Naija-End Gooner

Thursday 26 July 2012

The Wenger-Persie Conspiracy Theory

Is it possible that the club wanted to sell RVP from the beginning then slowly and methodically pushed him towards releasing that infamous statement? Could the club have reasoned that they need to recoup all the monies that have been spent over the years on Van Persie while he stayed out injured for most of his eight years in Arsenal knowing that the form he displayed last season may soon be disrupted by another long term injury?

So what better time to sell him than now when his ovation is at its loudest after all he is going on 29 years and sports science (read common sense) which Arsene Wenger has been known to favour its benefits have shown that the law of diminishing returns creeps up on most footballers at about this age.

My friend Obinna came at me with this conspiracy theory this morning and I tried to fault his reasoning but I had to admit he made a lot of us sense.

"Wenger always renewed RVPs contract even when he was injured but stalled this time because I believe he realised RVP is advancing in age, so any long term injury now could end his career! Do you want to have a £180k\week player in your books that's always injured?," Obinna said.

By calling Van Persie's bluff at the meetings between player/agent and club, the club may have reasoned that RVP will resort to something desperate like releasing that infamous statement which ultimately pitched the fans against RVP while ensuring that the club will not once again be accused of always being ready to sell off their best players.

While the statement released by RVP did not do the club's negotiating position any favours, it ensured that an auction for the player began in earnest.

"Now we look like reluctant sellers, and to do business with a reluctant seller, you need to do like Don Corleone said and make him an offer he can't refuse," Obinna reasoned. "Why else would we have bought two strikers in a hurry which goes against our usual transfer dealings and are in the market for a third one?"

"We need to make Wenger an offer he can't refuse"

Can you fault this line of reasoning?

Wednesday 25 July 2012

All We Are Saying, Give Us Arsenal!

The boys have arrived in Beijing and were accorded another awesome reception from the Chinese fans. Oh! How they love this club in China. Makes me wonder what would have been if they had come to Nigeria as planned. The Malaysian and Chinese receptions would have paled in significance, wouldn't it, Nigerian Gunners?

Yeah!!! I hear you roar, "ALL WE ARE SAYING, GIVE US ARSENAL". Yeah! You all know that tune and we will sing it until we are heard if they don't keep their word to come play here next summer.

The Arsenal marketing director,Angus Kinnear made us a promise when the club postponed the trip that was planned for August when he said,

"We have a huge and loyal following in Africa, and we are sorry that the team will not be visiting this summer. However, we have a long-term commitment to Nigeria and we are already making plans for a visit next summer."

Hopefully, the club will keep their word and we'll watch and cheer the team on our shores next summer.

The game in China is between us and a familiar opponent from the premier league, Manchester City. It's a showpiece game like the one in Malaysia last Tuesday but I reckon we'll take it a bit more seriously than the game against Malaysia XI for pride's sake. The game is scheduled for Friday next at 12 noon at the famous Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. I'll let you know here and here when I confirm if it will be aired in Nigeria.

However it goes anyway, not much significance should be given to the results because the boss is more interested in the workout value of these pre-season games than the results, and of course the Chinese fans will expect to be entertained. Having said that, I'd rather we were not at the receiving end of a hiding from City because we need the team to have a workout and the Chinese fans to be entertained. It's City we are talking about and the British press in particular will not let us live it down no matter how friendly the game may be. It has become fashionable to remind Arsenal how they need to spend more money especially when a chink is spotted in our amour. I really don't want to hear it.

It was one of them days today and I couldn't find time to get in here earlier than now. Luckily there wasn't much more than unconfirmed rumours of Carzola heading our way amongst a few other rumours to report.

I'll keep it short this night and hopefully I'll be much earlier tomorrow.

Kachifo!

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Rumour Has It Mancini's Tearing His Hair Out Because Of RVP

If rumours are to be believed, Mancini was seen tearing his hair out while raging at his bosses at Manchester City for not doing enough to sign Robin Van Persie. While I take that particular story with a few pinches of salt, it is a sight that gives me a lot of satisfaction to imagine considering his penchant for calmly talking about his interest in Arsenal players that are usually designed to destabilize the players.

Apparently, City is determined to offload the likes of Adebayor, Dzeko, Tevez and Santa Cruz before upping the derisory bid they made for RVP with an eye on balancing the books before UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules kick in.

Meanwhile, rumour has it (thanks Adele for letting me borrow this) that The Old Lady has upped her bid for RVP to £20m which Arsenal has accepted. A £190k/week salary after tax offer is also said to have been offered to RVP in the personal terms discussions between the club and RVP.

So unless Manchester United comes up with something more attractive, we can look forward to seeing a bald Mancini on the side lines next season while Robin goes abroad which is what both Club and fans will prefer under the circumstances.

Santi Carzola is the boy from Malaga who rumour also has it that we have agreed terms to sign. It is the most plausible of all the transfer targets we have been linked with recently because Malaga is in a financial mess and have until July 31st to pay up all outstanding debts or face relegation. Carzola, citing unpaid wages from the last campaign has informed the club that he wants to leave and has already held positive talks with Arsenal officials. July 31st is only seven days away so we may expect this deal to be expedited.

The club has meanwhile announced that Koscielny has agreed to sign a new long term contract which offers some reassurance with Barcelona rumoured to be sniffing around him in the past few weeks. My friend Okey was quick to remind me that these contracts don't mean a thing these days.

"Apart from the fact that the selling club will get a bit more for a player with a lengthy contract, when they want to leave they leave," Okey said. But then he's the most pessimistic Gooner I know.

I've heard the club criticized for not extending player contracts before it gets to the last year to avoid the scenarios we are seeing with RVP and Theo. The truth is having a player on a long contract shifts the balance of power in favour of the club. Any club who wants to sign him must go through the club and the club have to be ready to do business to entertain any offers. So I say well done, Arsenal and to Koscielney, I say congratulations. We have a tradition of repaying those who show faith in us

The boys will play the first of their Asian tour matches against Malaysia XI this afternoon by 1.45pm Nigerian time and it will be aired on ESPN so you can catch it if you can steal 90 minutes of your employers' time but be sure not to say I sent you.

On a final note, there are people who still have confidence in Marouane Chamakh even if most of us have given up hope in him. The team held an open training session at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil yesterday and one Malaysian beauty proposed publicly to him. We are awaiting his response.