Quote Originally Posted by Champagne Charlie View Post
But how can you stop a player from running down a contract? You can't force them to sign. The only other option is to sell them, but then we'll be seen as a selling club and accused of never being able to hold on to our top players. I just think it's a very slippery slope to let the players dictate what wages they deserve.

Although I do agree that there is a fundamental problem with us paying the young, unproven players way too high wages based on "potential". It does make it increasingly hard to get them off your books. But then, if we do buckle to Nasri's wage demands and for the next two years he performs like he did in the second half of last season, then what's the biggest problem; Bendtner being shit on £50k or Nasri being shit on £100k?
You can't force a player to do anything but success breeds loyalty. The vicious circle we're in is IMHO mainly down to a lack of ambition. It's not like our players are leaving us and moving to inferior teams. They are seeking a move for sporting & financial reasons.

We as a club need to show more ambition in the Market, we can't compete with Citeh, Chelsea & Man U but we should most definitely be in a position where we can attract top quality & emerging players from our lesser rivals.

That's the long and short of it for me.