RVP
And so it begins, Robin Van Persie has announced that he will not be signing a new contract with Arsenal putting many of the biggest and richest teams in Europe on red alert.
It is something we have all be contemplating and even though the purist inside of me wanted him to stay I don’t disagree with his decision to leave. Arsenal are still stuck in a self financing plan put forward by shareholders that have left the club and it is slowing killing them.
Nasri, Fabregas, Toure, Clichy and Adebayor have all left and they have been replaced by players on a lower level. Inevitably this means that Arsenal as a club will be playing on a different level and it is a credit to Arsene Wenger that they achieved Champions league qualification last year, not to mention thanks to all of RVP’s goals.
But where should RVP go next? In The Sun Kolo Toure has urged Van Persie to follow so many through the doors at the Etihad that have travelled from North London and said “if Robin comes it’s great because I know what he can do”.
Every non-City football fan out there will be saying the same thing “If he goes to City it’s only for the money” but for me that’s short sighted. It’s true that City will make Van Persie one of their highest paid players with rumours of a contact in the region of £200,000 a week being prepared for him and for any human being it would be hard to resist.
But let’s not forget that Manchester City look to be on the brink of dominating English football. Their talent and resources make them the new Manchester United in that any new exciting player that comes along will go to City if they are interested. So to those Manchester United fans who are cussing City for buying their dominance you now know how annoyed the rest of the Premier league has been since the mid 90s.
There are three factors that Van Persie will abide by when thinking of his new destination: 1. First team football 2. Winning trophies 3. Money.
With Manchester City the second two are almost guaranteed but I’m not so sure about the first one. Mancini is a man who likes to tinker with his team, especially when it comes to Europe, and if you aren’t on form he isn’t afraid of being drastic with you. Obviously RVP’s form for Arsenal last year will make you think that won’t be a problem but his performance at the Euro’s didn’t set the world alight.
Manchester City will be the main focus for Van Persie during these next few weeks but he will do well to look elsewhere too. Paris St Germain are the French version of City but even so lost the title last year to modestly spending Montpellier.
Juventus however offer another interesting scenario. Antonio Conte has revived the Old Lady of Italian football and she is hungry for success. Predictions of dominance in Serie A are almost unquestionable after they went unbeaten last season in the league and have a stadium with the same atmosphere as any Premier League ground, according to Andrea Pirlo.
With this in mind I would like to see Van Persie make a footballing decision rather than a financial one, as I’m sure you’ll agree. Manchester City are in pole position for the hottest thing to come out of Holland since the green stuff…. Tulips, but for a chance to rejuvenate an old footballing power that won’t be branded as ‘buying their own success’ I would consider Juve.
Besides, if RVP has a few bad games at Juve he will be given another chance, but a few slip ups for City and the cheque book will come out and a new replacement will put the Dutchmen down the pecking order.
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July 6th, 2012
Why care wat he does with his glass legs. We’ve heard,seen enough..feed it beans
July 6th, 2012
Butthurt much? It’s a game buddy. If you’re going to have a cry, do it in your room by yourself.
A few months ago I bet you would have gobbed him but now he’s broken your heart you hate him. Pathetic, grow up!
July 6th, 2012
Without Fabregas and Na$$ri we finished one place higher than last year.
Not bad for a club buying inferior players is it?
Are you really saying that Podolski and giroud are second class?
What you are really doing is spreading doom and gloom.
We have survived better players than RVP leaving our club and we cant be sure he would have another injury free season anyway coud we?
Let him leave and see if he has a better time than Hleb, Adebayour, Flamini,Petit and Bedtner.
Eight seasons on full pay and we get one full season..does that make economic sense?
Let the judas go, we are Arsenal and we will still be here when RVP has been long forgotten.
July 6th, 2012
Podolski and Giroud are very good and Arsenal play great football but no trophies since 05.
July 6th, 2012
are you saying tv5 is on a lower level than toure. Players that leave arsenal dont become successful. adebayor has been used and abused, toure abused the substance, fabregas is hated by the catalans and nasri is a potty mouth
July 6th, 2012
It’s even simpler than that – if he leaves to another club in England, it will show how unworthy of our respect he has become. His statement is a show of disrespect and selfishness, let’s see what he does now. The guy who said it’s a pity RVP leaves now, cause he was just about to become a legend really got it good – RVP isn’t an Arsenal legend yet, and after his statement it’d take him a lot of time to retrieve his chance for Gunner glory. Pity, real pity.
July 6th, 2012
Your analysis is short-sighted at best. RVP had a fantastic season. That is without question. However, it’s not like he didn’t miss A LOT of goals as well as make a lot. He’s a top class talent that had a dream season as the lone striker up top with a team that fed him plenty and we all thank him for it. But, what other team is going to guarantee him that? None like Arsenal that’s for sure.
Of the players you listed really only Fabregas is truly missed. We’ve yet to replace what he brought to the team in terms of the vision and execution of the killer pass and controlling the tempo of a game. Clichy was often times caught out of position and didn’t cross well. Adebayor scored some nice goals but his miss to score ration was atrocious. Nasri would have been nice to keep but we don’t miss him much with Ox, Theo, Gervinho making up the slack and he can’t get a regular starting role at City nor for France.
Players want to leave in pursuit of trophies and that’s all fine. But, let’s not act like some of the blame doesn’t lie with the players themselves.
Wenger doesn’t play the game amongst the 11 players he selects for the squad. Those 11 men are responsible for their actions, their success, and their failure. To say you’re leaving in pursuit of trophies is a cowardly admission that only teams that spend ungodly amounts of money can win trophies. NO, that’s not true. Remember Blackburn (of all teams) beat us to a trophy without the huge spending and it was down to the mistakes Arsenal made on the field. Not from the board, not from Arsenal’s finances, not from Wenger’s coaching area, from mistakes made on the field.
July 6th, 2012
The responsibility of those mistakes on the field lie at the managers door. I don’t agree with it but he is the one being paid to tell them what to do.
July 7th, 2012
The blame must be laid solely at WENGERS door. The lack of success is a large factor as is Arsenals ability to keep top class players, success is measured by results NOT by the BS which Wenger feeds the fans. Sure ,the players themselves must share the blame ,they after all, are playing the game, but when you are saddled with numerous Wenger failures ie. djourou,diaby,almunia,bentnail,etc what do you expect?One prediction that i would like to make is that Walcoot and Rvp will not be the huge successes that they think , look at the Euro Cup, Rvp was less than useless and Wally coot is not man enough!