Manchester City, rivals Manchester United, and Juventus are all keen on signing Van Persie, who last month stated he had no plans to sign a new contract at Arsenal.
His existing deal expires next summer and it has been widely expected that he will leave Emirates Stadium this month.
Man Utd are at time of writing favourites with bookmakers Sky Bet to win the race to sign the 28-year-old this summer, ahead of Man City, and Juventus.
But according to the Daily Star, Van Persie has been impressed by Arsenal's efforts to strengthen their squad this summer, with Spain international Santi Carzola set to join the club in the next couple of days.
Real Madrid midfielder Nuri Sahin is also set to arrive on a season-long loan as manager Arsene Wenger overhauls his squad, while the Frenchman has already brought in Lukas Polodski and Olivier Giroud.
Van Persie is set to fly out of London in the next few days with the Arsenal squad for their pre-season training camp in Germany, and according to Saturday's report, some Arsenal officials now believe their skipper could decide to stay at the Emirates.
Before dropping his bombshell last month, it was known that Van Persie was keen for Wenger to show ambition in the transfer market this summer.
And with Arsenal holding out for at least £20million for the Netherlands international, there is a chance that he could start the new Premier League season in north London.
Reports in recent days have suggested Man Utd are unwilling to spend more than £15m on Van Persie, while Juventus are also yet to come close to Arsenal's asking price.
It is widely thought the Dutchman would prefer to join Juventus or move to Old Trafford ahead of a switch to Man City, which would not go down well with Arsenal fans.
AC Milan, Barcelona, and Real Madrid have also shown interest in Van Persie, but none are believed to have tabled bids.
Will Van Persie stay or go this month? Have your say below!
Don’t get me wrong Cazorla is a major signing for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. It sends out the message that Arsenal and Wenger mean business this season. And this is for two reasons.
Firstly, the total transfer outlay so far is about 40m, and still counting. This is far, far more than any other season in the last seven barren years.
Secondly all the transfers involve players who are far more mature both in terms of age and experience in difficult competitive leagues. Podolski is 27 and a Germany international, Giroud is 25 and a France international and Cazorla 27 and a Spain international.
They are all quality players and worthy of first team selection. And they are all added to a squad who as yet has not lost anyone of note. If RVP does eventually leave this summer then the three new comers do add up to a net addition to an already strong squad.
Consider the squad as it stands now:
Goalkeepers: Szczęsny, Fabianski, Mannone
Right Backs: Sagna, Jenkinson, , Koscienly (if needed), Coquelin, Yennaris
Left Backs: Gibbs, Santos, (we are rather short of cover here if both get injured)
Central Defenders: Vermaelen, Koscienly, Mertesacker, Djourou
Central Midfilders: Song, Diaby, Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey, Coquelin, Frimpong, Wilshere,
Wide Midfielders: Walcott, Gervinho, Podolski, Arshavin, The Ox, Cazorla
Strikers: RVP (if he stays), Giroud, Chamakh, Bendtner (if he stays)
It seems that if RVP leaves the strikers position would prove to be an area where we may me short. Chamakh is not up to it and Bendtner wants out which leaves us with only Giroud.
Nevertheless the squad is far far stronger than in recent years.
And I boldly can predict that IF RVP has a rethink stays then we can lift the title this coming season…..
The man who held Arsenals Scoring record before one Thierry Henry came along.
He won the title with Arsenal in 97/98, his final season for the team, which was his lowest scoring season for the gunners, with only 10 league goals.He had15,23,18,15,23 and 10 on his trophy year. He spent one more season in the top flight , with West Ham, scoring 9 goals for the club before he started zigzagging between clubs until his retirement after the 99/00 season. His best finish in the scoring charts was 2nd in the 96/97 season, 2 goals shy of Shearer.
The 37 year old Trinidad & Tobago Striker still treads the EPL waters, although not as often as before(Only 3 appearances for Sunderland this season so far). Played for Villa, Man U, Blackburn, Birmingham City and currently with Sunderland, but will mostly be remembered for his partnership with Andrew Cole, leading the red devils in 98/99 to a memorable treble. Yorke had only 5 seasons in which he scored 10+ out of his 14 EPL seasons so far but he’s a long distance runner I guess. His best came in 99/00, leading Man U to another League title with 20 goals, finishing 3rd behind Kevin Phillips and Alan Shearer. In 98/99 he scored 18, but it was enough for 3-way joined top scorer title along Owen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Jerrel “Jimmy Floyd” Hasselbaink had a tough time staying in one place for long except for his Chelsea time(4 years… wow!!) but the goals came none the less. 2 seasons for Leeds, 4 for the Blues, 2 for Boro and one forgettable season with Charlton were enough for the Suriname born Dutchman to put his name in history books. He never won the league title with any of his teams, but he did win the scoring title twice. In 98/99 he finished 1st in a 3-way win alongside Michael Owen and Dwight Yorke, with 18. In 00/01 he won it with no competition, 23 goals to his tally. He had 23 the next season as well, but it was enough for 2nd behind Thierry Henry.
Only 29, if that thing called injuries wasn’t a term so familiar to the baby face striker, Owen would probably be number 2 on this list right now, heading strong towards number one. But Fantasy aside, Owen, injured or not, scored goals. 144 in 278 games is not too shabby. Playing for Liverpool and Currently Newcastle, he has never scored less than 11 goals when playing more than 20 games a season. Has 8 season of 10+ goals, with his best coming in 01/02 and 02/03, scoring 19. In 97/98 and 98/99 he finished joint top scorer, with 18 goals in each season. Can he bounce back from his recent injury to improve his place in the stat sheets of history? We hope so.
An unlikely candidate to become one of the top EPL scorers of all time if you take a glance at his career stats – Starting at Millwall, playing at Aldershot and even Swedish side Djurgarden doesn’t usually earn you a shot at glory. But Teddy moved on to better and bigger, and by moving to Nott. Forest and then Tottenham, he started his top flight and Premier League Career. Even though his first goal came for Forest, and the bulk of goals came at White Heart Lane, he’ll be remembered, like Dwight Yorke and Andrew Cole, for that 98/99 team that won the legendary treble. He’s won 3 Championships, all with United but his best scoring year came in the EPL inaugural year, when Teddy scored 22 goals, earning him the golden boot.
Like Sheringham, Leslie(!!!!) “Les” Ferdinand had a weird foreign spell, one season for Turkish Club Beskitas before returning to the English game, better than ever , and boy was he. He played for Q.P.R in that 92/93 season, and in 3 Premier League seasons with them had 20,16 and 24 goals each. He scored 41 goals in the next 2 seasons for Newcastle, missing out on a championship each time. Then came Tottenham, which is synonymous for disappointment, having trouble regaining his early 90′s scoring form, but injuries and age did their bit. He had a bit of a revival with Leicester City during 03/04, scoring 12 goals, but that was the swan song for Les. He holds a remarkable record of being the first player to score a Premier League goal for 6 different clubs(Q.P.R, Newcastle, Spurs, West Ham, Leicester and Bolton). His best season was in 95/96, when he netted 25, finishing 3rd to Shearer and Fowler.
Robbie started out with a bang, scoring 83 goals in his first 4 seasons as a pro, all for Liverpool of course, but than slowly faded when injuries started racking up on his skillful legs. Still Active, recently signing with Australian side North Queensland Fury, but it’ll be a safe bet to say he won’t be scoring any more Premiership goals. He played and scored some for Leeds and Man City where he reunited with Steve McManaman, but Fowler will always be remembered as a Liverpool man, although he was an Everton fan as a child(They forgive those who score). His best came during the 95/96 season, when the leading man of the “spice-boys” scored 28 goals, finishing second to Alan Shearer’s 31.
If Mourinho is the special one, than Henry is the Elegant one. Arsene Wenger got him out of his Juventus hell, and English football was never the same. A wonderful Arsenal side which one 2 championships and reached one Champions League Final was led by Henry, who scored and scored and scored relentlessly for the Gunners. 174 goals in 254 games, never going below 10 goals a season. Henry is currently playing for Barcelona and has lost a step or two the past 2-3 years, but can still get those goals(12 so far this season) maybe hasn’t said his final word regarding English Football. He was the Premiership’s top scorer 4 times, in 01/02(24 goals), and 3 straight times between 2003 to 2006, with 30, 25 and 27, and will eventually be remembered as one of the best forwards and players of this decade.
Andy later to be known as Andrew Cole took his time before bursting on to the National scene, but he made a very nice impression. Scoring 34 goals in 40 during the 93/94 season for Newcastle brought the attention of the football world, and Alex Ferguson who purchased him midway through the 94/95 season. Despite scoring 5 goals in one game that year(poor Ipswich),still a record, and generally being an efficient striker Cole never struck a chord with United fans… Maybe his tendency to miss was a key factor in that. But he did get some… although he never got close to 34, he had 6 more seasons of 10+ goals for various Premiership clubs, including Man U, Blackburn, Fulham, Man City and Pompy. He won 5 league titles with United and was top scorer of the league once, but will probably be forgotten in the pages of history, due to him being good and not exceptional as most expected of him after his transfer to Man U.
Well… for Shearer like for all of the guys before him the numbers speak for themselves. But they do that much more strongly for Alan. An Icon at both Blackburn and Newcastle, his 260 seems to be out of reach for what seems to be quite a long time.Scored an amazing 112 in 138 for rovers in 4 seasons, including 34 in that historic championship season. His move to Newcastle made him for a short while the most expensive player in the world, and while not bringing the league title to St. James’ park, he managed to score 148 goals in 303 matches for the Jordies. He won the scoring title in 94/95, 95/96 and 97. He has 3 seasons with 30+ goals, 7 of 20+ and 11 of 10+. He wasn’t fast or too quick, but had a cannon for a leg and was very effective in the air(his elbows helped) and his “Player of the decade” award, handed to him on the marking of the EPL first 10 years pretty much says it all about how great Shearer was to his teams and to English football in general.
ROBIN VAN PERSIE has told his Arsenal team-mates they will decide the destiny of the Premier League title. The Gunners' draw at West Brom on Saturday meant they lost more ground on leaders Manchester United.
But mathematically Arsene Wenger's men are still in the driving seat.
Nine straight victories — including their game in hand at Tottenham and a clash with United at the Emirates Stadium on May 1 — would secure a first title since 2004.
And although there is now no more margin for error, Van Persie believes they can deliver that long-overdue trophy.
The Holland striker said: "It is a real blow that we threw away three trophies within the space of only three weeks.
"But, we still have another big objective — the Premier League title.
"We are five points behind United but have a game in hand, so we can narrow the gap to two points.
"It is actually an advantage that we are no longer active in other competitions.
"We still have everything in our own hands and will do our utmost to win the league, even though we have been dealt a few big blows in recent weeks."
There have only been a handful of games this season which I thought were going to be easy. The home game against WBA was one of those. Such experience can make one respect a sentence like – there are no easy games in the Premiership – instead of ignoring it as a cliché. So Arsenal travel to the Hawthorns in what is another potential banana skin against a side battling relegation.
I haven’t seen West Brom play after the change of manager so I’m not sure if there have been any major changes to their tactical approach. Going by Hodgson’s style at previous clubs I expect to see a well organized defence with persistent pressing by five men in the middle in a manner similar to Sunderland. It will not be easy for Arsenal to bring the ball out from the defence in the absence of Song and Diaby so Wilshere will have to play in a deeper role and take more responsibility in terms of holding off the pressure to link the defence with the offence. His excellent experience against Barca will be handy.
Arsenal will also need to move the ball as a fast tempo to break the rhythm of this pressing and to create openings. That means the players will have to play with a high level of confidence and energy. After a week’s break there should be no room for excuses like ‘we lacked sharpness’.
The other major tactical points worth noting are in defence. The West Brom attackers use the spaces between the midfield and defence, and between the defenders themselves fairly well. The two centre-backs will have to track their movement without fail and should not allow the likes of Odemwinge, Brunt, and Morrison to get in the gaps unmarked. They also have players in the middle who can play some defence splitting passes. That means the midfield and forward players will have to do a good job of closing down the man on the ball.
Even the full-backs will have to do better with their positioning because the West Brom wingers are definitely better than the likes of Fabio and Rafael playing on the wings. Sagna and Gibbs were quite poor against United. Hopefully it was a one-off blip for Sagna and with Clichy back both flanks should be better protected.
The big question for Arsene will be the attacking midfield role. He could pick Nasri, Rosicky, or Ramsey for that role. If Rambo is fully fit he’d be my choice but I’m not convinced about his sharpness.
These days Arsene starts Rosicky in the middle and Nasri on the flank but in this game I’d swap the two. The main reason for that is to have Nasri on the ball more frequently.
The reason for picking Rosicky on the right ahead of Bendtner or Eboue, the only other options, is that he can play the tippy-tappy game. If the Dane is picked in that role Arsenal will struggle to deal with West Brom’s pressing and will not be able to bring the ball out to the attacking areas that often.
I’d also instruct Wilshere and Denilson to play much deeper than usual and not stray too far in front of the defence. Arshavin will leave the left exposed so having only one deep-lying midfielder will leave too many vacant spaces for the defenders to cover.
With so many second string players in the starting line-up the tactical focus has to be on a patient and cautious approach. I don’t expect Arsenal to pile on the goals in this fixture but a grinding win with a couple of telling moments created by Arshavin, Nasri, or RvP should suffice.
I know the likes of Denilson and Rosicky are not popular figures but at the moment this seems to be the best possible line-up. If things are tight, Ramsey could be introduced at half time or the hour mark.
I expect this game to be settled with a one goal margin. If the tactics are right and there aren’t any glaring individual mistakes it should be at the right end.
With the manager's press conference taking place yesterday as he and his team travel to Manchester later today, we got to move on from Tuesday night. Obviously there were questions relating to our defeat but I wouldn't have expected any different.
The team news isn't rosy, unfortunately. Wojciech Szczesny will have to see a specialist about his dislocated finger. He could be out for up to six weeks. The manager is considering an emergency loan - he must ask the Premier League for permission to make the signing - and has even identified a target.
I have no idea who it will be. But I will hazard a guess and predict we won't sign anyone.
As I said, Szczesny could be out for up to six weeks. Two of those weeks are a break for international fixtures. So in reality it is down to four. For the next two fixtures - Manchester United and West Brom - Manuel Almunia will be in goal and reserve team keeper James Shea will act as his understudy.
That cuts the time down to three weeks after the international break.
The manager likes to muddle through with what he's got. Remember in the January transfer window when we were crying out from a central defensive signing. And what happened, we got to February 1st and not a single player had been signed.
He would rather stick with what he has rather than take a punt on a player who he's not yet ready to sign. And when you sign a player - especially on an emergency loan - unless you know them very well you don't know what type of character you'll be bringing in.
The new guy could be a disruptive influence on the other players - change the mood in the camp - start fights. At least with the keepers he's got, Wenger knows the characters and what to expect.
We're going into a very important time in the season - the business end. This is a critical moment for this team - one where they have two trophies in their sights. If Wenger signs the wrong guy those two trophies could be gone.
And the manager isn't prepared to end the season without winning something. We've the Premier League and FA Cup left.
Wenger said: "We want to deal well with the two psychological blows that we had recently, and that's our purpose. If we manage to do that, then it will be an advantage. "In the last month we have lost the Carling Cup final and gone out of the Champions League, so if you had a global view of the last three months you had every reason to be optimistic. "I've said since the start of the season that we will go for all of the competitions. We've got two left. We need to keep the right attitude to turn the luck around on our side a little bit." And I think this weekend is important. If we bounce back with a win it will push us on again. We've got to get our momentum back. I think that is key. That will mean playing our most influential players at Old Trafford.... the one's we've got left who aren't injured.
And the early team news is that as well as Szczesny, Cesc Fabregas is out with a reoccurrence of his hamstring injury. He'll miss the game tomorrow and more than likely the trip to West Brom Saturday week.
Alex Song still remains on the sidelines as does Theo Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen.
The good news however is that Robin van Persie has suffered no ill effects of playing on Tuesday night and is available. I think that is a minor miracle myself but very good news.
I think van Persie will start at Old Trafford and the manager will play a strong side.
There is some stuff around about Arsene Wenger bashing UEFA, all very interesting if you're into that sort of thing. I would much rather concentrate on the football now. Tuesday was a very disappointing evening for every Gooner, so I just want to move forward and think about winning things.
Some transfer tittle-tattle for you? The Daily Mail link us to Le Havre for 16-year-old Benjamin Mendy, who plays left back for France's under-17s.
The fact that UEFA have charged ArseneWenger and SamirNasri following yesterday's truly pathetic refereeing performance from Massimo Busacca makes it look like someone is deflect attention away from a rather corrupt and stinking organisation. Before I start on this rant, I am not saying Arsenal deserved to win, Barcelona were dominating the game before the sending off, however it is undeniable that Arsenal restricted Barcelona to very few clear cut chances before going down to ten men. The fact is that the sending off massively reduced our chances of going through yesterday and massively impacted upon the game's outcome.
The fact that UEFA are charging Nasri and Wenger is a disgrace. The fact that several Barcelona players grabbed our players by the throats in plain view of the refereeyesterday has been completely and utterly ignored by UEFA and the match officials. The fact that the referee dished out several extremely soft yellow cards to our players in the first half was also obvious, at the same time he let Barcelona off with some extremely firm tackles, far firmer than anything that our players had been carded for. He failed to bookMessi for a clear dive, he allowed the routine feigning of injury to carry on for the entire game.
Busacca then sent off RVP for the most laughable of reasons, Jack as since spoken of how he couldn't even hear the whistle, RVP certainly didn't and the ref seemed remarkably keen to send him off. Arsene has quite rightly spoken out on this, frankly it was 'embarrassing', the hapless Busacca should be ashamed of himself. UnfortunatelyBusacca seemed to enjoy his role in Barca's triumph, he enjoyed laughs and jokes with the Barca players as he shared their water in the first half, not something he afforded to the Arsenal players. Busacca hadn't finished there though, he still had time to give Barcaa dodgy penalty as the notorious diver Pedro pirouetted in the box after the mildest of gusts.
We Have summed it all up more eloquently than I can, it is clear that irrelevant of our performance or the so called statistics the red card massively changed the game, Goodplaya has also summed neatly just how incompetent the decision to send RVPoff was. We had actually defended well until the red card, other than Cesc's stupid back heel that led to the first goal. We would have had a chance with eleven men on the field, we almost managed to snatch something with only ten men left, our chances would have been undeniably greater with the full compliment left.
The reason I am so incensed by this is that UEFA seem to be deliberately perpetuating this bias, whether it is a case of overt corruption or more of a subconscious one, I won't speculate, but the fact that it is only Arsenal facing charges stinks when several Barcelona players had our players quite literally by the throats. UEFA are part of this broader axis of evil that includes FIFA and the FA who seem intent of keeping football as corrupt and biased as possible, they don't want fairness, they don't want technology, they want to stifle all dissent to keep their corrupt little coven going. It is undeniable that keeping Barca in the competition makes far more money for UEFA, you just wonder how deliberate the lubrication of their passage has been?
hat match against Barcelona was somewhat typical in that we lost, a ref made a terrible decision, and it has ended our Champion’s League hopes. It’s the Barca trifecta, the dirty gits.
The whole thing was marred by the sending off of Robin Van Persie. What was a Barcelona advantage at 1-1 quickly turned into a Barcelona win when Arsenal went a man down.
Simply put, the ref was a joke. He was having a laugh.
Given the missing Alex Song and Theo Walcott, and going a man down at the 55th, we didn’t do all that bad. Funny that you can say that with what statisticians are saying were 0 shots on goal.
Barca man defends ref's decision to dismiss Van Persie
rcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets insists Arsenal striker Robin van Persie deserved to be sent off during Tuesday night's Camp Nou clash.
The Catalan giants put an end to Arsenal'sUEFA Champions League dream with a 3-1 victory on the night for a 4-3 aggregate success in an encounter which saw striker Van Persiedismissed.
The Dutchman was shown a second yellow card by Swiss referee Massimo Busacca after shooting at goal just a second after he had blown the whistle for an offside call.
Angry
The official's decision incited an angry response from both Gunners manager Arsene Wengerand Van Persie's team-mate Samir Nasri, prompting Uefa to charge the pair with improper conduct.
But Busquets, whose own-goal on Tuesday gifted Arsenal an opportunity before Barca recovered to seal the win, is adamant the referee's call was justified.
"Maybe you play better with 11 players but the sending off was fair," Busquets said in The Sun.
"He shot after the whistle had gone to waste time."
The defensive midfielder, who was employed at centre-back, added that Barca also had decisions go against them, drawing attention toAbou Diaby's foul on Lionel Messi.
He said: "Even if we start analysing the referee then we should be the ones complaining more, anyway.
"There was a penalty from Abou Diaby on Messi but all of this is over now."
Spain international Busquets feels the Gunners should feel let down by their own display rather than that of the referee.
Ambition
"If anything should disappoint Arsenal it is not the ref but how little ambition they showed," he added.
"Why did they come here only to defend when they're a team that likes to have the ball and play and attack?
"Obviously that is how we played because that is the best way to play and qualify for the next round. It's up to them to answer that."
