Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Monday October 10 2011
Time: 7:51PM
UK time is: 04:04:48
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Is van Persie Our Last Bastion Against Mediocrity?
We`ve been well aware for quite some time about the winding down of the contract of a certain Mr van Persie, and non-committal comments to the press this week gives me a familiar sinking feel that we`re not far off losing yet another world class player.
The questions is however, is van Persie all that`s standing between Arsenal and mid-table mediocrity?
Sever since RvP covered himself in horse`s piss to magically cure all his ailments, the Dutchman has become the red hot striker we all knew he could be. Without him, we would have finished outside the top four last season, and even though this campaign couldn`t be much worse, we would be rock bottom without him.
As van Persie is one of the older players in the side, one must wonder about just how much Arsenal has to offer him as he enters the final stage of his footballing career.
There`s no doubt about it that come the day there will be a whole host of clubs enquiring about RvP`s services, clubs that can offer him mammoth wages and the chance of winning trophies, I`m struggling to visualise a scenario where we might be able to convince him to stay.
However as a constant stream of top class players have left Ashburton Grove over the last few years, is van Persie all that`s standing between us and a spell with mediocre?
Without the likes of van Persie, Fabregas & Nasri can we really lure other top players to the club? In the likely/unlikely (take your pick) event we don`t qualify for the Champions League how can we hope to buy, and keep, the standard of players needed to compete at the highest level?
Is our best attacker currently our best defence against mediocrity?
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Your Comments
sorry to be honest but in one brutal word - YES!
merlin
While it does smirk of some disrespect to the other quality (mostly, in waiting) players we do have at the club, van Persie is top draw and holds the key to any claim we may have to world class quality at the moment. His love for the club is well known and I believe he would have desired to end his career at this club, but with Wenger's demonstrated impatience with players on the wrong side of 29 years, it makes that option unattractive aside from the lure of mammoth wages. We need to look at treatment of our 'senior citizens' in the Wenger era to see that players may not be looking to stay at the club beyond a certain age, unless they have a contract to give them some guarantees. The celeberation of retiring players should be an event we should have every once in a while, methinks.
Naijagunner
Concur with merlin I'm afraid. A world class player. I don't use the term lightly. I mean, possibly the best striker on the planet.
Little Dutch
The biggest loss our club had in recent years was Henry and we were refereeing decisions away from winning the title the following season.
Similarities with the 2006/7 season are as follows:
- team finished 4th far behind top 3;
- team had lost Vieira, Ljunberg, Lauren and Cole in the previous seasons (see our Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy and bit part players);
- no one expected team to recover without big spending;
How Arsenal is better off than the 2007/8 club to bounce back:
- better crop of defenders, in every position with more depth, height and experience;
- a quality goalkeeper;
- genuine width and pace options;
- three-four young British midfield heir apparents;
- real quality ready in the youth teams;
- money available to be spent on transfers;
- socialist wages policy being repealed;
- commercial revenues only 2 seasons away from adding an extra 25m a season;
How current club is worse off than the 2007/8 club:
- no heir apparent to Henry's goals (RvP and Adebeyor);
- no goals from midfield;
- poor ball retention quality (no Hleb, no Nasri, no Fabregas - only Wilshere);
- no quality up front if RvP leaves;
- Citeh, Liverpool, Utd stronger than in 07/8;
- recent history of choking in back of Arsenal players' minds;
- same old Defensive flaws;
- on field fighters Fabregas, Flamini, Gallas and Bendtner no longer there.
hughied
Can you imagine being left with Bendtner and Chamakh as your only recognised strikers if RVP left? (shudder)
LondonGooner
if RVP leaves, what does that mean for the next generation of your best kids such as wilshere and Ramsay? how long before they are tempted to move on?
oxfordspur
RvP is the only true world class player in this squad. There might be world class potential in Ramsey, Wilshere and Szczesny but who knows how they will turn out. Looking at how things are run at the club, I wouldn't hold it against RvP if he decided to leave. Just 2-3 seasons back, this club was well-poised to win titles, but not anymore. It will be a struggle to finish top 4 even with RvP in full form.
prits
Arsenal simply cannot compete financially with the likes of Chelsea, City, Utd, Barca, Real Madrid or even Anzhi Makhachkala, so the only way to get “world class” players at the club is to identify them at a young age and nurture them ourselves. In addition to this, quality players who are surplus to requirements at their current club due to poor form must be snapped up and reinvigorated. Once the players have realised their potential we need to get as much service from them as possible before the super-rich clubs come and get them. Sounds familiar doesn’t it because it’s a policy that Wenger has employed since day one. On the whole he’s been rather successful at it but he needs to re-capture the Midas touch of yesteryear to see us through this current malaise. Anzhi is supposedly interested in RvP but most rich clubs would be if he could have his head turned. At the moment that seems very likely and who could blame him? The point is that world class players will continue to feed through Arsenal en route to big money so unless the FFP rules actually work (stop laughing at the back), we’d better get used to it.
Sir Henry
In a word, YES. Loose RvP and you'll be Bolton in North London. Is that harsh on Bolton?
Cape Town Spurs
Lol, Sir Henry. Do you dare suggest the FFP rules won't work?
Naijagunner
It's not true to say that we cannot get world class players at Arsenal, unless we develop them. We could have Raul, Kaka or Sneijder for example. We would have to pay them better money, which would mean we'd have to stop paying squad players 50k / week.
hughied
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