The football season is officially over… well, nearly over… tomorrow represents the last day of the footballing calendar, with key games being played to see who will be promoted through the play offs and who will be crowned kings of Europe.
It’s a tough decision to make about who you want to win the Champions League. If Chelsea win, then Sp*rs are demoted from the Champions League next season to the Europa Cup… which will be funny considering they actually finished in the top four.
However, the problem with Chelsea winning the Champions League is that they’ll become the first London based team to do so. So it’s quite clear in my head. Bayern to win the Champions League. Sp*rs to qualify to the group stage and then get knocked out!
Back to all things Arsenal and it’s that time of year when we should be thinking about who is coming in, but in all honesty, we’re worried that we’re going to lose our best player. It’s a bit of a tough one, by now, Robin should have signed a contract and the continue delays can only point to one thing… that he is leaving this Summer. Despite his wife saying they’re planning to stay in London, you can’t take anything for granted nowadays and for the first time in a quiet a while, I think he’s planning to leave.
After all, he’s got the captain’s curse.
He did say in his post match interview after the West Brom game… “Whatever happens, I’ll always have Arsenal in my heart”… surely the sentiment of the statement is that he’s off. Patrick Vieira has been in the press talking about what will happen if he leaves – yes we will survive, but no we won’t challenge for the title.
“I think losing Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas last year was a big shock for the people who love Arsenal. If they lose Van Persie it will be a drama. With Samir and Cesc you could say, ‘OK those two are gone, but there is Jack Wilshereand Van Persie still at the club’. But if Robin leaves who is behind? If he leaves it’s going to be difficult for Arsenal to keep the top players, next year it may be Theo Walcott, then Jack Wilshere. But if they keep Robin they’re going to send a positive message to all the clubs and to all the people around. It’s really important to keep him.”
The fact that we’re here again and we have a top player entering the last year of his contract absolutely sucks. Why do we let this happen? Well, it’s probably about money. Every time we re-sign, we have to pay a sign on fee and astronomical wages increase to even more astronomical wages. From a club’s point of view, by not signing last summer, there was a massive saving.
Signing now is perfect, as the club has already saved the money – but the problem is this.
If you are a football player and you’re offered an increased contract, you’d sign it. Why? Because you’d get paid more money. It’s a no brainer. If Robin is on £80k a week and his new contract is £120k a week, then bot signing it would mean that you’d lose out on £40k a week, which is £2m.
The only time you’d not sign and risk losing out on £2m is if you were planning to leave in Summer.
Think about it boys and girls, it’s getting pretty obvious.
There has been much debate about what to do now. Just as we have lured Podolski, taking him from £40k to £60k and the Champions League, there are clubs who are above us, who will be able to pay us what we want for Robin and pay Robin want he wants.
Michael on Football365, summed it up:
“Take the money, thank RVP for the transfer fee and his immense contribution to CL qualification and not waste the summer trying to convince him to stay. Use the WHOLE summer to build a team for next season and not wait until transfer deadline day.”
Planning is key, filling in the missing gaps is key. If all of this nonsense about Robin is going to end up blowing up in our face, and we’re going to lose him anyway, we might as well lose him now and then focus on the next step.
I really hope Arsene has learnt from last season. Don’t get me wrong – I will jump for joy if Robin stays, but I just don’t see it happening….
There’s a long road this summer, it can be protracted, long and painful or short & sweet and to the point. I’d prefer the latter, no matter who comes in and who leaves.
Here’s to a Bayern win tomorrow….
Adios for now…
