Us? Just wondering out loud why we cannot seem to keep our best players. I cannot remember the last time we did not lose key players at the start of the season..... Why does it seem like we can tie mediocre players to long term deals and our star players always seem to be in the last year of their contracts. I also hark back to the days when players played for Arsenal because of the love they have the club, apart from Ronaldo, when was the last time Manure lost a player against their wishes. It is just painful to think we are starting the season losing key personel yet again. I also wonder if these players are leaving because we have not won anything..... How can we &*&$% win anything when they jump ship, I feel it is becoming a vicious circle..... We build some momentum, we are a few players short, then 2 key men leave, now we are 4-5 players short of challenging. So who next season?
In my opinion it is because we are the most successful club operating on a limited budget. Our players obviously can play in the top 4 of any league in the world and so the rich clubs want them. Even clubs like Liverpool and Spurs don't have many players that have proved they can finish in the top 4 of the PL, what ever their fan's opinion. Not only that, but even a lot of Arsenal fans think more than half our team is "Rubbish". Our good players therefore must be that much better, I suppose. Because most of these players were acquired by Arsenal before they were "Obviously" brilliant, the rich clubs have no option but to buy them from us, after we have given them a chance to prove themselves. It wasn't such a problem before, when salaries were not that different between clubs (<sarcasm> Obviously, trophies were not such a big deal back then </sarcasm>), but now salaries seem to be 2x or even 3x bigger at the mega-rich clubs so they can lure stars away.
I guess we run the risk of becoming a feeder club, if we have not already become one! Still think there is a flaw somewhere in how contracts are sorted out at our club..... If RVP had a longish contract, there is no way Manure will be putting a bid for him.. If they did we they would have to pay over the odds, as it stands now, we really don't have a lot of wriggle room!
The feeder club thing is an emotive issue but not really a bad thing when you look at it logically. I mean any of the non-mega-rich clubs could become feeder clubs, if their players were good enough for Manchester City or Chelsea to sign. Are Manchester United a feeder club because they sold Tevez, Beckham and Ronaldo? Let's face it, if a player realizes he can earn silly money somewhere, he is going to leave, and there isn't much that the club can do about it, if the player is nearing the end of their contract.
I accept not much the club could have done, and also try to see it from RVP's perspective about wanting to win silverware, it's just so frustrating for us fans seeing our best players/talisman leave every season.....
Tevez, was never fully owned by United, Ronaldo went for silly money and Beckham, Fergie was pretty fed up of his off field antics....... United rarely lose their star players. I guess we can put a positive spin it that we have bags of quality in our side that major teams in Europe covet, just wish they'll leave our players alone.
