An all too familiar place for Arsenal fans.
This has become all too familiar territory for the Arsenal faithful. A summer of strife, turmoil, conjecture and frustration. It started with Vieira, Henry, Fabregas, Flamini, Nasri, and others. But every summer since 2005 it seem Arsenal’s best players are leaving. In the last few years at more alarming quantity. That’s why the announcement yesterday of Robin Van Persie’s sale to Manchester United should not come as a surprise to anyone.
Back in July when Robin Van Persie issued his statement that stated did not intend to sign a new contract with Arsenal and questioned the direction of the club under Wenger and Gazidis, the writing had been on the wall. Many of us still held out hope that a resolution could be found.
Surely with the signings of Giroud, Podolski, and Cazorla the club had shown enough “ambition” to make Van Persie rethink his position at Arsenal. There are even a variety of stories suggesting he had and it was the club who had reached the conclusion that Robin had to be sold.
Surely Wenger’s recent statements TF1 bare that out:
“When you can’t succeed in extending the contract of a player that is in its last year, there is no other way but to let him go. It’s sad because he played for us for eight years. He’s 29 now. He was 21 when he came and it’s another bitter pill to swallow.”
It’s further speculated in the BBC that Robin Van Persie had been told prior to Sunday’s friendly that he was no longer in the club’s plans and they would sell him if they got a good offer for him. That offer by all reports came in on Tuesday.
When Van Persie released his statement and returned to training at Arsenal, Juventus, Manchester City and Manchester United all lodged bids with Arsenal for the striker. All three were way below the valuation the club wanted for him.
As time went on Juventus were ruled out because of the growing brouhaha surrounding their manager and match fixing. Manchester City would soon be ruled out because Robin did not want to go there. That meant it was up to United to meet Arsenal’s value. As of last week the deal looked dead because United did not seem willing to go past £15 million and Arsenal were seeking in excess of £20.
In the end the club are reportedly set to make £22.5 million + £1.5 million on the sale of a 29 year old with a dubious health history. In pure business sense it’s absolutely highway robbery.
What is getting in my crawl and the crawl of other supporters is not that we sold Van Persie. It’s who we sold him too.
Year in we are told the United as an aging group are in decline and won’t challenge for titles. Well that aging corps of players, sans the best CB in the league in Vidic and midfield that needed the retired Paul Scholes to come out of retirement came within a few goals of winning the league. Should Robin actually manage to stay healthy again, then you can make the case that his goal scoring ability definitely should give Manchester City a cause for concern – especially considering the fact they’ve only added Everton’s Jack Rodwell to their title winning squad.
In the end this sale hurts because we’ve strengthened a rival’s hand. And this too Wenger knows:
“To strengthen an enemy is the other negative point of this loss,” he said. “We wanted to avoid it but we couldn’t. Honestly, I’d rather sell him abroad, to Paris Saint-Germain for example.
“Manchester United know him and know his qualities. He’s really an exceptional player, believe me.”
I am not ready to throw in the towel and say we are likely to miss out on Champion’s League or even contending for silverware. I am certainly buoyed by the fact that the three additions at a very minimum – very minimum I said – can replace Van Persie. More hopefully, they likely can give us more as the attack becomes more distributed across a front three of Podolski, Giroud, and Walcott.
Additionally, I am salivating at a midfield that features the strength and creativity of Cazorla combined with the steady and strong play of Arteta. Throw in a returning Wilshere (at some point) and it all looks rosy.
Sure there are defensive questions. But I don’t hold much weight in the pre-season and I would say its too early to see how much an impact Steve Bould’s defensive work has had on the club. The defenders all are impressed if their quotes on the subject mean anything. Obviously the defense is short without the presence of Bacary Sagna but he should return in September.
Those factors alone are why I won’t proclaim this the apocalypse. Sure, the cynics and anti-Wengerites will be calling for blood and declaring the end of Arsenal as we know it. It drones on like a wailing bass drone on the bagpipes. The fact is no one knows how this club will respond. Me personally? I have hopes and fears.
I saw a club pull together in the biggest display of teamwork last season and pull itself out of an early death spiral. I saw a club overcome the loss of player in Fabregas who is arguably more important to Arsenal than Van Persie was – who doesn’t think we would’ve scored more with his creativity – especially in the last 6 or 7 games?
When players leave, other players step up. I don’t see any reason why this will be any different. But I do worry. The club needs to continue to invest. The 3 signings are good – they are impressive. But there still needs to be more and I don’t mean that in a greedy “I want more” kind of way. I mean it in “let’s give this title thing a right go.” Depth wins titles and while Giroud and Podolski add to our attack, depth in the squad will only enhance our ability to sustain a true title charge.
Look, losing a player like Van Persie is never a good thing. The only thing that may limit that (it will never go away) is winning. Arsenal need to make a sustained and robust push for silverware this year. Settling for Champion’s League qualification just won’t suffice this year.
The goals must be twofold – win silverware and finish above United (and Spurs of course). To that end the money gained from the Van Persie sale must go right back out and add to the squad. If not then there will be challenges. Like hoping Giroud and Podolski don’t need time to acclimate (I’m not worried about Cazorla acclimating). Should Giroud and Podolski misfire early for the club and the goals not come there will be cries. Another forward is needed to rotate and help make the transition easier.
Alex Song
I want to switch gears but not really because its all part of the same narrative. Word is that Arsenal and Barcelona have agreed to a £15 million fee for Alex Song. I need to stress that there is nothing substantive from any British outlet. This is all coming from local Barcelona press and you know if there is anything more unreliable than the English press, it’s the Spanish press.
However, this is what is known, it does seem that Song has worn out his welcome at Arsenal. There has been growing frustration surrounding his attitude. I am not sure what that means but quite a few people connected to the club have said that Wenger personally has told Song he is free to leave the club.
This would be a stunning development in addition to the sale of Robin Van Persie. I’m not the biggest of Song fans. While his alter-ego “Songaldinho” offered us glimpses of his talent overall I would rate him as inconsistent. I always felt that our defensive line when together is made up of solid players. However, when they don’t get support from a holding midfielder they are placed in a precarious position and left out cold on certain occasions.
The last few games of the season a lot of the goals we gave up were directly created coming from the middle of the pitch. We didn’t have Arteta who played a good cover for Song as he went forward. Combine that absence with Song’s lack of positional discipline they back four especially at centre was exposed.
So, if I am honest I am not concerned about the sale of Song. Where I get concerned about is whether or not they sell him and the money is not revinvested. I don’t see Coquelin as being ready. Nor is Frimpong. Both need time. They may come good but that does not good right now. I am hopeful that Arsenal have a plan in place to replace him when sold. It could be Sahin as has been widely reported or it could open to the door to finalizing the deal with Rennes for M’Vila. There is also the possibility of Capoue who Wenger got a firsthand look at last night.
In any case the sale of Song won’t be a big loss if they do the right thing and quickly use the funds to invest in the club.
And if Song goes that’s two good players gone in a summer. As I said at the start of this piece – it’s an all too familiar situation we find ourselves in. Any hope that this summer would be different has been dashed. Arsenal are on the back pages for all the wrong reasons. And to me that hurts more than anything.
I love my club. I hate seeing my club the object of ridicule and continued conjecture by those who delight in our misfortune. I want nothing to smugly look at them and say piss off. I did it last season and I hope to do it this season. I want to get back to that familiar place we enjoyed – winning. Then I know I can smugly tell the cynics to – well you know.
