As we all know Arsene Wenger is a stickler when it comes to honouring contracts and he has already forced Alexis Sanchez to stay at Arsenal for the last year on his current deal, so he is not going to be happy if any of his players ask if they can be released simply because there is a World Cup on the horizon.
Olivier Groud has been told by the France boss Didier Deschamps that he should leave Arsenal and play regular first team football elsewhere if he wants to remain as first choice striker for his country at the World Cup, and the Frenchman has been strongly linked with a move away from the club this January.
But for Jack Wilshere it is even worse as he has been told by Gareth Southgate that he does not just need to be playing in the first time, but he has to be playing as a defensive midfielder as well, which is not Wenger’s idea of his best position.
But Jack has actually agreed with Southgate, he said: “If Gareth sees me in that position, I have to play in that position,”
“To be honest, that is probably my favourite position. I can see where he is coming from. I enjoy playing there. At the moment, I’m playing a bit higher here.
“I’ve said before that I want to stay here and play. I don’t have to say how much this club means to me.
“But at the same time as well, the boss has got to be honest with me and I’m sure he will.”
These comments have fuelled the rumours that Jack wants to move in January as well, as he is firmly entrenched in Arsenal’s Europa League side with little chance of being a regular EPL starter, but now Wenger has made it clear that he will not be making any transfer decisions based on individual players’ World Cup dreams. Le Prof said: ‘I want to keep the squad. We qualified now for the Europa League and that means we do not want to reduce the squad. We have the League Cup, still we are in it.
‘The FA Cup still to come, the Europa League to come, we have the Premier League where we have a big fight to be in the top four. You do not want to become weaker.
‘I have to consider the interest of the player but dominant of that will be the interests of the club and if you can combine the two it is even better but first is what is important for the club.
‘They have to make their decisions, I have to make mine. I cannot consider too much the interest of the national team.’
And of course Wenger is right. He wouldn’t be doing his job properly if he lets players dictate where they want to go, or what position they want to play in. I am certain that the Boss will point to their contracts and tell show them their signatures on them.
“You pays your money, you makes your choice”
Who agrees that Wenger is right?
Darren N
Yepp coz of the busy schedule we have ahead of ourselves…
So right.
agree with Wenger on this one.
Sooo, next summer:
Özil out
Sanchez out
Mertesacker out
Cazorla out
Wilshere out
Giroud out
Walcott out
Ospina out
And the likes of Debuchy and Xhaka to stay.
Will we have any players left?
Why not keep Ospina? I think he might be a better shot stopper than Cech.
I prefer macey and martinez
Before you moan about players leaving it would be good to stop and think about the players you listed.
Apart from the top 2, Alexis and Ozil, the rest have underperformed and one could argue as being part of the reason we are not winning the EPL.
We need better defenders and Per is too slow right?
Ospina is inconsistent at best.
Cazorla is a magician but now Wengers fault about his pain and we do need someone to replace him, right?
Wilshere was sent out to get fitness and has to fight for his 1st team spot, people was saying sell him prior to his loan due to volume of injuries, isn’t the calls for Jack to play partially down to how poor Xhaka has been? New CM is another call AFC fans make… We have a lot of CM.
Walcott has been called a headless chicken how many times by AFC fans?
I believe we can now moan about Xhaka as he has had a season in the EPL to adapt, he did improve in some aspects which was positive, he has cut out a lot of his silly hot headed cards as an example, he just hasn’t progressed enough.
I actually blame Xhaka poor performances on Wengers tactics, Xhaka needs a mobile CM who likes to play with the ball ahead of him and is athletic. Kante would have been perfect while I believe Ramsey leaves Xhaka exposed too often when he bombs forward.
We need to get rid of some players and the ones that need to go are the ones not good enough, they all have to fight for their spots as it should be… Well except Alexis and Ozil who have AFC at their mercy. Not even a favoured child (Wilshere) isn’t getting a free ride anymore.
Maybe Xhaka wouldn’t have such a free ride if AFC invested in getting quality players instead of bargain buys like ElNeny and relying on Coquelin?
Try to get Ozil tied to a contract, or sell him in January
Keep Alexis
Mertesacker is experienced, but as long as he is gone, Holding and especially Chambers wont get match time
Cazorla is out anyway already
Wilshere should be either played or sold, dont keep expensive bench
Giroud should be kept as long as he does not revolt
Walcott should be sold to West Ham, he still has a face value and is English, will bring in some fee.
Ospina should be kept as long as he does not revolt
Invest all the money from sell and 20-30m more on players whose contract are expiring next summer, they will come cheap and can find a replacement or 2
Giroud should stay.but wilshire needs to go.
Giroud is getting on in age and he is already slow, to begin with. Maybe it is time we rejuvenate the squad a little bit and give some younger players a chance?
I fully agree with Wenger on this, AFC comes before England.
I do want too see Jack playing deeper though, I like how he can step past a man and retain the ball often from the middle and drive the team forward, is the ideal link up man after Cazorla.
I still believe Jack has a lot to offer but for his limited playing time. As for Giroud, I believe he’s still needed in the team but with him in the squad, Lacazette is somehow affected. Wenger believes Giroud has to play hence always subbing Lacazette off. We need our number 1 striker to be among the highest goal scorers and with Giroud and Welbeck still with us, that doesn’t look likely.
Yes, Even I agree with Wenger on keeping Giroud and Wilshere. With Giroud we have three strikers in Lacazette, Welbeck and him. Plus Sanchez who could play there if required. All our main rivals , Chelsea apart, have three or more strikers and three is the bare minimum at top level. We are not exactly packed with creative midfielders are we ? Ozil apart, who will soon be gone – and the unlikely to play any more significant part Cazorla – we have only Wilshere who has creative skill. I exclude Ramsey as he is more a run in behind than flair player and all the others are clearly sub standard. Nelson looks like the next big cab off the block but that is for the future; he is not going to influence Prem games at top level like major players can do. Not just yet , at least. So Wilshere MUST stay too. I even agree that being where we are, not where we would like to have been , it is imperative to also keep Sanchez and Ozil til end of season, as fourth place is a strong possibility if they all stay but no chance at all if they all leave. Having got us into this mess, at least Wenger is right not to cut players adrift til fourth place is decided, one way or the other.
Unless we can bring in replacements, then no one should able to leave in January.
The squad is full at the moment, but do we need 4 keepers? Do we need akpom? Do we need 4 back up centre backs and could we do better than Debuchy Holding Chambers and mertesacker? Could we get better back up players than walcott, Welbeck, coquelin and elneny? Finally, should we be considering the sales of our best 3 players ozil, alexis and Wilshire rather than lose them for nothing in 6 months