Nicklas Bendtner: Striker 'did not have permission to be in Copenhagen' reveals Arsene Wenger, who hints Dane may have played last game for Arsenal

The 26-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season

Sam Wallace
Friday 14 March 2014 11:14 GMT
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Nicklas Bendtner is out of contract at Arsenal at the end of the season
Nicklas Bendtner is out of contract at Arsenal at the end of the season (GETTY IMAGES)

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Arsene Wenger said today that Nicklas Bendtner will be fined for his latest public misdemeanour, when the Danish striker was alleged to have abused a taxi driver in Copenhagen on a drunken night out.

The Arsenal manager said that Bendtner had not obtained permission from the club to travel to Denmark, although he would not comment on lurid reports that the player unbuttoned his trousers and rubbed himself on the back of a taxi. Reports in Denmark’s BT newspaper alleged that after an argument with the driver, Bendtner removed his belt and whipped the taxi, calling the driver a “little whore”.

Wenger said: “Honestly, I don’t know what happened [in Copenhagen]. I haven’t spoken to him [Bendtner]. The only thing that is for sure, he had nothing to do in Copenhagen. Nobody gave him any permission to go to Copenhagen. He will be fined for that. For the rest, has he created some trouble? I don’t know. I will speak to him today”

Asked if this was one indiscretion too far, for Bendtner, Wenger said, “Look, he’s at the end of the contract at the end of the season.”

Wenger said that Mesut Ozil’s hamstring injury would rule him out for a maximum of six weeks, with his belief that the German international would miss four weeks. “It is of course a blow but I am confident we have the quality to deal without him in that period,” Wenger said.

Aaron Ramsey has suffered a set-back in his recovery from injury and has complained of, Wenger said, “recurrent pains in his thigh”. He added: “He’s a little bit apprehensive because of his set-back. I believe it will be two more weeks now.”

Nacho Monreal is fit for Sunday’s game against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Kieran Gibbs’s fitness will be checked closer to the game. For the first time since he joined the club in January, Kim Kallstrom is fit and ready to play.

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