Ljungberg Leaves for West Ham

By: Bob | July 23rd, 2007

It is hard to remember a time when Arsenal did not have Thierry Henry or Freddie Ljungberg on their team. Ljungberg joined the Gunners in 1998. Henry became his teammate in 1999. In addition to seeing each posed in pictures in varying degree of undress since then, we all saw an Arsenal team that played an entertaining brand of football and had a lot of success.

On Monday Ljungberg joined Henry in the club of former Arsenal players. The Swedish winger has moved across London to play for West Ham, a club whose owner probably modeled underwear for Calvin Klein when he was younger too. West Ham have also added Julien Faubert, Scott Parker, Craig Bellamy and Richard Wright during the summer transfer season as they try to use Icelandic currency to build themselves into a contender.

Meanwhile, it is safe to say that an era at Arsenal has come to an end. Does this mean that one of the Big Four clubs will be a Big Four club no more? Ljungberg thinks that might be the case.

Admitting that the departure of Thierry Henry for Barcelona last month was the final straw for him, Ljungberg said: “Two years ago when I signed my last contract [at Arsenal] we talked a lot about the future and about bringing great players to the club. Despite building the new stadium we wanted to stay top in England and do well in Europe. For me that didn’t really happen.

“Other clubs came in for me last summer but I stayed because I wanted to stay loyal to Arsenal. But when Henry left this summer it felt like the end for me unfortunately. I felt like all the unbeaten players (from Arsenal’s Premiership-winning 2003-04 side) had left but me. I wanted to be loyal but I felt like it was the right time.”

It is hard to blame Ljunberg and Henry for leaving. They stayed at Arsenal longer than most players stay at one club these days. It also is hard to blame Arsenal for letting them go, at least in the case of Ljunberg whose skills have diminished and who has been injury prone the past couple of years.

For a neutral Premiership fan it is fascinating to see one of the big clubs struggling to stay on top. What do you think? Will Arsenal be able to maintain its place in the league or will we see other clubs pass them by and join Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool?