What really upsets Gooners everywhere is the kind of farewell the club captain wants to bid. In what he lightly calls an "update for the fans", he hints at media speculation about his situation obliging him to be "fair" and tell "you guys" about "what's really going on".
His statement seems carefully worded to burn bridges with the club:
"... my goal has been to win trophies with the team and to bring the club
back to its glory days. ...
unfortunately ... it has again become clear to me that we in
many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward."
... but at the same time trying to keep on the right side of the fans:
"I love the club and the fans, no matter what happens. ... Everybody at the club and
the fans have always supported me over the years and I have always given
my all (and more) on and off the pitch. I am very proud of being part
of this fantastic club for the last 8 years. ...
I will update you if and when there are more developments."
Well, thanks for that. It's hard to find anyone outside the most defaitist Gooner camps finding the manager and CEO guilty of not wanting old glory days back. If this was the real reason, he would do himself, the club and the transfer process all a service by keeping still.
The club has responded curtly, spending two sentences lining out exactly what his contractual obligations are, and the final underlining that the club is bigger than any player.
And Robin van Persie's problem is right there: Gooners aren't RvP fans, they are Arsenal fans. Seeing what the club captain has to say about the club they loved long before he was there has them seething.
Perhaps that's all part of the game. Van Persie wants out, and seems prepared to do what it takes to get his wish. Arsenal on their part have a choice to make, the choice they screwed up so badly last summer. They can't wait until the season has started; they either replace him and sell him now, or they keep him. The club statement makes it clear that the latter option is reserved as a stick to beat him with.
But it's necessary to make that choice fast. Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are the obvious candidates to take him on board. They are rich, they are ambitious and they are as unscrupulous as any other operators in the international transfer market. If they can wait until deadline day to get a better deal, they will. Even if there were reports as far back as March that personal terms with City were in place.
As for Arsenal, they need to know in advance what to accept as a fee, and what they can accept to lose when the player leaves next summer.
What isn't necessary is to cling on to van Persie for dear life. I've written earlier in this blog on the logic surrounding his age, his prospects and his injury record. Arsenal and Arsène Wenger don't see it as an unmitigated disaster to lose him. A new number 9 and a new number 10 are already signed.
The neutrals' perspective are, of course, more neutral. The Guardian's Kevin McCarra believes that the player is tantalised by the lack of trophies, and that more money isn't his primary target. In the Telegraph, Jeremy Wilson writes that the club are furious about "such a provocative statement", and that they had no prior warning. The blame is laid on van Persie's agent, Kees Vos.
Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail also reports the fury with which the club received the news of van Persie's homepage update. Arsenal are said to be convinced that a deal has already been set up and that Vos and the player are trying to speed it up. Further, the club thinks losing £20m on keeping him for the final season is too much of a loss to bear.
Meanwhile, Darren Lewis of the Daily Mirror blames Wenger and the Arsenal management for allowing yet another star player's contract wind down. While not impressed with van Persie's action, he points at Theo Walcott's similar situation and recommends another approach.
As a matter of fact, Walcott's standing in the game and his relative success is very comparable to Robin van Persie's. They both arrived at young age, were matched carefully and developed with a league-challenging first team in mind. And when they are finally flourishing, they need to decide on whether to stay loyal to the manager who developed them or to take what they have been taught elsewhere.
Noone should be surprised if Walcott starts blogging, too.
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