Though the focus this summer will be placed on the players that Arsenal bringing in, equally important will be the players who the Gunners ship out. There’s a laundry list of players that haven’t made the grade at the Emirates as long as your arm and Arsene Wenger has a real challenge on his hands commanding the purge.
Players like Andrey Arshavin, Marouane Chamakh, Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner, Abou Diaby, Denilson, Sebastien Squillaci and Park Chu-Young all have their future in the balance. Many of them will want to move on, whilst a number of them will want to stand by the healthy wage packet their currently picking up courtesy of Arsenal FC.
Suffice to say, when the right deal comes in for an out-of-sorts Arsenal player, it’s up to the top brass to bite their hand of. If there are any clubs out there crazy enough to be interested in signing one of these batch, then so be it – let them make their own bed.
Which brings me to the Daily Mail’s claim that Arsenal’s Swiss centre-back Johan Djourou wants a move away from the club. After starting just 12 Premier League game last season, the 25-year-old appears to have had enough and is looking for a move away from North London.
His agent, Flavio Ferraria has told the Press: ‘I saw my client the other day and he was enthusiastic about both Napoli and Italy in general. So far we have received an offer worth £10m. At the moment Napoli are not on the list of appointments but everything is possible. If he leaves the Premier League he will play in Italy or Spain. He wants to play for one of the top five Italian clubs.’
Hang on. Somebody has bid £10m for Djourou’s services? Why didn’t the Gunner’s immediately accept? That sum would almost have covered Lukas Podolski’s price-tag. That money could be put towards a move for Yann M’Vila and/or Olivier Giroud. What’s holding the club back?
Whilst he wasn’t one of the clubs main offenders last season, he’s certainly not good enough to be a regular in this Arsenal side. He’s a little error prone and doesn’t read the game as well as the likes of Per Mertesacker. At the moment he’s the club’s fourth-choice centre-back (when everybody’s fit) and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
It’s probably best for his career and Arsenal’s cash reserves that he elects to move on. He’d probably fit in well with the pace of Serie A and may be able to make a name for himself with regular football.
As for Arsenal, I’m sure fans just want to see signs that a clearout is beginning.
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He doenst want a move away.
He sed he is more commited 2 us than eva !and I like him very good 4th choice
Arsen wenger needs to break the bank to keep ROBIN VAN PERSIE{my mentor}.
Wanting Djourou to leave shows that you have no credibility what so ever in the world of football. Complete and utter madness. You, sir, need to review your footballing foundations.
He and his agent have received the offer of 10 Million, not Arsenal FC. I take this to mean his contract over 3/4 years is worth that much. Djourou is good as 4th choice, but if he is earning 60K per week, that might be too much for a player who is only back up. We have some good youngsters (Miquel, Bartley) who I have been impressed with.