Denilson has confirmed that his former club and his parent club have been unable to agree on a deal to extend his loan, so he will be returning to London on 30th June.
This will mean that our much-maligned Brazilian will arrive at Arsenal in time for the start of the transfer window, where we can expect him to be sold. He currently earns around £50,000 per week according to the leaked wage bill, putting him on a salary that would put off many mid-table Spanish teams – which is where he is rumoured to go.
It seems a possibility that Arsenal will take a lower transfer fee in order to get Denilson off the wage bill. I’d certainly take low transfer fees for a group of players who are earning wages far above what they deserve – Almunia, Squillaci, Vela, Park, Bendtner etc.
Denilson has said the following about his pending return:
“I will stay at Sao Paulo until June 30. Then I will return to Arsenal.
“This season, I had more assists, I secured a place in the starting team and I had good matches. I also had a good run of matches and I have not been sent off.
“I would like to stay more six more months, but this decision was made by Arsenal, with whom I have a contract.
“I will not be unhappy in London, because I am returning to one of the biggest clubs in the world.”
His statement is rather amusing, for several reasons. Firstly, he cites that he has had a good run of matches, but of course that occurred after his dreadful start in Brazil. He got sent off twice in his first three matches, and had Twitter arguments with Sao Paulo fans. This lead to some fans calling for Denilson never to play for Sao Paulo again. He has also received 9 yellow cards in his short time there.
He talks about his assists, but as you can see here, he has managed just two assists in his 28 matches for the club (and no goals). He was actually better at Arsenal in 2009/10, when he managed 5 goals and 1 assist in 26 appearances and no red cards!
I can only hope that Denilson’s return doesn’t mean he will be in the squad for next season. We have a wealth of talent in midfield, and the Brazilian is quite simply not good enough.