"We will have a chat next week somewhere. You never know but Arsenal is a massive club, a great club. I have been playing here for eight years and I love this club. Whatever happens that will never change. We will see. We will have a chat and go from there." Hmmm....
I think he will go...we were 19 points behind the winners...to make that up in one year will be hard and he is not getting any younger.....
Yeah, i think he was waiting till the result today - it's not certain he will stay but I sure hope he does. I do hope he sorts it this week though - he owes us at least that - to give us enough time to find a replacement. If he goes than so be it - we would have to wish him well, and thank him for saving us this season.
One of the reasons I didnt want City winning - more grounded (non mercenary types) can actually see trophies now instead of just cash.
Same here. As long as we get a good replacement, i wpn't mind too much, on current form he's the best striker in the world, he deserves to win a trophy.
He still may stay - and lets hope Wenger can convince him. To be honest though, players - when it comes down to it - rarely show loyalty to Wenger. I am not sure Wenger's comments yesterday on it being a 'quiet summer' were that encouraging either. Let's wait and see what happens.
Who's the replacement though? Huntelaar? David Villa? Would have to be a very special player to score 30 goals in a season of the PL. If he does leave it just sends out a terrible message about our club and just takes us further backwards. Let's all just pray he stays.
Yeah but with Poldi to share the burden the replacement wouldn't have to be a carbon copy of RVP. Wenger needs to show ambition - to us and RVP, simple as that..
I think you are right about ambition - we need to really build from here. Whilst it has been a poor season, i cant remember a feeling like today in any of the last 5 years. Sure we've won some one off games, but we actually have a bit of a feel good factor going on - we must capitalise and build on even this shred of light.
"We will have a chat next week somewhere. You never know but Arsenal is a massive club, a great club. I have been playing here for eight years and I love this club. Whatever happens that will never change. We will see. We will have a chat and go from there." It's the part in bold that is quite concerning. Piskie, as you're one of the more optimistic fans on this board, what do you make of it? In my opinion, he should have left it at "We will have a chat and go from there". Why add the Dear John bit?
I think it means that he's undecided at best. The 'chat' bit gives me hope that he's willing to see what Arsenal offer. But it sounds as though he's definitely weighing up his options.
i just saw the live interview on MOTD, what was really revealing is how he just started drinking from the water as soon as the Q came up, the body language didn't look good at all, it really looked like a man who is on his way out sadly.
Fair enough. It seems that getting 3rd place and buying the Pod isn't quite enough. I wonder what his demands are? Buy another 2 top players or is he waiting for a big club (Barca or Real) to come in?
It sounds slightly better hearing him say it than reading it but it still leaves me with dread. As others have said it needs to be sorted asap either way and, should he go, we need to get top dollar and reinvest immediately. Make no mistake though he'll be a nightmare to replace. ...made a bit easier by being guaranteed third place mind!
He looked like a man that knew he was one of the best strikers in the world that has the world at his feet. Despite us buying the Pod and clinching 3rd place hasn't moved him. He knows what he wants and isn't budging until he gets it. He probably knew what he wanted a while back, now he's weighing up his options....
You know if he wants to leave, Arsenal need to buckle down and keep him, and risk letting him go on a free, it's a big risk and we could lose out on a lot of money, but there's no point in letting our top player leave again, and start all over again. We cannot consistently make a step forward and take two backwards, our financial situation is secure and we don't need the money to sell him. So it's still very much in our hands for him to be at Arsenal next season. In fact that should answer all his concerns, if we keep him, and get the success next season, he will sign, if we don't, then obviously he has every right to leave as we have failed to meet his standards.
The signs were ominous as soon as he refused to negotiate earlier in the season, and the fact he would never commit himself. But, we can still hope he decides to stay - he's not gone yet. Up to Wenger and the board now to convince him and excite him about our future.
I know it's none of my business but if he goes it'll be a massive problem to replace him. And watching his ex team mates waving around the premier league trophy ain't going to have helped keep him but for what it's worth I think he'll give you another season.
The really bad thing about this is that every time we have been in this situation, where the player said we will talk in the summer etc, the result hasn't been good, they have always eventually left. Flamini, Nasri, Fabregas, Henry had a last minute turn but his mind was effectively out of Arsenal in the season he stayed and he was gone the year after.
