Darren Norris
It was the news Arsenal fans dreaded. Robin van Persie, captain, talisman and goal-machine won’t be extending his contract at the club. The affair is over. The only question is will it be, as van Persie no doubt hopes, a swift exit or a long, protracted goodbye?
For Arsene Wenger, this is a nightmare. Should van Persie leave, and realistically there can be no other outcome, it will be the second summer in succession that Wenger will have lost his captain and star. As Oscar Wilde might say: ‘To lose one skipper may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.’
The tone of van Persie’s statement means there’s no way back and Wenger will have been disappointed by the line that it’s: “become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward.”
Clearly van Persie no longer believes in the Wenger Way.
If Wenger feels betrayed by van Persie’s publicly stated lack of confidence in his vision it’s understandable. Footballers have short memories and van Persie seems to have forgotten Wenger’s role in his development into a star. Until last season van Persie was notoriously injury prone, spending more time on the treatment table than on the pitch. Wenger stood by him throughout all those lengthy lay-offs and stayed patient with him during his early years at the club when he’s short fuse often landed him in disciplinary hot water. More recently, Wenger made van Persie captain and, against the player’s instincts, altered his role so he spearheaded the attack instead of playing as a second striker.
“We only tried it when [Emmanuel] Adebayor went,” van Persie recalled in April. “The boss didn’t buy someone else because he was convinced I could do it. I wasn’t even convinced about it. I wasn’t so sure.”
Wenger’s judgement was rewarded with van Persie’s most prolific season as the captain scored 37 goals in all competitions. That type of season had been a long-time coming though and Wenger may feel his striker owes him some loyalty.
There’s a counter-argument though. He’s 29 next month and at a crossroads in his career. The next contract he signs will be the most significant of his career and obviously he wants to win things to add to the FA Cup medal he picked up in 2005. And while Wenger will disagree, there’s very little to suggest Arsenal can compete for, let alone win either the Premier League or Champions League in the near future.
The two Manchester clubs are only going to get stronger (particularly if either get van Persie), while Chelsea and Liverpool can’t possibly be as bad in the league next season. For Arsenal therefore, competing for a top four spot is as good as it gets for the foreseeable future. That will remain the case unless or until Uefa enforce financial fair play and that, despite the assertion of Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis to the contrary, is highly unlikely.
In his statement, van Persie doesn’t elaborate on his ‘disagreements’ with Wenger on how the club should go forward but it could be that he’s referring to the Frenchman’s transfer policy in recent seasons. Perhaps he doesn’t view Per Mertesacker, Ju Young Park, Andre Santos, Gervinho, Maroune Chamakh and Carl Jenkinson as the type of players who will help Arsenal win the Premier League or conquer Europe. If that’s his position it’s one that’s hard to argue with as the club’s transfer dealing in recent seasons have been – with a few notable exceptions – disastrous.
Van Persie can also perhaps justly argue his contribution last season repaid any debts owed to his boss. In truth, Wenger would not and could not have survived last season were it not for his captain’s astonishing goals haul. Take van Persie’s goal out of the equation and Arsenal would have had 27 fewer points last season and would have finished in a final position of 15th with just 43 points. Not even a manager of Wenger’s stature could have survived a season as woeful as that.
Then there’s the financial argument. Yes, van Persie is handsomely paid at Arsenal but it’s nothing to the riches he could earn at Manchester City. Arsenal fans may label van Persie greedy but if they’re honest most people in most jobs would swap roles if offered more cash and a greater prospect of success elsewhere. Manchester City or Barcelona, for instance, would clearly offer van Persie a far greater chance of professional fulfilment.
Van Persie’s statement means the dye has been cast. By making his intentions clear public Arsenal’s already weak negotiating position has been reduced still further. Getting van Persie’s true value will now be nigh on impossible. Arsenal’s statement in response to van Persie’s bombshell left open the prospect of them keep him for the last 12 months of his contract but that is not a realistic, credible option. The club are struggling to compete financially as it is and simply can’t afford to let van Persie walk away on a free. And there is of course no guarantee he’ll be able to reproduce the season he delivered last season.
Imagine, for instance, if his injury-jinx returns, forcing him to miss much of the season before he leaves for nothing? No, keeping him is not an option. Remember last summer, the Fabregas and Nasri sagas? Wenger should. The lesson from then is simple: A long goodbye benefits nobody.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/XPj6thcRMN4/post.aspx
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