Ian Henry
13th January
Wellington loaned out to Spanish side Levante
“Arsenal Football Club has agreed to loan striker Wellington to Levante.
The 18-year-old Brazilian will join the Spanish side immediately and stay for the rest of the season. Wellington joined Arsenal from Fluminese.
Arsenal has established a long-term strategy for identifying the best talent from around the world.
This process has worked well in the past with players such as Carlos Vela.
The Club is confident it is the best approach for developing Wellington’s potential.”
I can exclusively reveal that the first version of this press announcement read as follows, before editing…
“Arsenal Football Club has had to loan striker Wellington to Levante because it couldn’t get a work permit when we assumed it would have gone through on the nod. After all, we had got exceptional talent permits for Denilson and Song and as we all know they have been instant successes; so as Wellington is the real deal, we assumed we would get the work permit immediately, no questions asked, and he would have been playing already, scoring loads of goals. Arsenal has established a long-term strategy for identifying the best talent from around the world. Having identified the best young players, we then pay significant sums of money for players like Nordveit, Botelho and Galindo, before sending them out on loan where they get forgotten about. When we have realised that they aren’t as good as we thought they were, we let them go on a free – as is the case with Nordveit – because we are a kind and thoughtful club who think it is better to let a club in the German Bundesliga have a player for free than to ask for a fee.
This process of indentifying the best talent in the world and then loaning the players out to gain experience has worked well in the past with players such as Carlos Vela who has lit up the footballing stage this season with a string of outstanding performances, especially those against Leeds and Ipswich in which he dominated the opposition defences and helped the club achieve outstanding victories. The Club is confident it has identified the best approach for developing Wellington’s potential to be given a free transfer in 2013.”
