van Persie Commits His Future – or Does He?

The buzz on the net was that Robin van Persie had committed his future to Arsenal, great news if you only read the headlines, not so good, if you read between the lines.

 

Robin van Persie was rewarded in 2005 with a long-term contract, which runs to 2011. Arsenal opened negotiations with the Dutch striker recently, but as there was no man at the helm negotiations have not got anywhere.

 

Finally, we appointed a Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis and one of his first tasks was to sit down with van Persie and Walcott and thrash out new contract deals. Everything has gone quiet until yesterday.

 

In an interview with Setanta Sports, van Persie said, “My aim is not to fight for fourth place. This is what we are involved in now and I accept that. However, it is not my aim just to qualify for the Champions League. I want to win the Champions League and I believe we can.

 

“It is not just that I want to play in the FA Cup, I want to win it, and that is what I have always said.

 

“I am not a guy who gives up easily. I have a contract until 2011 and I will respect that and, about my future, I can’t say much more.”

 

Van Persie is merely saying that he is not at this moment prepared to sign a new contract, nor will he be seeking a move in the summer. He is holding a gun to Arsenal Football Club and stating if they do not win something, he is prepared and probably will leave.

 

Van Persie is a fiery character on the field, he has talent in abundance and would be in demand at most top clubs across Europe should he become available, but he must remember that to win trophies it is not just the club that is responsible but all the players too.   He has had his best season at Arsenal, but he is not a goal-scoring machine, in recent weeks he has missed too many chances to be able to say he is doing his bit for the team.  

 

Players who come out with statements that the club needs to meet my ambitions, should, before they open their mouths look at heir own performances, week in week out and ask themselves could I have done better?  If I had taken my chance against Sunderland or the header against West Ham then we would be sitting 2 points behind Chelsea.

 

Wenger will not allow a player like van Persie to see out his contract, the club will make one big push this summer to tie him down to a new contract, failing that he will be sold in summer 2010. All players want to win trophies, but to sign a contract extension only if we win a trophy is not the type of player we want at Arsenal.

 

I hope that van Persie will sign a new contract before the start of the new season, if not he will be sold and life will go on at Arsenal as it has when other players have thought life was better away from Arsenal.