Good Bye RVP!

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Italian champions Juventus will make a staggering £70million move for Robin van Persie.

Juventus are prepared to pay Arsenal a £30m transfer fee and give Van Persie a four-year deal worth around £180,000-a-week.

The Mirror revealed earlier this week that Van Persie was not keen on a move to Italy, but Juve are refusing to give up and are the first foreign club to make a serious push to sign the Gunners' captain this summer.

Arsenal are determined to keep Van Persie - manager Arsene Wenger insisted this week they will not sell this summer, the Dutchman is under contract until summer 2013 and Wenger is "confident" the player will stay - but that has not deterred interest from Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Real seemed to be the most likely destination if Van Persie was to leave, but there are doubts the Spanish club have the spending power required.

While United are watching developments closely, neighbours City believe Van Persie favours a move abroad if he decides to leave Arsenal.

Juventus general director Giuseppe Marotta admitted his admiration for van Persie this week after hailing him a "great player."

Marotta confirmed Juve want a world class player and even though they were seen as outsiders - and still believe it will be hard to strike a deal - they are ready to break the bank to get their man.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...-persie-829563

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Sadly i can't see him refusing all of those very attractive offers that will be thrown at him, especially considering that he's approaching that now or never time in his career as it relates to winning some form of silverware.

I think he has strong sentimental attachment to the club, but I couldn't blame him or even frown upon him were he to accept one of those mega offers. Only thing I do hope is that if he does decide to move, he at least has the decency to go abroad.

[Marc Overmars]

Last game in an Arsenal shirt today.

RVP.

What a player.

[Dennis Bendtner]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18053598

That last bit sounds a bit. Erm. Dicey.

[Niall_Quinn]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18053598

That last bit sounds a bit. Erm. Dicey.

Dicey? Sounds like a goodbye. Two steps backwards and one step back. If he goes we'll still have that gash Chamakh I suppose, and Song can play there.

[milla]

Dicey? Sounds like a goodbye. Two steps backwards and one step back. If he goes we'll still have that gash Chamakh I suppose, and Song can play there.

And Diaby.

[Syn]

The "No matter what happens, I will always love this club" thing seems to get people worried. He has said that a few times now. I don't know, I think his negotiating position would be strengthened if he gave nothing away - he seems to be doing just that.

From the club's perspective, I still think it's in our hands.

Wenger said this the other day:

"People speak like our position is not important. Our position is very important. Anyway, Robin is not at the end of his contract".

I think it'll boil down to money. Fans go on about trophies and playing with other world class players...nah. It's money. And status. He's the king here and he won't get that anywhere else - he knows it. And if we chuck about £150k a week at him, I reckon there's no chance he is turning that down. But whether Gazidis and Wenger feel he is worth a 4 year contract at £150k a week is the crucial issue.

Basically - I'm more worried about how serious Arsenal are to keep him at the club as opposed to how much Robin wants to stay. Wenger's "29 is the worse age to give a big contract" talk earlier on in the season was scary.

[GP]

The "No matter what happens, I will always love this club" thing seems to get people worried. He has said that a few times now. I don't know, I think his negotiating position would be strengthened if he gave nothing away - he seems to be doing just that.

From the club's perspective, I still think it's in our hands.

Wenger said this the other day:




I think it'll boil down to money. Fans go on about trophies and playing with other world class players...nah. It's money. And status. He's the king here and he won't get that anywhere else - he knows it. And if we chuck about £150k a week at him, I reckon there's no chance he is turning that down. But whether Gazidis and Wenger feel he is worth a 4 year contract at £150k a week is the crucial issue.

Basically - I'm more worried about how serious Arsenal are to keep him at the club as opposed to how much Robin wants to stay. Wenger's "29 is the worse age to give a big contract" talk earlier on in the season was scary.

Well that's just it. That's a £31m investment, not something to be taken lightly.

[Marc Overmars]

In this day and age, 150k is probably standard for a player of RVP's importance and stature. If there's one player we should probably break our wage structure for, it's him. Our debt is on the slide now and it's about time we invested the cash profits in the team.

It's obscene money but this is football now. Lose RVP and we might as well give up.

[Syn]

Well that's just it. That's a £31m investment, not something to be taken lightly.

It's not, and tbh I don't reckon he'll have another season like this. There's a fair chance he could pick up a long term injury or just remain off the boil as he has in the last month or so. But without getting all emo and alias about it, I don't think we could take Van Persie going. He's the captain of the club (a good captain) and his presence in the team is important. We have survived losing a load of talented players but Robin going would set us back. And everyone is getting a bit fucked off with it now. The years of basically every player spending 10-15 years at a club and having testimonials and shit are gone but we need a few of them now. No more rebuilding. We have a good spine at the club. There are good youngsters about. We've added a smart addition in Podolski. Lets see how far we can go.

I know it's probably not that simple and it might not be the rational thing to do but I'd just hand him what he wants. We need to get rid of this selling club tag. As I say, the £31m investment might not be worth £31m in terms of Van Persie's contribution on the pitch, but there's a bigger picture here. We need to try to push on and improve.