Robin van Persie says the time is not right for him to discuss a new deal with the club but says he’s focused on the team rather than himself.
The Dutchman is into the final two years of his contract and with Arsenal going through a difficult period he says talking about it at the end of the season might be the best for all concerned.
“I still have almost two years left, so for the moment that’s fine”, he said. “I’m happy with my contract. I can’t look into the future. I can’t see us talking now because we are so busy.
“The main thing for me is the team and that we play well. I do believe you have to look for a right moment to sit down and speak about your own stuff. It’s not only about me, it’s about the team.
“I don’t want to give the wrong message to speak about my own stuff while the others are a bit more important. Maybe we will leave it until the end of the season”.
It is a worry for Arsenal fans, especially as van Persie has hired Darren Dein as his agent. Dein, whose father David remains a popular figure amongst some supporters, has successfully managed to transfer Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri out of the club in recent times.
With van Persie’s stock never higher there will be concerns that a final big contract somewhere else might be tempting to the Dutchman, but much will depend on Arsenal’s ability to compete for the big trophies each season.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has compared his captain to Barcelona supremo, Lionel Messi. “He is like Lionel Messi in the positional sense,” he said. “He doesn’t play like a real centre-forward but if you look at his movement he is very intelligent. because of his diagonal runs. And his first touch is so good that in tight spaces he can make a difference, also because he has a very short back-lift for a big guy.”
And he also praised his growing maturity having taken over the role of captain from Cesc Fabregas this summer. “He has leadership on the pitch. Because technically he is super‑talented so he gains the respect of the others for that, and then the second part that he has added is that he speaks his mind in the dressing room. And people listen to him.”
Fair play putting the team first, hopefully he’s signs new contract
This is a much better piece than the hack job running at the Guardian. I suppose that’s to be expected, but the decontextualization of quotes there was worrying me a bit, and this clears it up. Sure, this could well be a problem, but not as much of a problem as some would seem to think. I remain hopeful. As for Dein, I understand the issue, but Thierry Henry was perhaps aging, Samir Nasri was always looking for a giant paycheck, and Gael Clichy was not the worst player to lose (by any means). As for Cesc, the transfer had… Read more »
Considering the desires of Dein senior I don’t think its unreasonable to believe its coincidence his son is trying to find the best deals for our star men. Coincidentally the best deals have been away from the Arsenal.
The guy is right, first observe the ambitions of Arsenal, if it’s simply to qualify for CL and forth place why commit to that. CTime the club grow up alongside it’s players.
I am quite nervous about losing Robin. Things don’t really looked stacked in favour of re-signing a contract right now. I would really hope some degree of loyalty might play into it.
I think it will if the team is in good shape.
My only prayer is that he does a Rooney type move and force the hand of the club.
I”d be devastated if he leaves
I’d hope he has more class than that. Or at least, he does it behind closed doors and away from tabloid sensationalism.
I won’t be worried if we lose players. Arsenal is bigger thapn its players and always has been.
Football success happens in cycles and if I have to wait for chelsea and citeh to be broke again for Arsenal to be successful, then I’ll gladly wait and still support and love my club, just like I have for 36 years. Relax fellow gooners, as our time will come again!
On an un-related note, is it just me or is Mikel Arteta an amazingly beautiful man?
Facially, he is classically handsome.
But something about his hair is just a little off. It’s like it’s just slightly too big. Almost a bouffant.
Agreed. His hair never seems to get messed up either. Reminds me a bit of ken, barbie’s other half. Not a patch on Bobby tho. . . .
guys..seriously….wtf?
at least hes no ronaldo
Really great looking player. I imagine Wenger’s conversation to sign him went like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq3V3mKF218
The Spanish lot seem to be either you-make-me-rethink-buttsex handsome (Cesc, Arteta, Pique, Casillas) or hideous pigs (Puyol, Busquets, Iniesta)
beauty is temporary, class is permanent… just ask Charlie George! lol
Yeh, he looks like an old scrotum with teeth now, but what a player he was.
I do think there’s something funny about Arteta’s eyebrows, almost like they’re drawn on or something.
I think he might be a cyborg. One day he’ll get a stud in the face and it’ll rip open his rubber flesh to reveal a T-800 Terminator.
Then he’ll shoot the entire Stoke team, especially Shawcross, in the legs, a lot, and then rip off Rory Delap’s freakish long throw arms and replace them with those of a baby. Anyway…
A most excellent post.
I’m praying RVP is the one that makes a stand and says, I’m Arsenal captain -that’s an honour – I love this club, they signed me when things weren’t great for me personally, they’ve stood by me in the bad times, and not just with injuries and yes I could earn more money elsewhere, but fuck Citeh, fuck Chelski, I’m staying to pay all of that back and guide this team out of the shit. And I understand why he wants to wait till the end of the season, but imagine what affect doing that now could have on the… Read more »
I’d like to think RVP is that type of man. I believe he will stay…he’s got Arsenal DNA by the way……
A true Arsenal legend, 100 goals, and who looks at the results every week to see if Spuds lost! Me too Robin, I do that too!
The fella’s an Arsenal legend in a way Cesc will never be.
Robin has been at the club for 8 years now, if he sees out his contract it’ll be 10. I’d be really sad to see him go, but that is a hell of a long time to be at one club, so fair play to him if he decides to go. He is a real Gooner. Arsenal DNA (well, Feyernoord DNA, but who would want to go back there?)
That’s cleared that one up then. Robin will go next summer. All we need is Arsene Wenger to come out and say “I am confident he will sign a new contract” to confirm it.
And he is a very good striker. But, come on, he is nowhere near as good as Messi.
Dude, Arsene Wenger just talked about Robin’s positional and first-touch skills. He didn’t actually say they were ‘on-par’ or anything, he just said they were similar.
Please take note that both Robin and Lionel Messi play false nine roles in their respective clubs and they both excel at it. Messi is pacier than Robin will ever become, but in terms of playing their false nine roles, they are both excellent at it.
I think your name should be “my opinion”
[…] feel relieved after the win, yet was forced to answer more transfer questions from the media after reports surfaced that his star striker was yet to sign a contract […]
It will depend on where we are as a club come the time of contract talks, if the club can show ambition then he may wel stay if we are in trouble and show no signs of addressing it then who could blame him for going. The blokes done 8 years so fair play to him whatever he decides.
Robin will become a real legend if he sees out his years as an Arsenal player the way Dennis Bergkamp did, and then we’ll have to sign another young temperamental wide Dutchman to fill in his boots, and start another legend.
Cesc is a favourite of Arsenal Football Club, but not yet a legend if you ask most people. I’m hoping SCZC and Vermaelen joins Robin in the legends’ club later on.
I reckon he’ll stay, i think he’s got more about him than someone like na$ri, he seems to genuinely love the club and i think that shows in his frustration when things go wrong. Refreshing to hear a footballer saying things aint all about himself. Gives us a good few months to have Darren Dein shot yet anyway. . .
This situation with Van Persie simply highlights the deep, fundamental problem that we have within our club right now. The wage structure is illogical and detrimental to the success of the club. Average players, such as Diarby and Bentner are on (allegedly) 60-80 grand a week. Yet the club refuse to play the very best players, like Van Persie, the 150-grand-a-week wage that is now the going rate for the best players in the world. That’s why we lost out on signing Juan Mata and other quality players this summer. Unless Wenger and the Board tear up the wage structure… Read more »
‘Diarby’ and ‘Bentner’? You called me on spelling and grammar for missing an apostrophe and YOU can’t even spell the names of players that you see week in/week out and read about everyday! How does that make you look? Hypocritical much? Hmm….
Ok, ok! you wuz rite and I is rong!
Leave him alone, he’s fat
Haha, you can deploy that defence mechanism but the fact of the matter is that I caught you out after you put yourself up on a pedestal, you sanctimonious cunt. I noticed you didn’t have anything to say back after I replied to your previous trolling. You, my fat friend, are a loser and i’m quite content to make you look like the crusty cumstain that you truly are.
Cor, you don’t half hold a grudge Joe lol
Joe, if you are going to make me look like a “crusty cumstain” then you are going to have to learn how to write properly. For a start it’s “I’m” not “i’m”. Always capitalise your i’s when talking about yourself.
End of first lesson.
Thanks for that English lesson but I was merely trying to prove a point that you’re a wanker that feels the need to troll somebody over a couple of lines of text and mark them for spelling and grammar. It’s pretty sad. Normally I wouldn’t have a go at somebody for the way they write but when I saw you spell incorrectly after you had been so anal to point out that I had missed an apostrophe out the previous day. It’s not that I hold a grudge, I just believe that people like you, Fatgooner (one word? no capital… Read more »
you have hit the nail on the head fatgooner and is exactly right ,arsene wenger seems to think they can dictate to the football world which they obviously can’t but you can tell he thinks this way by making stupid bids that are way to low to even be considered and where he maywell be right in some of his valuations this is not a perfect world and most definately not a perfect arsenal .I was of the understanding arsenal built the new staduim to become a major player in england and europe but I now realise that was never… Read more »
I just hope and pray that he sign a new contract, coz’ he’s one of the greats that’s left in the club if not the only. He seem to love the club more than his salary or money unlike some cunts(nashit).
This concerns me. As a captain, what would be best for the team and give them a huge life would be their leader and best player signing a new deal to stay with the club.
Okay so maybe it’s not the exact right time, but even saying he fully intends to sign a new deal would be a huge boost. This stinks of someone just saying the right thing by everyone, a la Cesc. I hope I am wrong. I really have enjoyed watching RvP grow as both a player and as a man.
I love rvp but let’s take of our arsenal heads for a moment, we re not going to win a title or a champions league in the next two years, then he ll be 30 and hopefully guided us through a couple of seasons(maybe a n fa or league cup) and then let him sign for a medal winning club with our blessing, sad state of affairs but that’s where we are in the grand scheme of things
I would love for RVP to stay on. But I am going to save my worries for a bit. A lot can happen in a year. It wasn’t that long ago that I remember blogs and many folks questioning whether we should stick with him or not with his injury issues. I pray this is the season he stays fit, but it has never happened before.
I might be being naive but I genuinely think that for RVP it is about more than the money. He knows whoever he signs for will make him rich (or richer), what he wants is success. The real question is whether he thinks he can get that at arsenal. In a strange way this could turn out to be a good thing. Wenger never criticises the board but there really only is two ways to take his statement about losing players – one is as a message to the fans to expect the worst and the other is as a… Read more »
Nobody about to negotiate a contract extension is ever going to say “OMG I’ll never leave I couldn’t possibly imagine that” unless they want to get royally stiffed by their club.
Generally you have a point but Arsenal don’t want their players unhappy and grumbling week in week out, I’d imagine that they’d rather pay a bit extra a week than affect team morale.
Van Persie is our club captain, we are not going to cheat him. Give him 150k a week!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/15054958.stm
Sue for me saying this, but I don’t see this as such a big issue. 1.Announcing his immediate desire to re-sign would put him in a slightly weaker position with regard to negotiations and all said and done, no professional player would mind an extra bit of cash? 2. While this might be coming a little late for Robin’s negotiations, it does give the club yet another push about just how important the on-field results are, and not just the financial stability. However, I’m hopeful we learnt our lessons from the Nasri and Clichy sagas and will work harder to… Read more »
[…] our talismanic skipper next season. The striker himself has deepen that fear by establishing that he is not concern about renewing his contract at the moment, understandably due to Arsenal’s hectic […]
Fatgooner, has it occured to you that Wenger is comparing RVP to Messi so that the Arse board shows RVP the money? Arsene does not sign the players’ checks, the board does.
Honestly, if you spent a little more time thinking about Arsenal’s ownership’s structure you may come away a little amazed by Wenger’s ability to navigate some complicated club politics.
If he leaves only Wenger and the blub will be to blame, yet again we blew it in the transfer window by not buying enough quality. Buying on transfer deadline day is not the answer, Wenger had months, just like the last 3 years, my patience is running thin in support of him.
Since Paddy, am now used to captains/best players leaving after drawn out summers of hell on a yearly basis. No amount of wishing by the fans changes a players mind. Que sara sara….
People, get used to this situation. We will not be able to keep our best players. The likes of van Persie, Vermaelen, and Wilsherewill all eventually leave for greener (and richer) pastures b/c we will not compete for the title in the next few years. We have owners who are more interested in turning a profit than putting out a winning squad. They have no interest in spending the necessary money needed to be a world class squad. Yep, within a few years we will be a midtable club battling with the likes of Fulham, Aston Villa, and Everton for… Read more »
the way the game is nowadays you cant really blame anyone if they go for not only the money but a chance to win things as a double whammy….
put yourself in their place…….im a joiner and if someone offered me double or tripple to do the same job id be of like a shot……..thats life.