Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn reckons Arsene Wenger would be interested in signing Joey Barton, but only if the Frenchman could control the midfielder’s off field behaviour.
Despite having a year left on his current contract, Barton is available on a free transfer after upsetting the Newcastle board with his controversial comments on Twitter in recent weeks.
Yet despite his unprofessional behaviour, Winterburn believes a number of Premier League clubs would be interested in the player’s signature, including Arsenal.
The former Gunner told talkSPORT’s Goldstein and Gould:
‘He’s the type of player that, on a free transfer, a lot of clubs in the Premier League will be looking at.’
‘You’ve got to weigh up with Joey Barton whether you can control his temperament, more off the pitch than anything else.’
‘I think you know that he’s got that competitive edge on the pitch and occasionally it’s going to let him down and it has done before. He’s tried to control that, but from Arsene Wenger’s point of view he would need to think that he could control him off the pitch.’
He added:
‘You can’t have anyone disruptive around the training ground. It’s ok to have an opinion as a player as long as it’s constructive but not if it’s malicious, so Arsene Wenger would need to weigh that up.’
To be fair, a player like Barton is needed at Arsenal. Someone to get stuck in and fight for the ball. Someone to inspire others on the pitch when their heads are down. Someone to show some desire in the middle of the park, some combativeness. Ok, we have Wilshere doing this at present, but he is still young and, let’s face it, he can’t do it alone.
I do rate Joey on the field, but his attitude outside the game stinks, this is the only reason why I am sceptical of Arsenal signing him, but perhaps Wenger could sort this out, I don’t know.
If the Frenchman believes he can accomplish this, then I say go for him, after all, he would cost nothing and is a fighter, something that we lack at our club.
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In short, we are tired of writing comments because after all comments made nothing still happens so there is no need for writing comments. All blame should be on Mr. Arsene Wenger who publicly said that he is going to be busy this summer and now, busy doing nothing. I just pray and hope that Arsenal don’t disappoint us or……
i agree with u absolutely,he will be a good addition to the team but …his temperament, if not checked could destory the team.
Hmmmm, the usual rehash of news that was said weeks before. It seems that the authors on Gunnersphere only pool over other blogs and copy the stuff there almost verbatim. I’m trying to think of one solitary original article. I’ve said this before on other blogs and like this one will in time, they died. One of them has changed its name for the 3rd time and that really shows the integrity of the Blog owner. That one even has other authors on it now, that’s how disinterested Pat is these days to work on making the blog anyhing of merit. Gunnersphere’s worst thing is how often it just seems to make up rubbish without a shred of credible evidence or any mention of a source. A blog can’t hold onto subscribers with shoddy reporting like that. The readers are adults and because of the frustrating events at Arsenal at the moment, they’ll not have the patience with Gunnersphere.
Nobody gives 2 drops off monkey piss what you think about the site, if you hate it so much and think it’s full of garbage, then why do you bother to spend your time writing up a comment? Moron.
As for it pooling over other blogs, all blogs do this, hence why there are hundreds of them on the net. Your comment is pointless to this article and is not needed.
As for the article, I think Barton would make a good addition to our squad, and would be a freebie which is great.
Need someone to fight for the ball in the middle of the park.
Nobody gives 2 drops of monkey piss what you think about my comment regarding this site. As for pooling over other blogs, that’s not what ALL blogs do. There are quality nes like “Untold Arsenal” which don’t need to.
As for Barton, like I’ve said in several comments in various bloggs – I want him at Arsenal too. Unlike you, I gave reasons for this because I spend less time being a knob and worrying about what other readers are writing.
erm…I gave my reason’s why Barton would be a good addition to Arsenal – ‘would be a freebie which is great. Need someone to fight for the ball in the middle of the park.’ – so open your eyes you twat.
If you like to read stuff from ‘untold Arsenal’ why do you bother coming on here and running your mouth like you’re someone big?
Oh, and I like to comment on this site, hence why I reply to other perople’s comments, yours being pointless from the get go.
I THINK BARTON WOULD BE PERFECT FOR ARSENAL,GO GET HIM ARSENE,DON’T DILLY DALLY OR SOMEONE WILL BEAT YOU TO IT.
I WOULD WELCOME BARTON TO ARSENAL!
AFTER ALL… OUR TEAM IS NOT FEARED ENOUGH..
AND WITH HIM AROUND I BET OUR OPPONENTS WOULD GIVE US MORE CREDIBILITY AND MORE RESPECT…
OTHERWISE JOEY WOULD BARTONED THEM LOL
HAVE A GOOD DAY OR EVENING
One of our greatest ever midfielders was Vieira and he had a worse disciplinary record than Barton when he was at his peak. Roy Keane was hated by opponents but ask any United fan what they think of him and you won’t find many who would criticise him. One criticism that could be levelled at Arsenal players is that they tend to relax or lose concentration too much at crucial times. What you get with players like Vieira, Adams, Keane, Gerrard, Gallas, Terry, Rooney and Barton is someone who will not let his teammates relax, who will be at them constantly to ensure that they are up for the fight. That’s what we need at Arsenal more than anything. Arsene is an excellent physchologist as you need to be when dealing with a young squad and i’d bet on him to get the best out of Barton. I don’t know how the rest of the squad would react but a friendly, happy squad will only get you so far and to be successful you need someone who cares more about winning than getting along with his teammates.
No we dont need dis guy he is gone cost as lot like he did to qpr 8 much band images for arsenal I don’t believe I dis player