When he signed the deal, the number 10 announced his love for the club and it was a love tinged with the humility so often used synonymously with another great – Lionel Messi: “My heart is with Arsenal and I just can’t picture myself in a different shirt. I just can’t see it now because I love this Club so much.”
Three years have nearly passed and the club he adores so much hasn’t had quite the “bright future” van Persie stated that he wanted to “be a part of.” You could forgive him for wanting to move on now. He’s in his peak flow, he’s 28 and the clubs that consistently find themselves among the silverware are sniffing about like grotty pensioners on a morning bus in January.
However, does van Persie owe it to Arsenal to sign a further contract extension?
Over his Arsenal career, the striker has started in just 58% of Premier League games because of injury and since he joined The Gunners from Dutch side Feyenoord, Arsenal have won just one trophy – The F.A. Cup in the forward’s first season. Imagine if Robin van Persie hadn’t endured such an injury plagued career at the club? How much more success could’ve Arsenal achieved?
Lukas Podolski will join Arsenal in the summer at which point his new strike partner will have just one year left on his contract. If he stalls his decision over signing an extension and a club come in for him, he could leave for nothing. If he signs prematurely and another wave of Arsenal transfers fails to deliver, silverware may continue to elude him as he approaches his 30th birthday next summer.
Does Robin van Persie owe it to Arsenal to sign a new contract or will much the same happen with Podolski taking the van Persie role and the Dutchman leaving akin to Henry? The only difference is, the Frenchman left with a vast trophy collection – how much does van Persie want the same?
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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Nobody owes anyone anything in modern football. If anything, Cesc Fabregas, with all his confessions about his admiration for Wenger, should’ve stayed for atleast another year and no left the club in such dire straits at the last moment.
For a player of his calibre, RvP has been playing very little money (70k a week of reports are to be believed). Lesser players than him are getting twice as much. Worse, he just has one FA cup trophy to show in past 7 years! Who can blame him if he decides to go before he reaches the twilight of his career and misses any change of winning a trophy? The way Wenger has been stingy in spending on the squad, I don’t realistically think Arsenal has any chance of winning a trophy worth its name in the next few years. Who can blame RvP if he decides to leave then?