Gilberto - I am staying here to fight for my place

DouJ85

Gilberto has confirmed his commitment to Arsenal and has scotched suggestions he refused to play for the Club as a centre back.

The Brazilian operated in his usual midfield role as Arsène Wenger’s side brought back a deserved yet dour point back from Slavia Prague. It was a relatively rare starting berth as Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini have been keeping him out of side for most of the current campaign.

Last week, media reports suggested the 31-year-old was unhappy with his situation, had told his manager he would not play at the heart of the defence and was considering quitting Arsenal after five great years in north London. Judging by his words in the Czech capital they were well wide of the mark.

“It's not true,” he said. “If I have said something to Arsène it would never come out in the papers. I would go to him and speak to him face-to-face; we have great respect for each other.

“The only thing I can say is this is not true. Everyone knows I'm not 100 per cent happy to be on the bench, that's normal. But I'm being professional and doing my job. I respect everybody in the squad, I respect him and I respect his decision. It's the only thing I can do.

“I am not thinking about leaving now. I've said that I'm happy at the Club. Of course my situation is not very comfortable on the bench. But I'm still not thinking about leaving the Club. I prefer to think that I have the condition to get back in the team. I will do my job, do my best to achieve that. This is what I have in mind.”

In fact, the Brazilian would contemplate renewing his deal when it runs out in 18 months’ time.

“I don't know,” he said “That's not just down to me. It would be great if I could extend my contract with the Club and finish my career here. But I need to see if the Club has the same feeling and it wants the same thing as I want.”

For now, Gilberto is ‘digging in’ and waiting for his chance. The former Atletico Mineiro man is one of the few players still remaining from the “Invincibles” side of 2004, that experience will surely be called upon later this season if Arsenal turn out to be serious title contenders.

“Everybody knows January is very hard,” he said. “But it is important for us to maintain the way we are playing. It doesn't matter who plays. If we go on in the competition maybe we will face some problems like we faced in the last few seasons, where there are people injured or suspended. And the players who come in must play at the same level as the team is playing at the moment.”

jacksonkua

GILBERTO拥有丰富的经验。

ARSENAL需要他的效力来为年轻枪手＂指点＂。

bernardlhtan

　　【官方网】2007年11月8日 Richard Clarke 报道
　　吉尔伯托声明了他在阿森纳的义务，并否认了关于他拒绝为俱乐部打中后卫的谣言。
　　巴西人打了自己习惯的中场，从斯拉维亚带回了关键的一分，在法布雷加斯和费拉米尼将他挤出主力阵容缺席了最近大多数比赛后这是一次难得的机会。
　　上周末媒体报道31岁的球员对自己的处境不满，并告诉自己的主教练他不会打中后卫，在北伦敦度过了5年后他想离开阿森纳。从他在捷克首都的言语判断他们之间毫无关联。
　　“那不是真的”他说，“如果我和阿瑟说过什么，那些不会出现在报纸上，我会和他面对面的交流，我们彼此相互尊重”
　　“我唯一能说的是这不是真的，每个人都知道我在板凳是不会100%的开心，那是正常的。但我是职业球员并且在做自己的工作，我尊重球队里的每一个人，我尊重他，尊重他的决定，这是我能做到的”
　　“我现在没有考虑过离开，我说过自己在俱乐部很开心，当然坐在板凳上并不舒服，但我还是没想过离开俱乐部。我宁愿想自己有条件重返球队，我要做自己的工作，尽力完成它，这是我在心里想的”
　　事实上在18个月的合同到期后巴西人希望续约。
　　“我还不知道”“我还没想那事，如果我能和俱乐部续约在这个结束自己的职业生涯那是很开心的事，但我需要知道俱乐部是否有和我有同样的想法，我希望和自己盼望的一样”
　　现在吉尔伯托在辛勤的努力等待机会，他是少数几个经理过2004不败赛季的队员，如果阿森纳进入到争冠的竞争阶段，他的经验在赛季后期是宝贵财富。
　　“每人都知道一月份是非常艰难的”他说，“但坚持自己的路对我们来说是很重要的，谁踢比赛并不重要，如果我们继续竞争下去，我们可能会遇到和前几个赛季一样的问题，球员受伤或者停赛，进来的球员必须和球队的当前水平同步”