The Song and Van Persie stories continue to gather pace this morning
with various sources claiming that we’re officially in talks with both
Manchester United and Barcelona.
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.
If You Liked This...
As negotiations between Arsenal
striker Robin Van Persie and Manchester United continue to gain pace,
the Gunners have indicated Fernando Llorente as his replacement.
