He has little residual value ,if he leaves he will get a contract at a mid table budesliga club that will pay him 20-30 k a week Tops so the sensible thing to do is extend for a year at 30 k or pay when fit to play . We should have done this with arteta and rosicky but didnt .
He gets nearly 5 million pounds per annum you can get a fit bod for that !
Too many players in the squad in the first place. How is Mustafi, Koscielny, Gabriel, Holding and Chambers not enough?
Terrible decision.
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I reckon we will make some decision now like Selling Chambers and loaning out Holding.
Doesnāt make any sense to me, his value now lies in being āthe dressing room guyā and his experience off the pitch, but whether thatās enough to stake another yearās wages on is questionable. Makes even less sense because we have Chambers and Holding with +1 years experience, particularly Chambers. It will be a case (again) of the lucky one getting a year out on loan and the other one here wasted doing nothing.
Obviously you canāt effectively force Mertesacker out and then sweet talk him into sticking around to start his coaching badges with us (effectively on the coaching staff), but that wouldāve been ideal. Thereās a balance to be struck between keeping the old heads around and letting the young players come through. Maybe Wenger sees a real lack of leadership throughout the squad and reckons itās worth keeping him around.
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Arsene Wenger has confirmed Arsenal will trigger a 12-month contract extension for team captain Per Mertesacker.
Fook talk about money for old rope, looks like Wonga has money to burn.
I dont see why anyone would be against this? Him and Kos are proven to be an excellent pairing and he displays excellent on field leadership.
Honestly people. Gabriel is wank at CB and Chambers is on loan ffs, Holding is hugely inexperienced.
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So they have triggerred an option clause .
That means we pay nearly 5 million quid a year to a player who will be on the bench for a year .
Pissing money away again thats the Arsenal way !
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No, thats sensible inventment and depth for a club as wealthy as ours.
My only wish would be that we had this sort of depth everywhere.
I donāt see why this is an issue. Heās hugely experienced and respected and we need that kind of player in our squad.
Ultimately this season should show anyone that Mertesacker was a good CB because our record is arguably worse than in previous seasons with him at CB despite a shiny new 35m CB
I honestly believe Kos owes a lot of his development to Per.
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Iād much rather see Mertesacker play than Gabriel, and for the moment Iād prefer to see him playing ahead of Holding too. So Iām quite pleased to hear heās signed an extension, Iāve been saying that I hoped heād get an extension, to bemusement from some people.
He gets way too harsh a rap from football fans who donāt appreciate what he brings to the side in terms of experience, organising the back line, leadership and his exceptional positioning.
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Wenger said we need experience into the dressing room during the next months. Iām - as usual - with him. Per Mertesacker is the captain, loves our club and the team-mates love him because he is the connection between the different souls into the dressing room. He has a good relationship with the hispanic players, with the european players and with the english core.
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I think he is still our 3rd better CB so i would keep him.
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Great to see The BFG is staying for another season :per:
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I love the BFG but his slide in form after the World Cup in 2014 was very noticeable and he should have been replaced at the end of that season 14 /15 .
Im not against him staying Oliver ,but I think itās the height of stupidity to pay a man 90 k a week to sit on a bench or worse still lounge on a treatment table for a year !
Not only that he isnt fit ffs ,he could well lose what little pace he had and be a complete liability ,whats the point in that ? Were clubs beating down his door to offer him that kind of money ? Nope dont think so !
Wenger has a long history of pissing away huge money on wages even in the so called lean years.
My axe to grind him on over the last 4-5 years is that he NEVER learns from past mistakes.
If he could we Would still win or at least truly compete for the major prizes !
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No matter what way you cut it, he is an experienced defender that can slot straight in and do a hell of a job and is easily the third best CB at the club.
Given the number of games we play across 4 tournaments its an absolute given he gets game time, and wont simply sit on the bench.
Agree to disagree of course. But i would wager any sum of money that he is worth every penny.
Nothing illogical about this. He will be 4th-5th choice, emergency back up option whilst still maintaining the club captaincy. Heās respected behind the scenes and can still be an influence.
Can see him doing his coaching badges next year with us and then likely retiring.
If Arsenal is not going to sign another right back he is probably needed as 4th choice.
I hear you Oliver and I hope you are right but I dont share your confidence lets hope he still has some legs left in him !
Arenāt we conceding a goal per game? Pretty much in line with the last three years? I donāt know the exact numbers, but I donāt think weāre considerably worse in that regard.
Since he will continue being our captain, we avoid the risk of getting our first choice players getting the captain curse.
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