It seems as though Arsenal are willing to talk about Robin if Man U are prepared to stump up somewhere in the region of the £20 million that we’re supposedly looking for. It’s a very odd situation. On the one hand I feel like the player is worth a lot more than that in today’s market, even accepting the fact that he’s 29 years old and he’s had a lot of injuries in his career. He still scored 38 goals last season in a team that a lot of people would term ‘struggling’ (if third place in the league can ever really be defined as a struggle).
But on the other hand I’m also surprised that United are able to stump up that sort of cash for him. If the rumours are true and they’re prepared to offer him wage parity with Wayne Rooney of £220,000 a week then over a four year deal that would cost them around £45 million. Add the transfer fee and you’re talking £65 million. Don’t they know he’s 29 and he’s had a lot of injuries in his career? Surely they’ve got their Glazer inflicted interest payments to think about.
It’s a reminder of the old maxim that a player is worth whatever somebody is prepared to pay for him. Not a penny more or a penny less. The absence of the big money players in the chase is a surprise to all, not least I suppose United who wouldn’t have expected to have a clear path to his signature. Fortunately though it seems that Arsenal have been prepared to play hardball. If they don’t get a suitable amount for him then they’ll just keep him to his deal. They’ve been clear about that from day one. We won’t be lowballed. Well…not spectacularly so anyway.
I know a lot of Gooners are worried that the deal makes us weaker and gives our title rivals the run on us but I’m not sure it’s necessarily the case. We’ve already signed Giroud, Podolski and Cazorla so even if you subtract Van Persie I think that makes us stronger than last season. Add in M’Vila or Sahin or whoever else we hopefully go on to sign with the proceeds from the RVP sale and we will be stronger still. United meanwhile will have signed a player in a position where they were already well stocked and would have presumably used up a sizable chunk of their transfer budget in the process. I’m not saying I don’t fear a United with a firing Robin Van Persie up top, but I’d fear them a lot more if they weren’t still reliant on the likes of Giggs and Scholes to provide him with chances.
The Alex Song situation is an interesting one. Josep Maria Bartomeu, Barca’s assistant sporting director is apparently in London to negotiate the transfer. As we’ve said before, this deal would only take place if Arsene Wenger was happy for it to. I like Alex Song a lot. I think at the moment he brings something to the team that we don’t otherwise have. But if Wenger thinks now is the time to cash in then I’m confident he must have something better up his sleeve.
Whenever you criticise Alex Song’s defensive contribution there’s always someone who jumps in to tell you that he’s not even a defensive midfielder and look at how many assists he made last season. I think that’s Song’s problem. He’s not one thing or the other. If we really want to categorise him as anything other than a defensive midfielder then you have to start comparing his footballing qualities to the likes of Wilshere, Cazorla, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Arteta. I’m not saying his ability on the ball hasn’t improved vastly over the past four years. It most certainly has. But I would still argue that he’s great on the ball for a centre back turned defensive midfielder.
I think that if (and it is an if) we want to play with a dedicated DM whose sole job is to protect the back four then we can probably, and hopefully will, find someone as good or better than Song. If on the other hand Le Boss is looking, as seems possible, to populate the midfield with quicker passing, more naturally technically gifted players then he might deem Song surplus to requirements. It’s not gone unnoticed that despite the arrival of Cazorla, the success of Arteta, the breakthrough of Coquelin, the retention of Rosicky, the cautious optimism around Diaby and the (hopefully) imminent return of Jack Wilshere we’ve used Oxlade-Chamberlain in a central berth for every game of pre-season. That’s a lot of central midfield talent. And we haven’t even mentioned Aaron Ramsey. Alex Song has done a brilliant job for us over the last few years but just maybe AW feels that his purpose has been served.
Whatever our decision on these players I do hope we make it quickly. The season’s almost upon us and the sooner we can have a settled squad the better. Despite all looking rosy just a week ago we suddenly find ourselves with he makings of an injury crisis ahead of Saturday’s game.
While I’m still praying that the international withdrawals are just precautions there was a story doing the rounds that The Ox will miss the Sunderland match. Add that to doubts over Koscielny, Walcott who was also removed from the England squad yesterday, Arteta who missed the friendly against Koln, Cazorla who may not get back from Puerto Rico in time to play, Wilshere, Sagna, Frimpong and Rosicky who are obviously longer term injuries, Ramsey who goes straight from Team GB to Wales international duty and of course the possible departures of Song, RVP and Bendtner and that’s a possible thirteen players missing from the opening day.
Not exactly ideal.
Hopefully Park Chu-Young will be back in time from his Olympics heroics to finally ignite his Arsenal career. This could be his best chance yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment