Per Mertesacker

With the difference being that Per’s been playing full games for us for years while Jack hasn’t and Per’s remaining career is hardly dependent on him being able to play a bulk of games for us over a season, while Jack’s is.

If not because of the injury, Per would be the captain on the field.
It is very awkward to loan out your captain, Wenger won’t do that.

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He had an ACL which is one of if not the most devastating injuries out there, younger players can take multiple seasons to fully recover and he’s no spring chicken.

Talking about how many games they’ve played is moot since his contract is expiring this summer and the question is can he be relied upon going forward.

Even if he isn’t, what is there to lose. He’s going to sign for another year max anyway and if it doesn’t work he’ll be out of the door. There’s not really an awful lot of risk involved with a player that has shown over years that he can be relied on fitness-wise. If you really think he needs and will bother going out on loan to prove his fitness to us at this stage of his career you’re out of your mind honestly.

There are about a million more question marks over Jack’s head when it comes to that and anyway, will you be saying the same about Cazorla too when he comes back? Because I’d be worried a lot more about Cazorla’s ability to contribute over Per’s and the Spaniard is a lot more important to our team right now.

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Did I say there was anything to lose or that he needs to go out on loan? I simply said I can see it.

You jumped on one aspect of my previous post as if I’d been directly comparing the two.

Again he’s coming off the back of an ACL aged over 30, you talk as if you’re in the medical field. And Cazorla’s injury isn’t as serious so no I wouldn’t be as worried in comparison to Per although it’s obvious they both needed replacing which has already happened in Per’s case.

Most of the time Per’s tactical awareness makes up for his lack of pace. He’s usually spot on with his timing of tackles too, rarely see him being reckless.

One thing that’s irked me about him is his aerial ability. He really isn’t that good in the air for a tall defender, not very brave either.

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Wasn’t it a MCL?

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I’d go as far as to say Mertesacker is awful in the air, given the naturally advantageous starting point of his height.

People can debate the extent to which his lack of pace is a direct weakness to the team, but a defender’s ability to be a good header of the ball is all his own doing, and for some reason the BFG just sucks at it.

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With so many injuries at the back? Impossible.

I heard STD.

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It defiantly wasn’t an ACL as Per has missed 5 months not 9.

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Antonio Rudiger got an ACL before the Euro’s and is back playing before Mertersacker.

9 months isn’t a rule.

Ok maybe not if you have LARS surgery etc, anyways Per didn’t suffer an ACL.

Big Fucking Gonorrhea.

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Pers who???

It’s was a PER. Pace Extremely Rare.

Wenger confirms Arsenal have exercised option to extend Mertesacker's contract for another season.

— Mattias Karén (@MattiasKaren) 19 januari 2017

Strange choice IMO when you have Gabriel, Holding and Chambers.

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It would seem Wenger is going to PERsist with him even though we have plenty of other options.
Apart from Kos, he must be our highest paid CB, and he is effectively fourth choice, so why don’t we sell him?

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Good decision if true. We’re not reliant on him to play so it just adds to our squad depth for another year.

he’d be a free agent. This way he costs us the wages he gets for another year and will be off after then. I see it as less of a problem as we have actually players ahead of him that will get the majority of the minutes anyway.

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