http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17866366 Arsenal are yet to propose a date for contract talks with captain Robin van Persie as he considers delaying any decision on his future until after Euro 2012, BBC Sport has learned. The Gunners insist the situation will be addressed in the four days between the season ending and Van Persie joining up with the Netherlands squad. Van Persie has consistently maintained he will not open dialogue until the campaign is over. Ok firstly, this is starting to sound very familiar indeed. Coming from the BBC, it is more reliable than a lot of sources. Most of us on this forum have said that the main reason why RVP is waiting on signing a new contract is to see what we'll do in the transfer market. If he doesn't discuss his contract at the end of the season, then this is surely the case? What happens if he has a blinding Euro, after his blinding Premiership performance? With Barca losing the league, Champs league and Pep, RVP may be top of their list. What about Man City, Chelsea, Juve or Bayern? We should be hearing of him discussing a new contract, or having a meeting scheduled for it, not another delay from him....
If RVP does this - then we know he is not staying and we should put him on the transfer market, giving us enough time to find a replacement. This story might be plain wrong though.
Can you really blame him? Cant fault him, he's served his time and would prefer a team that wins trophies
No, he said he wanted the season to be over and then talk about his contract. There is talk that he wants to delay it further. Do we really want a repeat of last time? On the other hand, if he's doing this to push Arsenal and Wenger to show more ambition and buy top quality players, then it's a shrewd move. I think he loves Arsenal and wants to stay but also wants to desperately win. By doing this he is forcing their hand after having such a storming season and delaying his decision. As long as Barca doesn't come along, he should sign...
The reason for the delay is cited as being nothing more sinister than there only being four days between the end of the season and the Dutch squad meeting up for the Euros.
TBH 4 days is a long time for something so simple. RVP to Wenger - "I want X, Y & Z" Wenger to RVP - "ok, sign here" 15 minutes should do it....and allow time for a nice cup of tea afterwards
Sense. I have said for long time that RVP is waiting to see if we are in the CL. I believe the delay is due to Chelsea. It may be that we dont know if we are in the CL until the 19th - 2 days after he leaves with the Dutch squad.
I can't really disagree with that. Although it's slightly more complex, it shouldn't really take too long to sort out if RVP wants to sign.
How will he sign a new contract if a meeting doesn't take place Piskie, you have to admit, we tend to drag things on to our detriment at times. We claim to be great at business yet we've let player contracts drag on way beyond reasonable levels. I want to see us start the next season ready with a full pre-season and raring to go. I don't want to hear stories of RVP waiting, xyz club coming in for RVP, us delaying signing etc. We should have learn from our previous mistakes...
RVP wants to see what investment is made in the squad (and CL qualification which is what many of us have said from the start) before making any kind of commitment, this is contrary to what those Arsene can do no wrong sayers have been saying, claiming there was no problem and it was a normal stance. If RVP does not see suitable investment he will state his desire to leave, entering his final year when he can leave on a free giving Arsenal no opportunity to make any money. If Arsenal then decide to get what they can they will sell him at the start of the season, repeating the mistakes of last season. The ONLY solution to this is, buy some decent bloody players - which has been the cry from the vast majority of Arsenal fans for a long time.
Yep - i think it was pretty transparent a long time ago. RVP never once committed himself to the club next season, and as soon as he said he wanted to wait till the end of the season to discuss his contract (for which there is no logical reason) it pointed clearly to CL qualification being the key decider. I think he wants to stay, but he wont commit the last few years at the top of his game to a club not playing at the top level.
I don't think we're the ones dragging it out though, Wenger and the board would already have the contract signed and sealed if it were just down to them. The delay is down to RVP and to be honest, as much as I want him to sign straight away, I can see why he might want to wait and see what happens (1) where we finish (2) who we sign The difficulty with this is that we want to avoid a situation like last year with Fabregas and Nasri, where it dragged on and disrupted our pre season. So what do you do, Transfer list RVP right at the start of the window? That would be footballing suicide and would be cutting off our nose to spite our face. Or wait for RVP to make the decision and risk the disruption and having to find another striker?
I understand RVPs point of view and i would do everything to accomodate RVPs "requests", which all us gooners want too. We have to get RVPs signiture as finding a player with his quality will cost in excess of £30m/40m. That's why we should get our transfer business out the way quickly and then plan for next season. Wilshere's return is now doubtful according to Wenger, so signing a couple of midfielders has become paramount.
Transfer list him if he doesnt sign before the Euro's. Not footballing suicide at all. Footballing suicide is waiting till it's too late, settling for a lower fee, and bringing in players who need to get up to speed before they perform, by which time we're already out of the title race.
agreed people are overestimating his importance to the side. We were a force after nasri after fabregas and after henry. We will still be one after rvp though the only ones at present i expect to stay with the club for the long haul are wilshere, AOC, ramsey and vermaelen...just my instinct though.
We have to get to the point where we have to stop our best players from leaving year after year. This year we consolidated after losing some of our best players, but next season we have to push on, add some players (buy and through injury) and get bettre. By losing RVP we will go back a couple of steps. Remember, RVPs replacement will cost from £30m upwards. Will we ever spend this kind of money?
I've said all season that we need to buy a replacement for one of Nasri and Fabregas. With Wilshere's delayed return this is even more important this summer. Arteta, Rosicky, Diaby can all do a good job in there, but we are still light in MF as demonstrated by when we lose a couple of key players.
