and free him to make the move he desires.

Seeing as Cole missed the greater part of last season with injury and just made it back in time to join up with England?s doomed World Cup party (coincidence?) the extra season for Arsenal hasn?t made much difference and the club now look to finally rid themselves of the wantaway England star.

Following hot on the heels of Sol Campbell?s departure and Phillipe Senderos?s injury problems it leaves Arsene Wenger desperately short of defensive cover and the Cole transfer fee will only go someway to filling the gaps in the defence of last season?s Champion?s League finallists.

Arsenal’s pre season plans have been left in disarray with the news that centreback Phillipe Senderos will most likely miss the first two months of the season recovering from the dislocated shoulder he suffered while on World Cup duty with Switzerland.

With Sol Campbell having already left Highbury / Ashburton Grove this summer the Gunners were already looking a little light on centre back support and with Arsene Wenger confirming that both Johan Djourou and Gael Clichy have been struggling with injuries as well, things are looking decidedly grim as the new season approaches.

The expected departure of error-prone Frenchman Pascal Cygan looks to now being delayed as he could in fact find himself as a starting member of the Arsenal side alongside Kolo Toure at the heart of the Arsenal defence. With Arsenal’s transfer budget mostly spent on Czech playmaker Tomas Rosicky, Arsene Wenger now has a worrying wait to see just how many fit bodies he has to fill the gaps in his defence until Senderos returns.

We all said last summer that things didn’t seem quite right at Arsenal with Ashley Cole after the whole Chelsea/tapping up furore and with Cole’s autobiography about to be published it looks like we’re about to see the England fullback finally have his say.

For a promotional teaser from a footballer’s autobiography, it looks like interesting reading:

“Arsenal hung me out to dry, using me as a scapegoat to get back at Chelsea,” he is quoted in The Sun as saying.

“The board ‘rewarded’ me with an insult and threw years of loyalty back in my face.

“I’ll reveal the shattering truth about who fed me to the sharks. It changed my view forever on the club I regarded as family.”

Seeing as Ashley Cole is still an Arsenal player (although for how long?) it’s astounding that he will burn his bridges so publically in a book while still having the cheek to pocket his sizeable paycheck every week.

The rumours of a Chelsea move have been growing all summer and with the lacklustre Del Horno and Bridge currently occupying the Russian left back berth, we won’t be too surprised to see Cole go. One thing looks certain however and it’s the fact that I don’t believe we’ll see too many copies of Ashley Cole’s autobiography floating around the new club shop at Ashburton Grove this season.