Humble Rex wrote:
We are still a massive step up from Lille.
Look at Sahin at Madrid. He is a 23 year old mega talented kid who was the attacking fulcrum at German champions Dortmund last year. He has 5 starts to his name this season. You don´t think he regrets choosing Real Madrid right away after Dortmund?
Players like Hazard could, and should, learn from things like these. I don´t really mind if players see Arsenal as a stepping stone or whatever. When they are here it is up to us to make them happy enough to want to stay. We need a team strong enough for them to want to stay.
Isn't that what's been at the heart of our problem for the past 6/7 years though ? That policy of getting rid of players over 30 years old... and our main star always ending up carrying the team (Henry, Fabregas, now RVP...) without winning anything. Fabregas said that the "routine" of being nearly there each year and then seeing it all go wrong at the end of the season drove him out of the club. Henry said he couldn't wait longer for success. It's mechanical, if you apply pressure on one part of a construction and steadily increase the pressure without relief, you reach a breaking point (the player wants out). Until last summer, our team was only getting younger and younger year after year, and the experience added this time round (Arteta and Mertesacker, Park doesn't seem to count) has helped, but it looks like our current injury toll is too big so we've ran out of steam. I remember when we signed Vermaelen and then Koscielny the year after, both players looked as though they couldn't believe their luck. They were really excited that Arsenal took interest in them. I wonder what players with some experience think of our club just a couple of years on. Not the 16 or 18 year-old, but those who have started to make it at 20/22+. I know you don't get many Scholes or Maldinis out there, but it would help a lot if one or two of our best players were Arsenal through and through, had been around for years and even if they thought Arsenal was letting them down in a way (by not improving the squad properly for example), they'd stay around. After money and success, I guess good players settled in a club will attract other good players, and if Van Persie leaves in the summer, what next ? We're not offering as much money as other clubs and we haven't had success in a while. So, will other players step up and the strain gets shared a bit more evenly, or do we crumble for good and Wenger and the board have a real look at themselves in the mirror ? We were nearly there last summer as half the players wanted out (dixit Wenger)...
