It’s been over three weeks now since the Premier League
season finished, and I think that almost all football fans up and down the land
can finally put rivalries aside and agree to the sharing of one rather common
emotional state of mind – boredom.
That’s how I feel anyway. OK, there’s been some
International football. But at large we’ve been starved of the game we all love
for three whole weeks, and will be for three days more until the beginning of
the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine on Friday.
From an Arsenal point of view, the slow start to the
summer has been expected, yet anxiety levels remain, as there is a rather
extensive ‘to-do’ list for Arsene Wenger, Ivan Gazidis and co to get stuck
into. However from the outside, it appears the list is still going through the
lamination process before being put into action. Official news has been limited,
and we supporters are suffering in the never-ending labyrinth of rumours,
speculation and “ITKs” (in the knows), whose inside sources have claimed that
Arsenal have signed Jan Vertonghen (now Sp*rs bound), Eden Hazard (signed for
Chelsea) and given us varying statements (or as I like to call them, guesses)
on how close we are, or are not, to signing long term target Yann M’Vila from
Rennes amongst other made up rumours.
It’s all very boring, very repetitive, and for some
reason, often believed. But as we all know by now, Arsenal keep our transfer
dealings very close to the chest. The general consensus is that until it’s on
the website, it shouldn’t be believed. That’s how I see it anyway.
I appreciate that the above kind of gives the impression
that I think nothing is being done, but that isn’t true. I said from the
‘outside’, nothing appears to be happening, but as I then said, we keep our
activity very close to the chest until it is confirmed.
Activity has been on going since April, which is when the
club’s first summer signing was announced, Lukas Podolski. We’ve also
rearranged our backroom staff, released a host of players including Manuel
Almunia, had a meeting with Robin van Persie over his contract, and as
announced today, began proceedings with Mikel Arteta to provide him with a new
contract.
Touching upon the final point of the above list, the
Gooner twitter society again went up in arms over the reasons, need, and
priority of sorting out Arteta with a new contract. Only judging from what I’ve
read today, it seems the finely haired Spaniard joined us last summer from
Everton taking a £10,000 a week pay cut, played brilliantly for us this season,
and triggered a clause in his contract that enabled his representatives to talk
to the club about an improved contract.
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| Arteta's contract demands caused a stir this morning. |
On face value I think that’s fair enough. But one of the
arguments most prominent was how important really is it for us to open up
contract talks with a still new player who has three years left on his existing
one? I think this is kind of besides the point, seeing as it’s Arteta’s camp
that are enforcing the negotiations, but is this really an issue? I’m sure
we’re more than capable of progressing with our other priorities for the
summer, which are mainly continuing the search for new players, staying on top of
the other contract negotiations we’re resolving (to the best of our ability),
plus looking at offloading the “deadwood” that is taking up valuable squad and
wage space. I’d like to think so anyway.
And which of the above take the lead when it comes to our
priorities this summer?
Obviously the van Persie contract is what is at the top of
everyone’s mind. Rightly so, too, seeing as he’s the club captain, Player of
the Year for club, PFA, and FWA respectfully. Not to mention the 36 goals he
scored in all competitions in the season just passed that make him a rather
important asset. One that is heavily admired elsewhere, and worshipped from
within too. If we’re to be considered ambitious, we really need to be keeping
the van Persie’s of the club, and not enduring a similar scenario to what went
down last summer.
Often overlooked is the need to secure Theo Walcott to a
new contract too, who is also entering the final year of his current deal at
Arsenal. After RVP, Theo was our greatest attacking threat last season,
notching up nine goals and nine assists in all competition. Yes, he struggled
for patches (notably when Bacary Sagna was out injured), but at large he was
very promising. And despite having plenty of critics, RVP personally mentioned
him on more than one occasion as playing a big part in his goal scoring form.
Not to forget this assessment from Lionel Messi prior to the Arsenal v
Barcelona tie in the Champions League in February 2011. People are quick to
write off Theo, but we’ve seen how good he can be. He’s still young, and as
I’ve just highlighted he’s very well thought of amongst his peers. Peers who
know a thing or two about football.
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| Both van Persie and Walcott have contracts expiring in 2013. |
Allowing Theo to leave now would be a huge mistake. One
that would surely come back to hurt us, should he depart to a rival English
club. However, by all accounts this appears to be the easier of the two deals to
organise, and hopefully that's the case. Maybe sorting it sooner rather than
later will aid the RVP negotiations too; such is the Dutchman’s fondness of the
young winger.
Then there’s the matter of strengthening our squad, and as
already mentioned we’re heavily linked to M’Vila, and also Olivier Giroud of Montpellier. There are several other names floating around too, but these seem
to be the two with the most substance right now, to be new recruits alongside
Podolski.
Any newcomers need to be satisfied by out goers though,
and I think we all expect several departures in the coming months. Squillaci,
Chamakh, Bendtner, Denilson, Park and Arshavin are all names that I think we’ve
seen in Arsenal’s red for the last time, and will all free up valuable space
for both wages and squad availability.
The one factor that affects everything to do with
Arsenal’s summer priorities is the European Championships. Somewhat ironically,
as that’s what we’re all so looking forward to, to salvage our craving for
decent football. Yet that’s what is hindering our, and the rest of Europe’s
elite clubs, ability to proceed in the transfer market.
Generally, clubs won’t sell before it as their player’s
values could go up with a decent performance. And players won’t sign new deals
until after, as their stock too could rise with a good tournament, giving
themselves greater ability to negotiate better contracts. Plus, it gives
players looking for a move the chance to place them at the top of the shop
window, which the likes of Arshavin and Bendtner will no doubt be looking to
impress upon to get the best possible move, and for Arsenal the best possible
value for their transfers.
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| Two Arsenal players heading towards the exit door this summer? |
In my humble opinion, it’s the contract negotiations that
must take priority over anything else this summer. The loss of our two best
players last summer were the catalyst to the horrific start to the season we
endured, and currently we have three of our best players in a situation that
could lead to their departures should things backfire on us (Alex Song being
the third). Not impossible to image, given our luck.
I won’t go into whether or not I think RVP signing on is
likely (I’d be writing forever), but should he, Walcott and Song all sign new
deals then that puts us in a fantastic position to attract the quality required
to take us up a level in terms of what we can expect from Arsenal next season.
And quite simply, we’ll never improve if we continue to sell our best players
every summer.
The clock is ticking, and the fans are waiting expectantly.
One thing’s for sure, there’ll be twist and turns along the way that no one
will predict. It wouldn’t be the Arsenal way if it were easy.
Until next time.
