If he refuses to sign a £130,000 a week contract, fine, I could understand him. I think we'd have to go to new dimensions if we want to keep a player of his calibre. You see mediocre players like Ashley Young earning £130k/week at Man Utd, so why should van Persie be happy with that? On the other hand, van Persie's injury record pre 2011 would put me off from offering him a 'mega' huge contract. Whatever the outcome, I want this van Persie-story to be over before the Euros start. If he signs with us, I will be glad and if he goes to Barca, Juventus or any other top foreign club, I will wish him well. I just don't want the same situation as with Fabregas and the frog last season.
I'd actually be a bit pissed off if he leaves us, not only because we'd lose our best player. But because of the reasons I outlined earlier, about how the club have stuck by him and supported him through all of his tough times, both on and off the pitch. The man is an Arsenal supporter too - and personally I think it would be a bit of a betrayal to ditch us after one good season. That said, I do share his view that we need to strengthen and show more ambition.
I know I said the same thing last summer but this time I mean it: If we don't make at least 2 more top signings then my patience with Wenger will have run out completely. I'm sure if serious ambition was demonstrated to Robin then he would prefer to stay and try and win something with us instead of joining another team. Losing Robin due to a lack of ambition after the **** we've had to put up with for years now would be the final straw and completely unforgivable. If this happens then I will be calling Wenger's head!!!!!!! Quiet summer? **** off!!!!!
Thankfully i'm not the only one. It's when you stop and think and say hang on, it's not like he's given us the same level of game time as Henry, Bergy etc or anywhere near, can you understand him leaving. Henry did his time and left, RVP has only really done one season. We never at one point have relied upon RVP as he was never hardly fit. Now from some miracle he has played a whole season, he might up and leave when we need him the most? This will indeed be a sad day for many different reasons...
Utter bollox Shwan. If you think Arsenal a) have players as disgusting as Rooney and b) have owners who would stand for what Rooney did you are sadly mistaken. The owners would be like "What, you trying to MUG me ?!!!! Haaaamboning [video=youtube;k2MxHzufaus]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2MxHzufaus[/video]
I don't understand people calling for Wenger out. Does nobody see that this is a problem with the board? Wenger has had his hands tied since Hill woods left and arsenal haven't been the same since. Fab pretty much said the same when he left - he mentioned leaving highburu yet but we all know he meant the board changes not long after we left highbury. Back to my original point, if you want Wenger out who do you want in? Let's not end up as short sighted as Chelsea, sacking managers every other week without any consideration for who will replace them and do a better job. Wengers skill as a manager is saving the board some severe embarrassment!
Agree with that, but Hill Wood is still there mate. I think he is the one who has been holding us back personally. Too conservative and too stubborn, his style went out of fashion back a long time ago.
Dunno mate, I read that Kronke and Gazidis are not opposed to one of the major shareholders investing some of their personal wealth into the squad, but Hill-Wood was against it. Also, remember that it was Hill Wood who famously said 'we don't need their types' when Dein was trying to bring Kronke to the club, he then ousted Dein and then did a massive U-turn and embraced Kronke. For that alone, kicking Dein out of the club was a huge error. I think he's more than just a figure head, he's the chairman and ultimately he has the final say.
It's precisely because of this reason, i.e. injury record, why I think paying him ridiculous money to stay with us is a big risk...we're better off having two excellent strikers on the same combined wage bill and getting the same combined goals...spreads the risk.
Good call there. If we tie him down to multi year, massive wage, contract, he could get injured immediately, and then we'd be priced out of getting an adequate backup for him.
Van Persie is at the age where he wants to win at least one major trophy before he retires. He knows full well that the squad still need stregthening if we are realistically going to compete with United and City. We have to add some quality but that's problematic considering the HUGE size of our squad and next season 25 man rule. Im no 'Wenger hater' but I cant help but think he has royally screwed up by keeping such a large squad on the books.
Agreed. But it's no real problem, players like Ramsey who have potential but aren't there yet will have to go out on loan to clubs like villa. It's a shame Bolton went down. They have helped with the development of a few of our youngsters...
Ramsey wasn't the same after he played 5 times in 14 days over Christmas, and he played out of position in 4 of them. He got burnt out. I don't think the club can be held to ransom by RvP. I want him to sign a contract but, if he thinks he can win trophies somewhere else let him go. More important that we get the business done soon so we can prepare for life without him. We want players who are winners and think they can win, not players that want to join a team that will win a trophy for them. I like the way Podolski is talking, that is what we need. If RvP goes it is because he hasn't got what it takes.
The selling of our best player is down to the board and has been the MAIN reason we hav'nt won a trophy for 7 years. However. Wenger has Royally ****ed up. We have a first team squad of 34 players.(all on decent wages) that needs to be cut down to 25 this summer. That means if we are to bring anyone else in - we have to demote or sell at least 10 players. This is woeful mis-management from Wenger. In fact this is making me question wether Wenger is completely loosing his nerve as a manager. Players need to be cut/sold/released because we have FAR too many individuals that are nowhere near the required standard. RVP knows we need more quality to compete(hence his reluctance to sign) but with our squad size and wage bill we're in a ridiculous situation. I've always been an ardent Wenger supporter but I'm really starting to loose my patience, all the signs are pointing towards another baron Summer with the possibility of loosing ANOTHER world class player. Please ****ing sort it out!
We will get left behind if we dont up our wage bill. Man uniteds wage bill is up 10% this year on last year (thus far - they are 9 months into the current year i think). So they are spending big this year on wages and have probably done alot of catching up with city and chelsea. We are still below liverpool who are expected to spend in the summer. So at present we are way behind the top 3 in terms of what we spend on wages and transfers. And we are also below liverpool. We need to catch up with these clubs imo if we are to compete.
If Citeh would offer him 250k a week, and the best we'll offer is probably 120k, i assume he would leave for wages. He may love this club, but every man has their price.
RVP wants us to compete with United and City (and i'm just speculating based on things he's said in the past but I think that means he wants assurances that we will add more quality to the squad. ) At his age I think its more about trophies than anything else.
