We Will Do What's In The Best Interest of the Club

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has broadly hinted that the club are willing to do business as quickly as possible for wantaway captain Robin van Persie. Wenger told a press conference in Malaysia, "We are very, very ambitious. You know that. Not only very ambitious, but also very proud of the way we run our club."

Arsene is rarely candid about even the most mutinous of players but I guess the next sentence is as close to a dig as you`re ever likely to get from him, "Van Persie is a world-class striker and I am a big supporter of him. I have supported him through his whole career." Nevertheless, the manager all but conceded that a transfer was likely, "He has one year left and is in demand but our desire is to keep him.
'However, we will do what is in best interest of the club. If you have a decoder in your head you can decode that. The official transfer deadline is August 31 but then we can create an internal deadline. I believe the transfer market should stop before the season starts anyway."

Wenger also dismissed the prospect of midfield reinforcement, preferring instead to see how Abou Diaby fares in Asia, "You can't imagine how happy I am firstly to have him in the squad, because he is an exceptional player," Wenger said. "I am cautious but confident because he had two hard weeks and came through it well.

"This tour is another decider for him. He will play on Tuesday night and now it is down to uncontrolled movement in games: how does your body react to that? I am confident with what I have seen in training that he will do it."

He flatly denied interest in Yann M`Villa saying, "No [I am not interested]. We wait on Diaby and Wilshere," he said. "When you look we have Song, Ramsey, Coquelin, Wilshere, Arteta and Diaby.

"In defensive midfielders and box-to-box players we are not short if they are all coming back. If we have setbacks in pre-season it could be different."

Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Monaco

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.

Writer: Tim Stillman

Date:Monday July 23 2012

Time: 9:48AM

Your Comments

Good one from AW about the 'decoder'. No decoder is needed to see what he means but a good quip nevertheless! Interesting that AW doesn't include Frimpong and Lansbury among his midfield options indicating that either a loan (Frimpong) or a sell (Lansbury) option may be exercised. Also interesting that Arshavin is not listed in attacking midfield options and neither is Rosicky. Hope the latter stays. There is no question that we are short of creativity in midfield and AW's statement confirms that by admitting that only defensive and box to box midfielders are available to him. We have not yet replaced Fabregas and one could argue that a fit Wilshere is a different kind of player and not a replacement. The failed transfer of Juan Mata last season and a rumoured failed bid for Santi Cazorla last season also confirm that the club are looking for a good attacking creative midfielder. Hope we are successful this summer in recruiting one such player.

Deltaforce

The move to Juventus would be the only scenario I would be happy with (as long as they pay a fair price ... whatever that is). However I could at least have a grudging respect for him if he went to Man Utd, a club with an amazing history and one of the best managers in the world. Don't get me wrong, I would hate to see him there, however a move to Man City, in my eyes, would make him a complete sell out. Don't do it Rob, have some self respect.

Rocky7

Rocky7 - At least if he went to City he'd be going for the obvious reasons. Why would he prefer a move to United? They are challengers to the obvious favourties just like yourselves.

I must admitt, i do admire the way Wenger and Arsenal do their business. I hope Levy can sort out our Modric saga before the season starts, but i fear a Carlos Tevez repeat.

RyanHotSpur

I guess AW is saying that to RvP and his agent that if they don't get a satisfactory bid by a certain date, then stay he will for the remainder of his contract? If it's hurting us, all this must be hurting him even more. How many times has he said the last 5 years that his first priority is to keep this team together. Slowly but surely they're all departing.

Gooner_Vin

I certainly hope there's more to his comments about midfielders than he's letting on. He's admitting that an injury leaves us short and Wilshere and Diaby are in an unstable situation and Rosicky will miss the first segement of the season. If an injury leaves us short (which it does) we're much better addressing it now, rather than getting an injury in September, shrugging our shoulders and saying "Injuries were too much for us" again come May. I think we certainly need a creative element in the centre and it looks like another bid for Cazorla is on the cards. He seems to be more of a winger, which would be fine with me, if the creativity was to come more from a wide player coming in to create havoc in the no.10 role (that Mata plays so well for Chelsea) and having the midfield three as a more solid block that helps out our defence once in a while.

Little Dutch

Arsene, we are short in defensive midfielders, it's science.

shewore

Cazorla would be an immenses signing. The only national team he cannto walk into is Spains and they have the small matter of Fabregas, Silva, Iniesta and our DNA loving friend in front of him. As well as him not playing for Real or Barca (almost a crime when it comes to selection for the Spanish national side). He would be a fantastic goal scoring and creative addition to the team.

Scotch Eggs Rule

After a run of summers where we have endured a “star player” exodus, I wonder if we could use RvP as an example and make him see out his contract. Sure he might sulk and throw his toys around but he’ll be thirty when he can walk free from Arsenal and his one good season would be starting to blur by that time. Any would-be takers could not ignore the injury record and what with being in the twilight of his years his salary would be set accordingly. The bad news for Robbie is that it might not be much better than what he gets now. It would therefore be in his interest to perform during his last season with us, albeit with a grey cloud over his head, just to maintain his marketability. His biggest problem is that he has no re-sale value and couple that with his age and injury record he really needs to come up with a similar season to last year just to keep the big clubs interested. In the meantime, Arsene would be seen to exert his authority and put out a strong message to any other player wanting to hold the club to ransom in the future. Sure, we would lose the transfer fee but, for the reasons already stated and the desire from RvP to sustain interest, I think it would be money well spent. I’m not sure if Theo qualifies as a “star player” and if we had to sell him I somehow think Arsenal Football Club would survive.

Sir Henry

I certainly see where people are coming from in the thinking of holding van Persie to his contract to "send out a message." The trouble is, I'm not sure it'll work as a message at all. Most players will know very well we'd be taking this stance with van Persie because of his age and because we can afford to. So when Alex Song gets to this stage next year at the age of 24, he'll know full well the club won't keep him until the end of his deal. The talk of sending out a message is a bit hollow. The way contract law is now, players basically can play clubs in this way (not just us, every club is in the same boat here) and everyone knows it. That's just the way it is now and the best clubs will be the ones that adapt to having a high turnover of players better than anyone else.

Little Dutch

RVP can buy out of his contract for as little as 2-3mil under the Webster ruling. You should definitely sell up towards the end of the transfer window maximising any kind of sale receipt and re-invest in January (or buy another midfielder now). It's quite annoying when one of your top talents make it publically known they want to move on, i feel your pain there, but at least you have Giroud and Podolski to fill any kind of gap.

RyanHotSpur

I have to laugh really, what IS the best interest of the club? Every season saying we need to get the dead wood gone from the squad, but truth is we will be stuck with the same bunch of USELESS understudies that are just not good enough. Van Persie is right to want to leave, the only ambition Arsenal have is balancing the books, and my fear is that this season is going to be the one where A) spuds finish above us (embarrasing for starters) but B) will drop out of the top 4 altogether and spend the next few years out in the wilderness of trying to compete for a Europa League place!

Garthygooner

"When you look we have Song, Ramsey, Coquelin, Wilshere, Arteta and Diaby." Really?

Wyn Mills

Does anyone seriously believe we will get a full season out of Diaby or Arteta?

Wyn Mills

Just a negotiating ploy by AW Wyn. When he speaks like this it actually gives me hope that something positive will happen.

Deltaforce

Garthy, what's your solution here? What would you have done differently with RvP?

Little Dutch

DF, I suppose we should be used to Wengerspeak by now. Its just that I'm sometimes not sure if he's trying to convince himself more than the rest of us.

Wyn Mills

Have Your Say

Recent Articles

Who Is Your Vital Arsenal Player of the Season? (Tuesday May 21 2013)

Newcastle United 0 Arsenal 1 (Monday May 20 2013)

VIDEO: Wenger Praises 'Exceptional' Attitude (Monday May 20 2013)

Arsene Wenger, Now Is The Time (Monday May 20 2013)

The Moment That Made It All Worthwhile (Sunday May 19 2013)

Happy St Totteringham's Day To Gooners Everwhere (Sunday May 19 2013)

Team News: Last Game Of The Season (Sunday May 19 2013)

The Squeaky Bum Preview (Friday May 17 2013)

Wenger Confirms Sanogo Deal Almost Done (Friday May 17 2013)

Mid-Morning Ablutions #11 (Thursday May 16 2013)

Archived Articles

Vital Arsenal Articles from 2005
Vital Arsenal Articles from 2006
Vital Arsenal Articles from 2007
Vital Arsenal Articles from 2008
Vital Arsenal Articles from 2009
Vital Arsenal Articles from 2010
Vital Arsenal Articles from 2011
Vital Arsenal Articles from 2012
Vital Arsenal Articles from 2013

1.	nikolaijns	60
2.	Rocky7	53
3.	Naijagunner	46
4.	Wyn Mills	34
5.	flv	21
6.	Nwankwo25	20
7.	prits	20
8.	gunnerkid107	19
9.	No 10	16
10.	julieloveshenry4ever	16

Team	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1. Man Utd	38	28	5	5	43	89
2. Man City	38	23	9	6	32	78
3. Chelsea	38	22	9	7	36	75
4. Arsenal	38	21	10	7	35	73
5. Spurs	38	21	9	8	20	72
6. Everton	38	16	15	7	15	63
7. Liverpool	38	16	13	9	28	61

Choose your club

Other Sites

Network Navigation

Vital Partners

We Will Do What's In The Best Interest of the Club

Writer: Tim Stillman

Your Comments

Have Your Say

Recent Articles

Archived Articles

Vital Members League (view all)

League Results (view all)

League Table (view table)

Breaking League News

Current Site Poll (view all polls)

Latest Results
Newcastle	0	-	1	Arsenal
Arsenal	4	-	1	Wigan
Q.P.R.	0	-	1	Arsenal
Arsenal	1	-	1	Man Utd
Fulham	0	-	1	Arsenal
Arsenal	0	-	0	Everton