Wenger has a point to prove after turbulent close-season

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — For a manager who has amassed silverware with the same nonchalant ease as if he were collecting stamps, Arsene Wenger still has a point to prove on the eve of his 13th season in English football.

The Arsenal manager has endured a turbulent close-season, losing two of his most impressive performers from last year -- the midfielders Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb -- as well as two of his most experienced in Gilberto and Jens Lehmann.

There have been mutinous mutterings from Emmanuel Adebayor, the club's leading goalscorer from last term who had been agitating for a move to AC Milan or Barcelona.

With new signings also thin on the ground -- Samir Nasri, the French winger, is the highest profile arrival having joined from Marseille -- Wenger...