I, FOR ONE hope Robin Van Persie stays at Arsenal. That possibility is becoming greater by the day and it’ll be interesting to see just how Arsenal fans react if their captain leads the team out against Sunderland on the Premier League’s opening day.
The Dutch striker was a 37-goal hero last season but after announcing he would be not extending his contract earlier this month, some Arsenal fans turned on the 28-year-old, citing his injury record as a reason to sell.
Manchester City, Manchester United and Juventus have all declared their interest in Van Persie, but the Daily Star report today that Arsenal may force their captain to stay until January. In a laboured analogy, Arsenal are refusing be bullied by the rich kids and are looking to reclaim the playground and in the hope Van Persie will eventually tire of throwing the toys out of his trophyless pram.
They claim that by keeping the striker at the Emirates until January, it proves they won’t be pushed around by their big stars or filthy rich rivals. And Man United. Arsenal would look to sell in January, where they would hope to get a decent fee before Van Persie’s contract expires next summer.
Man City’s interest has reportedly cooled, much to the annoyance of Roberto Mancini, whose fault it isn’t. It remains to be seen whether Fergie actually has the money at his disposal to do a deal and Juventus are reportedly looking at City’s Edin Dzeko instead. The fact that Van Persie apparently quite likes living in London might come in handy then, because he could very well still be calling it home come 1 September.
Going?
While Van Persie and Dzeko are involved in a pre merry-go-round limbo of sorts, Andy Carroll is enduring life on the other end of the scale. The Liverpool striker is surplus to Brendan Rodgers’ requirements at Liverpool and could only dream of the top European clubs scrambling for his signature. Short of the continent’s elite, Newcastle have made it very clear they’d take the big centre forward back to Tyneside.
Alan Pardew thinks Liverpool should cut their losses and take what they can for Andy Carroll. “Reading chairman John Majedski used to say to me about certain players, ‘Just wipe your nose and move on’ and I think Liverpool are going to have to do that with Andy.”
The Sun report that Newcastle would be be unwilling to match Liverpool’s £20 million asking price and with Carroll’s old club showing the only concrete interest so far, Liverpool stand to lose over half of what they spent on the England international. Ouch.
QPR are also rumoured to be interested in Carroll. Again, ouch.
Going??
An outlay of…quite a lot of money on Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, Ramires, Kevin de Bruyne, Raul Meireles, Marko Marin, Eden and Thorgan Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Oscar and if reports are to be believed Hulk, in the last 18 months might seem a tad excessive. Try telling Roman Abramovich that. Chelsea have lodged a fourth bid for Wigan forward Victor Moses, this time in the region of £9 million.
In thoroughly uninteresting transfer news, Paul Lambert hasn’t taken a shine to James Collins and the Welshman may return to former club West Ham. Danny Collins, fellow Welshman but no relation, has joined Nottingham Forest from Stoke City.
Favourite of these pages Nicklas Bendtner has been linked with another new club today, Celta Vigo. Hardly AC Milan, where the Dane’s ego would fit snuggly in the gaping hole left by Zlatan Imbrahimovic. Oh, and Robbie Savage has offered to come out of retirement and play for Rangers in the Scottish Division 3. For free. One things for sure, it would make Saturday night viewing for the coming season a whole lot more bearable.
We’re back tomorrow, with more on Robbie Savage’s sensational comeback. Or less. Probably less.