21 Aug 2019 16:15:20
Would any Ed confirm if Robin Van Persie was offered a contract before he left arsenal and as to why he left?
{Ed047's Note - he said himself the other day on SS that he wasn’t offered a new contract with only a year left despite speaking to Wenger and Gazidis so he was ambitious, had the option to go to City or United as well as a European club and chose United.
21 Aug 2019 18:09:45
That's a bit different to what we were lead to think at the time! Naughty naughty Arsene who I remember at the time saying " I'm confident Robin will stay "
Both RVP and Ashley Cole were portraid as the bad guys when they left but years later Arsene said the clubs contract offer to Ashley which would have left him way behind other top players " was a misunderstanding "
It seems we wanted to cash in on both but didn't want the fans to know so allowed the players to take the flack that should have been directed at the club and Arsene all along.
Not nice that.
22 Aug 2019 07:26:23
I was a great fan of RVP as a player, but not once he opens his mouth.
In response to G62, I recall that Ashley Cole wanted the club to pay his agents fees, which the club would not do, especially as I seem to recall Cole had entered negotiations with Chelsea without the club’s consent.
Two great players that left too early, way too blearily in Cole’s case. At his peak he was one of the best LB’s in the world. RVP was older than Cole when left, if my memory serves me correctly we had seen the best of him and he only had a couple of good seasons at United, before his ability declined.
22 Aug 2019 08:30:35
Arsene himself admitted years later that Arsenal had offered Cole a contract well below that of other players but said it was a misunderstanding, it looks like now the club simply wanted to cash in on both players but didn't have the nerve to admit it at the time.
Cashing in on Rvp and Cole while giving away contracts to the long term injured and aging Rosiky Artetta Mertesacker it's little wonder we went into decline.