If we were still at or near the top of the table, definitely. He'd probably win us the league, can't turn that down.

Nah. There's one 31 year-old striker in the world who I'd still pay good money for, but it sure as hell isn't van Persie.

kamikaze wrote:

just a hypothetical: if van persie handed in a transfer request and told wenger he wanted to come back in the jan transfer window, and we had a bid accepted for, i dunno, 20m, would you take him back? assume we're not close on any other top striker.

No, Van Persie is on his way down he's only got more injuries and loss of pace in front of him.
Besides theres a new paradigm in town- No more will we accept cheap Ligue 1 rejects no more will we accept kids, we have the money and everybody knows it we will not accept anything but the best now.
Over to you Mr Wenger.

You guys are ignoring the part of Kami's hypothetical where we're not close to another top striker.

Still no. As Biggus said, all he has in front of him an injuries and decline which we already starting to see this season. And after all that's happened, winning something with him the helm would just feel somehow tainted as it would with Suarez. Not bidding for Higuain remains unforgivable for me.

A league title is never tainted by a player just not being very nice. It's not like an ego problem is the equivalent of calciopoli.

Burnwinter wrote:

You guys are ignoring the part of Kami's hypothetical where we're not close to another top striker.

Well you're ignoring the fact that we should never be "not close to another top striker" anymore.
We have the money for a top striker.
We don't need that dog.

End of- We don't need that dog.

Well that's not the hypothetical, but admittedly it was a bit artificial. That said, if we're there or thereabouts in January and we pass on signing any top striker it'll be a disgrace.

It's there Burnsy it's within touching distance, we just have to want it more than the rest of them!

It was already a disgrace we passed on signing one in the summer. Just don't understand the thinking behind constantly leaving us short in one or two positions, especially when ample money was there. It's worked out in the first few weeks with Giroud's form but 6 games in he already looks like he's playing on pain killers and is scarily close to going down.

If we fail this time theres simply no excuse for Wenger.

It's up for grabs now........

That's the annoying thing. That it really does look up for grabs and it could well come down to Bendtner, Sanogo or Park.

If we don't win it come May, then it will be because 3 teams in this league have better squads than we have. If we DO mangage to win it, then it will be a massive over achievement. That is the truth.

I am not holding my breath for the striker we lack in January either. Not at all sure a class striker will be available then.

invisibleman18 wrote:

it could well come down to Bendtner, Sanogo or Park.

Even if we don't buy in Jan it won't come down to any of those three, Poldi and Theo will play up top before them.

Except they are both already out and will be coming back from surgery. Giroud has looked on the brink for the last couple of games. Bendtner is extremely close to the first 11 at the moment.

Giroud hasn't looked on the brink of anything in my opinion, nor should he be, we're less than two months into the new season. Walcott and Poldi will both be back or close to being back after the international break so despite Bendtner being 'close at the moment' he'll be nowhere near for the majority of the season. Bottom line is, we'd be extremely unlucky for all 3 to be out at the same time at any point this season.

That's true, but in the context of contesting the title, the big issue isn't a lack of backup for Giroud. It's that we need a couple of genuine PL quality forwards in every first XI we field, and ideally we need to improve on what we've got.

The matches I've seen since Walcott got injured we've looked very one dimensional up front.

otfgoon wrote:

Bottom line is, we'd be extremely unlucky for all 3 to be out at the same time at any point this season.

Jinx master

I guess she didn't get her looks from her father?

Apparently Moyes is religious to the point of brainwashing. I could definitely see him dropping (or selling) a player for something like this.

😆 Excellent rumor. Zaha should just do it now...

Just twitter nonsense, Zaha has dismissed the rumour.

Of course it is nonsense. But since it is out there, one can always wish for Zaha to follow up. Would be epic... 🙂

8 days later

Yeah I saw that, and then there was the former coach bitching about Moyes sacking them all and bringing in his Everton men.
I dismissed it as sour grapes but it seems Fergie is content to enjoy his retirement and stay at arms length.....Good good.

If he thought things were retrievable with a final flourish of glory for himself he'd step in to help ... as it is maybe his vanity prompts him to hope ever so slightly that United will collapse without him.

5 days later

Heh heh love the F365 headline, plucky United hold off Southampton to climb to eighth.
I want to play them right now, this is the best season in ages. :glee:

Biggus wrote:

Heh heh love the F365 headline, plucky United hold off Southampton to climb to eighth.
I want to play them right now, this is the best season in ages. :glee:

Get on twitter Biggus. You are missing some gems!

ex:

'Two points dropped. Should be beating these mid table teams'

The sight of RvP playing europa league next season in a rooney less UTD with Geriatrics like rio and evra not to mention plonkers like young and valencia will warm many a gooner hearts.

I think Manure is royale fuck this season, they have already lost the title. To be 8 points behind us after 8 games is truly remarkable, with spurs and Liverpool looking better than them I am not sure where they will finish. To over come so many teams that are in front of them they would need a miracle.

P.S. I still can't believe they bought Fellaini for 28 mil pound and we got Mathieu Flamini for free