English FA Premiership: Kevin McCarra on why the head-hunting of Spurs' sporting director Frank Arnesen by Chelsea came as a complete surprise
Once the transfer window closes a door will open for Frank Arnesen. Released from his gardening leave with Spurs, he can start work at Chelsea on Thursday. With so many players away on international service he will find the corridors depopulated at Cobham, an odd feeling for a person who has always known how to cause overcrowding in a training camp.
As sporting director of Spurs, he brought 27 footballers on to the books in just over a year. With recruitment on that scale it is unavoidable that Arnesen should, in effect, be introducing replacements for men he bought as recently as the summer of 2004. The process has been hectic, but an unbeaten opening to this campaign gives it cogency so far as the fans are concerned. Spurs themselves argued vehemently for Arnesen's worth to wring £5 million in compensation out of Chelsea. The sum should be large enough to drain ill-will from the game between the clubs today.
At that price, the Premiership champions' determination to employ the Dane is beyond dispute, but their need of him is open to question. An immense pay rise is coupled, after all, with an apparent demotion, since the description of him as head of scouting and youth development lacks the ring of eminence. Chelsea's move for him was unexpected.
The bulk purchase behaviour at White Hart Lane will certainly not be appropriate in West London. Only fine tuning to an outstanding squad will be called for and Jose Mourinho, in any case, has made it clear he prefers to work with a tightly defined group so that there are no disaffected footballers sulking on the margins. Unlike Spurs, too, the scope is limited for newcomers who require time and patience in which to develop.
Arnesen's relationship with Mourinho will provoke conjecture. A truly outstanding manager would never expect to be answerable to anyone other than the owner of the club. As soon as Guus Hiddink had built his power base at PSV in his present stint, the technical director was gently invited to look for a new post elsewhere, despite the fact that Arnesen had been involved in the running of the Dutch club since becoming Bobby Robson's assistant in 1991.
Hiddink wanted rid of a person Chelsea yearn to install.
Martin Jol, who was brought to Spurs by Arnesen, does not appear eager for anyone to take over all the sporting director's duties at White Hart Lane. When asked about filling the vacancy, Jol replied, "If we bump into the right person we will do that, but it is not a main priority for me. Maybe for the board, but not for me." The Dutchman then declared his faith in the kind of structure that included Arnesen, but he probably wishes to retain a greater influence over signings in future.
Arnesen's record should be respected all the same. He can be reproached for his mistakes, but any man who labours in the transfer market for long will blunder. The critics can be cowed by a recitation of the coups that more than compensate for any follies. In addition to the likes of Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben, he brought Romario and Ronaldo to PSV.
Arnesen's network of scouts and informers is far-reaching and productive. In Brazil, Eindhoven is established as the starting point for any would-be star who aims to conquer European football. PSV have therefore had remarkable service from such players and a heady profit when the moment comes for them to move to, say, Spain.
As Chelsea know, however, Arnesen's expertise in this area is of no avail in England, where work permits are hard to obtain. He himself stated as much while explaining that the Brazilian teenager Rodrigo Defendi had only been available to Spurs because he had an Italian grandfather. "I couldn't get a Ronaldo for Tottenham, not unless he had an EU passport," said Arnesen.
Unless Chelsea can bring about an improbable transformation to the British system, employment restrictions will remain that cannot be broken even by a man of Roman Abramovich's influence. The disadvantage to football in Britain is genuine, and clubs will wince at the ease with which people in Eindhoven talk of Hiddink's connections in Asia being utilised instead of Arnesen's in South America. Neither tract of the football world is of much interest to members of the Premiership unless they can target an international who has played in three-quarters of his country's competitive matches in the past two years.
Chelsea understand all this very well. They must envisage Arnesen exploring the hidden corners of Europe. Mourinho himself, who dislikes reminders of the huge sums he has expended, was pleased to raid Le Havre for the 20-year-old Lassana Diarra, who can be depicted as a candidate to replace Claude Makelele.
Arnesen will try to act in the same way and concentrate on scouring Europe for the young talents, such as Cesc Fabregas, that Arsenal have excelled in identifying. The trouble is that every major club has noted the Highbury policy and made plans to muscle into the same market.
The duties Arnesen will assume are far narrower than they were at PSV or Spurs, and there is an ever-present risk that he will be the casualty of a dispute with Mourinho. Still, if the worst comes to the worst, Arnesen knows it will be as lucrative to be paid off as it is to be employed by Chelsea.
Mourinho sets Lampard up for record
Jose Mourinho revealed he has not rested Frank Lampard, who plays his 150th consecutive Premiership game at Tottenham today, because he wants the Chelsea midfielder to surpass the record for successive Premiership appearances.
David James is the current record-holder, having played 159 games in a row for Aston Villa and West Ham in the late 90s, but Lampard is on course to equal the achievement when Chelsea play Newcastle at Stamford Bridge on November 19th.
"I don't want to break the record just to give him a rest," said the Chelsea manager. "Sometimes you are tired from the physical point of view but if you have a fresh mind and fresh heart it doesn't matter."
He thinks Lampard can easily persevere until James's record is broken. "When you work with him and you see the person he is and the professional he is and the ambition he has and the way he works, you realise that he has still space for improvement. He's a fantastic character. He's also a leader in the group. He has a lot of discipline. He never gets a yellow card or if he does get a yellow card it is once in every three months.
