The morning papers are linking Robin van Persie with a move to Manchester City to replace Carlos Tevez. Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke broke his silence and talked about a wide range of issues, including Arsene Wenger, Samir Nasri, and Cesc Fabregas.
According to The Guardian, Manchester City see Robin van Persie as a direct replacement for the disgruntled Carlos Tevez. Even with the transfer window three months away, Van Persie is already a hot topic of disussion inside City. The Dutchman revealed earlier this week that he was not interested in negotiating a new contract with Arsenal this season.
Mancini and company know they have to sell Tevez for the reduced price of £20 million or less. If RVP refuses to sign a new contract, he has to go. Maybe Arsene Wenger will be able to work a swap for Tevez. Carlos Tevez and cash to Arsenal and Manchester City get RVP.
The rumours around the Dutchman will only multiply as we head towards January. It is ridiculous because Robin’s contract does not run out until the end of next season. The Gunners will have more leverage because they can chose to keep Van Persie until the summer. But Arsenal, seeing the extraordinary fees paid for Torres and Carroll last winter, may be wise to sell in January.
Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kronke is no longer “Silent Stan.” The American told The Telegraph (from The Guardian): “I have tremendous confidence in [Arsene]. He is one of the great managers in the world. Arsene is one of my favourite people I have met in the last 20 years. He is a great person and I love the way he handles himself. He is a very intelligent guy.
“It’s a rocky start but what do people really expect? Cesc Fabregas[who signed for Barcelona in the summer] is a great player who Arsene developed from the age of 16. He decided last year that he wanted to leave.
“Maybe it is one of those times when we have to work our way through, maybe with some young players. Arsene has been really good at developing these guys, people like Alex [Oxlade-]Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere. There are some really good players that Arsene thinks can be special. Arsene’s our man.
“I like the kid [Fabregas] but I’m not going to change his mind. Arsene made the decision.
“I also get it on [Samir] Nasri [who joined Manchester City]. If we didn’t do something on Nasri people would be looking at us next summer and saying, ‘Why didn’t you do this?’ We bought in a lot of resources that we can use on other players.”
Not-S0-Silent Stan is clearly much more involved with the club than many people think. First off, he seems to be in love with Wenger. The Wenger-out crowd will be very displeased.
To answer Kroenke’s question, people expect Arsenal to win trophies. To his credit, Kroenke was right on point about the Cesc and Na$ri situations. We could not let Na$ri leave for free, and Cesc clearly wanted to go back home. The American owner clearly has been paying attention to the club despite the fact that he owns many teams in the USA. The mention of The Ox really shows that he knows what is going on with the team.
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[...] far, Silent Stan has only been interviewed once about Arsenal, not counting his press releases on Arsenal.com. Kroenke seems to be the responsible football [...]