Thierry Henry, Viera, Pires, Bergkamp, etc, these were not just talented individuals but foreigners who bought into the values of the club.
Thanks to the likes of Tony Adams, Martin Keown and Lee Dixon, it was made clear the standard and expectation of the crest.
We used to have enough leaders where we would never tolerate a player allowing his agent to describe a move to AC Milan as a “special moment” What happened to the days where players were proud to play for Arsenal?
To be a big club you have to act like a big club. If we don’t have the mentality in the dressing room for someone to tell the midfielder to shut up his agent, then our manager or owner should lead by example.
That’s why I’m happy the new assistant manager is now someone who was an “Invincible” A proper legend who will be behind the scenes setting standards. We need a zero-tolerance policy.
Anyone who thinks they are bigger than the crest should be allowed to leave, for too many years we have clung on to players who we knew wanted to be elsewhere, making ourselves look desperate in the process.
The consequences being we ended up with our best talent running down their contracts.
Lucas Torreira is not Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie or Alexis Sanchez. He’s not had a campaign where we should be afraid of his demands and he certainly shouldn’t be disrespecting us.
Worst case scenario he’s an asset we could get money for to add to the transfer kitty.
Don’t get me wrong the Uruguayan has a right to speak up if he’s not happy, he’s a human being who might be struggling to settle in a country. Factors such as his girlfriend being Italian, having lived in Italy, having played in Serie A all justify him being unsettled.
But, it was only 12 months ago that he was more than happy to walk away from Sampdoria, being paid tens of thousands a week in the process
If you’re unhappy that’s fine, just treat your employers with an element of respect
Dan Smith