Continuous renewal has not served us well over the past six years.
As for

My concern is this - should we be giving a new, enormous contract to a player with a questionable injury record; who is, like Henry was, at his peak and who is only going to decline in the coming years; and who's value is only going to depreciate, if he were to leave after 2012?

In short, is there not a worry that we've already seen the best of van Persie? Should we cash-in on our asset at the peak of its value, rather than trying to squeeze potentially lower returns out of it, at a higher maintenance cost? If Robin's injury-problems were to resurface, we could be faced by a nightmare scenario where we do not have the potential funds of any RvP transfer to re-invest in the squad, and where his huge wages could become a burden to the club's ability to grow.

Why's he worried? That's exactly how management will view the situation.
Wenger spoke frankly about exactly this type of decision before Christmas.
As for the re-investment of potential transfer funds :hmm:
As for Robin being awarded huge wages 😆

I agree, it's more or less the technocratic reasoning we imagine the board and Wenger use at times like these.

However, it's at least worth keeping the likelihood that we are now experiencing Van Persie's career best season, and the possibility of further injuries and a decline in form in mind.

Wenger used to be a keen judge of such issues, but his ability is impaired. I'd assume that we will keep Perse no matter what.

Nah. We can´t afford NOT to sell him has he not signed a week after the Euros. RVP will be 29 this summer, not 33! Even in this market, with a year left on his contract, we should at least get what we got for Nasri, £25m. We are in no position to willingly say no to that kind of money. If we are not to be competitive we may as well be so without RVP.

Don't you think they'll take into account the damage done this summer by allowing Nasri and Cesc to leave?

No I don´t.

Biggus wrote:

He should retire from international football, he could see the most productive years of his career ahead.

you assuming play for us means more to him than playing for his country?

Playing for Holland there is a bigger chance of him actually winning something.

Right, because they've won so many international trophies since Arsenal's last (oh wait).

Just said there was a bigger chance. Stand by that.

Humble Rex wrote:

Just said there was a bigger chance. Stand by that.

Pretty gutsy to refuse to back away from a position that's completely unfalsifiable, Rex. 🙂

Now if you said Holland would win the Euros or the World Cup before Arsenal's next major trophy, that'd make things interesting. I'd disagree.

Humble Rex wrote:

Just said there was a bigger chance. Stand by that.

There isn't though, Holland play an international tournament once every two years.

Arsenal are involved in four competitions every season.

5 if you count the Emirates Cup.

He should retire from Holland after the Euro's.

Captain wrote:

Wenger used to be a keen judge of such issues, but his ability is impaired. I'd assume that we will keep Perse no matter what.

I know you can't choose the exact minute to sell a player, but I maintain that Wenger used to sell too early.
We saw from the little Henry cameo that decline is a long slow process not an overnight plummet, (thats usually due to other factors injury etc).
And Players like Henry and RvP have a longer way to fall.

However I agree that Wenger is running on fear and desperation not his logic now, and I don't know which is worse.

Henry was crocked in his last season, keeping him here would have been a big mistake. That and the fact he wanted to get out of England enforced that sale.

Over the hill world class players deserve the chance to reinvent themselves.

But only if they're willing to become squad players, Henry and Pires would not have stood for that.

Captain wrote:

Henry was crocked in his last season, keeping him here would have been a big mistake. That and the fact he wanted to get out of England enforced that sale.

Well they were the 'other factors' I mentioned.
There are no hard and fast rules to decide when a player should be sold.
It could all be just bollocks but both Barca & Real have said that there won't be a mad pursuit for him, but then theres Man City.

Burnwinter wrote:
Humble Rex wrote:

Just said there was a bigger chance. Stand by that.

Pretty gutsy to refuse to back away from a position that's completely unfalsifiable, Rex. 🙂

Now if you said Holland would win the Euros or the World Cup before Arsenal's next major trophy, that'd make things interesting. I'd disagree.

I said ROBIN VAN PERSIE had a bigger chance of winning a trophy with Holland than with us. There IS a difference if you think about it. Realistically as a CF he isn´t likely to be the main striker at a top team, and let us call Arsenal a top team for argument´s sake, for more than 3 or 4 more years.

I say he has a bigger chance of winning a trophy with Holland during those years than us winning either the FA cup, the league or the CL.