How will Hleb leave Arsenal
The Flamini saga being over has left the depature of Alexander Hleb the next issue to sort out in the Arsenal. His agent has been quoted in various papers saying,
“He is leaving Arsenal even though they want to offer him a new long-term contract and better conditions,” adding “Only time will tell if leaving is the right decision, but there’s no way back now. Everything will be cleared up in the next two weeks.”
None of us can claim to be particularly surprised at that. In fact I would go as far as saying that it would be much easier to replace Hleb than it will be to replace Flamini. The question now is will we get a transfer fee or will he leave on a “Webster”.
The general consensus is that Hleb will simply buy of the remainder of his contract and run off to Milan, but looking closely it is simply not so. Wenger is entirely right when he says that it is not so easy to invoke the Webster clause.
First of all if Hleb were to invoke the so-called “Webster clause” he would have had to give Arsenal notice on or before the 26th of March. That is at least 15 days before the last game of the season. Not having done that will not prevent him from leaving, but he will be liable for sanctions of suspension for 4 to 6 months.
Secondly Milan can find themselves in a bit of bother if they really did have a meeting with Hleb. There is provision for the inducement of a player to breach contract as follows,
Inducement to breach a contract is also liable to sanctions during the protected period. A club that induces a player to breach his contract risks being prohibited from registering new players, either domestically or internationally, for two registration periods following the contractual breach. Furthermore, sanctions may also be imposed on any person falling under the jurisdiction of the FIFA Statutes and regulations 85 who is involved in a breach of contract.
Another hurdle for Hleb is that compensation will have to be based on English contract law, the parties will have to go to an arbitration panel. Compensation does not only take into consideration the players salary, but also the value of the contract offered and the amount paid by Arsenal to Suttgart.
So before we take press reports about the Webster clause for granted look closely at the facts. My view is Hleb will leave but we will get more than just his final 2 years salary as compensation. What do you think?
