So So So.. Arsenal sell their best player to their main rivals! £24m?? Astonishing! Is this a midas move from Fergy or is Wenger cashing in on a Van Persie past his sell by date? Surely this is the end of Arsenal’s title challenge – before the season has even begun!! How do you sell your best player, top scorer and recover??
True they have brought in strikers Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud; also creative midfielder Santi Corzola, who created the fourth most goalscoring opportunities in La Liga for Malaga last season (84), but will these three players combine to score the 30 goals left from the Van Persie void? Its a huge gamble, and one that has had other Arsenal players getting itchy feet. There has been rumours that Alex Song and Theo Walcott would also consider their futures should Van Persie leave. Barcelona have enquired about Song, as Liverpool have about Walcott.
So lets turn the tables..is this in fact good business for Arsenal? Van Persie is 29 now, and a striker rarely keeps his peak past the age of 32-33. Add this to the fact that he was prepared to run down his contract and leave on a free at the end of the season, 24m could be considered shrewd business. However, the move has polarised gooners, some in the pro-wenger camp, and some in the anti. This gap between supporters is splitting the club from its very base, the fans. The Van Persie saga has just added to this split, however most fans would agree they would rather have seen Van Persie move to Juventus, out of harms way. Since 2004 Arsenal have lost Campbell, Cole, Pires, Henry, Hleb, Flamini, Fabregas, Clichey, Nasri,Toure, Adebayor, virtually a whole team of star players. Are Arsenal now just a selling club?? Surely a big club should never sell its best players? Simples. Perhaps if and when the billionaire Usmanov takes full control of the club, the gunners will remain a selling club.
Wow! Rooney and Van Persie in the same team! That really is a mouth-watering proposition. But is a fourth striker what Manchester Utd really need? With the flagging Anderson, departure of Darren Gibson, the ailing Darren Fletcher, and the ageing Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick, surely Fergy should be placing more emphasis on this area of the park, midfield. Ok he has brought in Shinji Kagawa, who has impressed in pre-season, but maybe another midfielder to help Kagawa should have been the correct route. Fergy may opt to play Rooney in a deeper role, in a 4-3-1-2 behind Van Persie and Wellbeck or Hernandez, therefore maintaining a creative spark in the final third. Rooney is very versatile and looks just as comfortable as creator, besides his goalscoring prowess. Sir Alex has only bought 3 players over the age of 27 in the past 15 years (Henning Berg, Sheringham and Berbatov) so it is a slight departure from their normally youthful transfer policy.
Van Persie has scored 59 goals in his last 81 games for Arsenal with 22 assists, a quite incredible record, only behind Ronaldo and Messi in European terms. Still, it will take some getting used to seeing the name Van Persie on the back of a Man Utd shirt!