Goodbye Gilberto + Arsecast 84

Morning all, another week over (nearly) and tomorrow sees our first pre-season friendly take place. Woo hoooo!

There's only one place to start this morning and that's the departure of Gilberto Silva, confirmed officially by the club yesterday. In stark contrast to the rather cutting remarks made by Arsene Wenger about Hleb's move the official website was full of good cheer towards the Brazilian, and so it should be. He's been a fantastic servant since he joined in the summer of 2002, been an integral part of title and trophy winning sides and, in an era when players are all too willing to throw a strop at the slightest little things, he's been a model professional in the face of some serious disappointments.

It really wasn't until he spent a long time out with a serious back injury that people realised what he brought to the side. Never the most dynamic or creative he had a natural defensive instinct and was always aware of where the team needed cover. If a centre-half went forward he automatically slotted into their position to cover. 

He had some landmark moments too. He scored on his debut against Liverpool in the Charity Shield, he scored what was then the fastest ever Champions League goal against PSV (despite giving the ball away, heh), and he scored our first goal at the new stadium as we drew 1-1 against Aston Villa on the opening day of the 2006-7 season. And that year was probably his finest as an Arsenal player. He led the team in the absence of Thierry Henry, scored a lot of goals and was, to my mind, our best player that year.

Last summer he went to the Copa America with Brazil and suffered for it. Most expected him to be made captain, Arsene went with William Gallas, a move which, in hindsight, turned out to be as poor a decision as the boss has ever made, in my opinion. Gilberto found himself on the bench as Flamini took his chance and kept his place in the side. But despite his obvious disappointment and hurt at the way things turned out he did nothing but keep his head down, work hard and give 100% for the club whenever needed. As a professional I sincerely hope that our younger players take their example from him rather than some of the other 'characters' in the squad. 

So he goes to Panathanaikos on a three year deal and I sincerely wish him all the best out there. He was a real professional and thoroughly decent man. Thanks for everything, Bert. You'll be remembered fondly.

His departure does leave a big hole in our midfield though but I suspect Gilberto's move was only sanctioned because the boss has something else lined up. As much as he might have high hopes for Denilson or Diaby there's no way we're going into next season with just those two, plus Cesc and possibly Song as back-up. I'm sure we'll make a signing for central midfield, I think it will be an experienced player and I suspect it'll probably be from an English side. There's talk of Barry or Xabi Alonso but who knows? There's definitely someone coming though.

Not much else to tell you about really. Barnet tomorrow should be good if only for the fact it's Arsenal and it's football.

If you can't get to Barnet and you fancy an Arsenal fix the London Masters is on at Wembley Arena. Ray Parlour leads the Arsenal side which also includes Steve Morrow and Vince Bartram, amongst others. Details here.

Right then, onto the Arsecast and this week I'm joined by Gilberto. Not Silva, but Silver from Gunnerblog, there's a player history with the Man in the Bar, a tale of the unexpected and I explain why there's no home shirt to give away in the competition.

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, the direct feed URL is here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Enjoy, see you tomorrow.