Gilberto Silva has left his position as technical director at Greek side Panathinaikos by mutual consent.
The ‘Invincible’ only took up the position with his former club seven months ago having formerly retired this time last year due to a knee injury. It is understood he has also turned down the opportunity to stay in Athens in an ambassadorial capacity.
Back in May, Gilberto told Goal.com that his backroom role was far trickier than life on the pitch and that he’d chatted regularly with David Dein and Arsene Wenger about the intricacies of his position.
He also touched on whether he’d ever be tempted to return to Arsenal. “You never know [about returning to Arsenal],” he hinted.
“Everyone knows Arsenal is the club from the deepest point of my heart that I have a great love and appreciation for.
“The most important part now is not to focus on that and focus on doing my job [at Panathinaikos] in the right way, to help them achieve their goals. If the team achieve their goals it means that everyone has done a good job.”
The Brazilian World Cup winner was last seen at the Emirates playing for the Arsenal Legends as they beat their AC Milan counterparts 4-2. If he’s at a loose end – not necessarily the case, as there appears to be a court case he’s involved in with former club Atletico Mineiro about the injury that ended his career – it’ll be interesting to see whether the club brings him back into the fold.
Arseblog News would certainly love to see our ‘Invisible Wall’ back in some capacity.
BRING HIM HOME FFS
One of the most underrated players
C’mon now hands up. Who fucking hated Gilberto when he played? Only in retrospect have I appreciated the player he was. Also why I’m quick to recognise the Coq’s importance.
I disagree, at a time when we had immature young players in midfield, he really held things together there
I never really appreciated what he did for us but I loved him as a man. He’s a true gentleman, quiet but resolute and I think that personality showed in his play style. I’m sure if someone took the time to look at the stats he put up for us he’d be recognised as one of the best midfielders to wear the shirt.
At our peak I was more worried about him getting injured than Viera.
Maybe it was just me, but I was quite annoyed with the way he was treated in his last year at the club: 1. He should’ve (in my opinion) been made club captain. He had acted as captain for a lot of the previous season because of Thierry Henry’s back problem and Gallas had been at the club for hardly any time (and was a twat). 2. When Lassana Diarra was sold in January and Flamini lest in the summer, why was Gilberto sold on the cheap to Panathinaikos? He’d been a great servant to the club and his experience… Read more »
I never hated him. Having said that I don’t think I ever really appreciated him until he was out injured for a while…. That’s when I noticed just how important he was to our team.
Edu was better
I thought he was great in his position and wow you could notice how badly we missed him the year after he left anyone not acknowledging how great he was for arsenal must not have seen enough of the team back then.
It shows the measure of the man that he is still saying how much Arsenal holds his affection after a less than perfect way for him to have the potential new captain’s role taken off him. Am I right in remembering that he wasn’t told face to face and it was given to Gallas ? those last couple of season’s were not the smoothest for him, with reports of rifts with Wenger. Still, if it is all water under the bridge then why not bring him back, he always seemed a decent bloke and it surely can’t do any harm… Read more »
Just checking back, waiting patiently for any new news on arseblog
Time goes by so slowly slowly slowly