Talk of Henry move hots up

Soccer News:Thierry Henry is set to quit Arsenal for Barcelona, according to reports in France this morning, but there was a furious denial from the striker's agent, Jerome Anderson, yesterday.

Anderson, whose SEM Group agency represents Henry, is named in today's edition of France Football as having been involved in a meeting in the south of France last week with Barcelona's sporting director, Txiki Begiristain. The article reports that meeting as having been set up with a view to Henry moving to Barcelona in a potential €30 million deal.

However, when informed of the reports yesterday, Anderson said he would be taking legal advice on the issue.

"It's an absolutely scandalous article," he said. "I have never had a meeting with the gentleman concerned at Barcelona. Nor have I ever discussed the possibility of a transfer."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger would not comment other than to say he did not believe reports of the meeting could be true.

Nevertheless, France Football is a highly respected publication whose correspondent, Paco Aguilar, is trusted by the Camp Nou hierarchy.

The emergence of the report this morning therefore suggests Barcelona will employ whatever tactic might be required to maintain pressure on Henry. The Arsenal captain was heavily courted by Barcelona a year ago but extended his contract to 2010.

Since then the departure from Arsenal of the former vice-chairman David Dein is known to have upset Henry, who is close enough to Dein's lawyer son Darren for the latter to have been best man at his wedding.

France Football claims Dein's daughter, Sasha, who has lived and worked in Barcelona, has worked as an intermediary between Henry and the Catalan club.

The article says that Henry would receive an annual salary of €10 million, "about 40 per cent above his pay in London", over a three-year contract that would have an additional year's option attached.

It says friends and team-mates of Henry - namely Emmanuel Adebayor, Villarreal's Robert Pires and Barcelona's Ludovic Giuly - have been talking increasingly openly about the likelihood of him moving to Camp Nou.

Adebayor and other Arsenal team-mates were not available for comment yesterday.

The Liverpool co-owner, George Gillett, has moved to allay any fears that the lack of transfer activity at the club to date this summer is generating a schism between the hierarchy and manager Rafael Benitez, though he warned that he and Tom Hicks would not be "spending like a drunken sailor" in the weeks ahead.

The Merseysiders have tied down six key personnel at the club to new long-term deals but, despite signing five squad or promising young players, have yet to demonstrate any real clout in the market.

Benitez was at pains in the wake of the defeat to Milan in the European Cup final last month to suggest that major signings would be needed if the club were to continue developing, with the lack of movement so far prompting some concern.

"I read that Rafa (Benitez) is throwing hand grenades at us and making demands, that there's a tension or disagreement between him and the Gillett and Hicks families," said Gillett.

"Nothing could be farther from the truth. As far back as February, Rafa laid out a programme for us. Each one of our sports businesses has a core concept. You can't just flop around looking at opportunities here and there, go left, go right.

"It has to be part of an integrated plan. We have one at Liverpool, as we have with the (Montreal) Canadiens, one we understand 100 per cent, believe in and support. The plan involves us spending money, but it will be part of a plan, not just spending like a drunken sailor. Ice hockey and soccer are all about teamwork, and Rafa believes in that very strongly. It's the same in almost all of life - it's about partnership, teamwork and communication. It's not all about money."