The good news for the Arsenal club captain Per Mertesacker is that the recovery from the knee injury that the World Cup winning centre back picked up in the pre-season game against Lens is still going well. But with the BFG still a couple of months away from a comeback, the good news for Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal fans is that his replacement Shkodran Mustafi is doing very well indeed alongside Laurent Koscielny.
Perhaps a little too well for Mertesacker’s liking, as Metro has reported the lanky defender talking about the possibility of moving on, with the January transfer window giving him the chance to talk to other clubs because his current contract is due to expire at the end of this season.
The injured Gunner said, ‘I know that I need to allow myself time. The more time I allow my knee, the longer I’ll be able to play football.
‘I can increase the workload already and I am no longer in pain.
‘I believe that I can reach a level again on which I am important for the team. I have the feeling that this is not the end.
‘I look at the perspectives for me and my family, and I think that I’ll intensify those thoughts from January on.
‘That’s also the time when you can listen to other things [offers] when your contract is expiring.’
I know that a lot of Arsenal fans think the 32-year old is too slow to do a good job for Arsenal but he is still a good player with bags of valuable experience. What I fail to understand is why Wenger made him captain when his contract was due to run out and knowing he would miss around half of the season.
Would it not have been better to extend his contract first? Or even to give the armband to someone like Koscielny who would definitely be on the pitch? I thought it was an odd move from the boss at the time but do these comments from Mertesacker prove that Wenger got this decision badly wrong?
Bob.