Gunnerblog

Thoughts on RVP’s future + This morning’s meeting: LIVE

452 comments May 16th, 2012

As you probably all know by now, Robin van Persie will meet with Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis this morning to discuss his future.  The get together will take place in Arsene Wenger’s house, of all places, at 10.30am.  It’s been splashed all over the web and papers for the last two days as if its big news.  In reality, it’s not news at all.  For six months now Arsenal and Robin have made it clear talks would take place between the end of the season and Robin joining up with the Dutch squad for the Euros.  That time has now arrived.

It’s hard to see what can be accomplished in just one day.  Robin leaves for Holland tomorrow, and it’s unlikely anything concrete could be sorted and signed so swiftly.  Perhaps Van Persie already knows what we’re offering, has been mulling it over, and this is his opportunity to give us his answer.  Perhaps this is genuinely the first time they’ve talked any kind of terms.  Either way, I can’t see us having a definitive resolution until much later in the summer.

RVP was pretty cagey after the West Brom game, but that’s understandable.  It wouldn’t be much of a negotiation tactic for him to say “I’ll definitely be signing a new deal”.  Even if he does decide his future is with Arsenal, he’ll want to squeeze us for as much money as possible – this is, after all, his last major contract.  And after his performances this season, who could begrudge him a big payday?

If I had to make a prediction – and it remains a hard one to call – I’d say he’ll stay and sign a new deal making him Arsenal’s highest paid player.  The reason being is that I can only see him really being tempted by a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid, and he doesn’t seem to be on either club’s radar this summer.  If he was, they’d have made their move by now, and we’d be reading a lot more quotes about his “DNA”.  I think he’ll be impressed by the arrival of Podolski, by Arsene and Ivan’s plans, and by the money we offer him.  And you know what?  If things don’t work out, he can always hand in a transfer request at a later date and leave for a decent fee.  He’ll still have plenty of suitors in twelve months time.

The stories this morning say that even if he doesn’t want to sign a new deal we’ll hold him to his existing contract.  That’s all well and good, but it does present some conflicts: do you want a player who you know is leaving to be the captain of your club?  Seems to happen to us all the time, but it’s hardly ideal.

Anyway, for a bit of fun, I’m live-tweeting this morning’s meeting over at @Gunnerblog, covering the conversation, the croissants, and the contract.  Follow me, it might be a laugh.

In other news, Euro 2012 is just around the corner, and at 1pm today we’ll find out if Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joins Theo Walcott in the England squad.  Personally, I hope he does: if he’s not at the Euros, he’ll be at the Olympics, which is far more disruptive.  A host of other players are already ‘on the plane’ with their respective nations, and if you do me a little favour I could be too. I’ve written this piece on 5 Rising Stars at Euro 2012 (which includes a profile of reported Arsenal target Yann M’Vila).  If you could give it a read and click the ‘Like‘ or ‘Tweet‘ button I might just win a competition which takes me all the way to Poland.  Would enjoy blogging to you from there.

Whilst we’re on the subject of doing me favours: if anyone out there has a company that would like to sponsor Gunnerblog for next season, do let me know. Traffic is particularly high during the transfer window so it’s a good time to get on board. Apologies for being so public about it but I’ve got to find a way to pay for my season ticket somehow!  I can be contacted here.

Right. By tomorrow, we might know a good deal more about the future of RVP, and quite how painful this summer might be.  Don’t forget you can follow all that and more @gunnerblog.