After watching his side see off Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium yesterday, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was ready to face the media to discuss the 2-0 victory, and it was clear what was on most of the reporters agenda’s, as they wanted to get to the bottom of the Kim Kallstrom saga.
The Gunners signed the Swedish international on Friday and on Saturday morning, reports broke suggesting that the 31-year-old picked up an injury in training and was likely to miss up to five games.
So when it came to Wenger’s interview after their match on Sunday, the Kallstrom situation was brought up, and this is what Wenger had to say on the whole case as he seemed adamant on drawing a line under the saga.
“It crossed my mind to not do the deal,” said Wenger.
“I wouldn’t have signed him if we had another two or three days, but it was on Friday at 5pm [that we found out].”
“We need to establish the real truth,” added Wenger. “He arrived and had fallen on his back two days before. We found out he had a micro-fracture of the vertebrae, and we have all played with micro-fractures.”
“We accepted to share the costs,” said Wenger. “It’s very difficult to identify a player that can come here for a free loan.
“We identified he would be injured for four to six weeks, so they will pay him for the first six weeks of his wages. There’s a possibility he will not play, but also a possibility he will score a vital winning goal.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
