WE’LL SURVIVE
Wenger: club bigger than RVP
THIS city whipped up a familiar storm for Arsene Wenger as he arrived and shared his thoughts on the future of Robin van Persie. Wenger was in the same hotel in the Malaysian capital this time last year, confessing publicly that Arsenal could convince no-one of their ambition if Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri were sold.
Twelve months on, with the pair long gone, Van Persie and Theo Walcott are into the uncertain territory of the final year of a contract, and the message was very different.
As Manchester United, City and Juventus jostle for Van Persie, Wenger admits he is prepared to sell his captain before the season starts; and his departure will not stop the club aiming for the top.
Walcott’s future seems slightly less urgent, though Arsenal are stepping up the pursuit of Malaga’s Santi Cazorla as a possible replacement.
‘We are very, very ambitious,’ said Wenger. ‘ Not only very ambitious but also very proud of the way we run our club.
‘For me, the size of a club is down to the size of the support. It can be the size of the cheque book to others but, for me, it’s the size of the support. You cannot question the size of the club when one player leaves or stays. That’s not linked.’
Having made it clear he will not sign a new deal, Van Persie has prompted offers from United and City of around £15million and from Juventus of £10m.
United are in pole position but City will up their bid if they sell Carlos Tevez. Arsenal want more than £20m but are aware holding out for more will drag a deal deep into next month.
‘The official deadline is August 31, but we can create an internal deadline,’ said Wenger. ‘The transfer market should stop before the season starts.
‘ Robin van Persie is a world- class striker. I am a big supporter of him and I have supported him throughout. We took him very young, he has one year left and he’s in demand.
‘It is our desire to keep him, but we’ll do what’s in the best interests of the club. If you have a decoder in your head, you can decode that.’
Things can change but it means that Van Persie is on his way out. As for Walcott’s future, Wenger wants to keep him too, but will not tolerate a repeat of last summer’s chaos.
‘Last year, the stability of our squad was challenged,’ said the Arsenal manager. ‘This year, we have small problems. We have a squad that is solid and used to playing together. We’ve bought two strikers.
‘Last year, we lost not only two players in the transfer market but also two more through injury in preseason — Abou Diaby and Jack Wilshere. We lost Tomas Rosicky on top of that. It was too difficult.’ New recruits Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud are among a dozen firstteamers not on this tour, and Wenger vowed to maintain his faith in promotion from the youth ranks, naming Serge Gnabry, Chuks Aneke and Benik Afobe as three teenagers to watch this season.
‘We are the team, certainly the only one in the world at the elite level, who give chances to young players,’ Wenger said. ‘That’s why I believe Arsenal are loved all over the world.’
Diaby will feature against a Malaysia XI tomorrow but Wilshere is still in the gym, yet to kick a ball after a year out with ankle and knee injuries.
‘Any player still in the gym in July is not on the pitch in August, that is for sure,’ said Wenger.
‘I don’t want to give him any precise deadline. I am positive but cautious, more positive this time because there is no setback,’ he added. ‘He had his ankle problem and this created a knee problem. He needed surgery on his knee tendon. The advantage of this was to heal completely the inflammation in the ankle.
‘The ankle is perfect and the knee is doing very well. He is still in the gym. Normally, he should go out again in a few weeks.’
On Diaby, the Arsenal manager said: ‘This tour is another decider for him. How does his body resist?’ But Wenger ruled out a move for Yann M’Vila before learning more about the fitness of Diaby and Wilshere.
‘No, we wait for Diaby and Wilshere. We are not short if they are coming back. If we have setbacks, it could be different.’ On Cazorla, he was far more sly. ‘I don’t know this guy,’ he grinned.