Gunners Transfer Saga – A No Win Situation for All

And so it starts again – The annual North London summer pantomime, which in the past few years has featured headline acts by Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fabregas (2 consecutive years), Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy. The latest duo tussling for the Broadway honours are the Gunners frontmen Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott. While RVP was easily the player of the season in England last year (his horror show in the subsequent European championships notwithstanding) and Walcott had the most consistent of all his inconsistent seasons with the Gunners, a close introspection into the career history of players under Arsene Wenger might suggest that transfers of these latest Arsenal wantaways might not be in the best interest of pretty much any party concerned – unless of course the only interest the player might profess is to garner a bank load of extra cash.

                                    Theo and RVP : Greener Pastures ( really ???)

Throughout the Wenger era the notable names who have left the club for greener pastures (money or trophies or both) include Marc Overmars , Gio van Bronckhorst , Ashley Cole , Mathieu Flamini , Alexander Hleb , Jose Reyes , Fabregas , Kolo Toure , Adebayor , Clichy and Nasri. Of course this list does not include the likes of Robert Pires , Freddy Ljunberg and Sol Campbell who shone for several years with the club before being relieved of their duties (at least in Pires’ case rather dubiously so). Neither do names like Pascal Cygan , Senderos or Jeffers feature as they were horrendous failures at the club.
So, to head back to our first list , of players who left Arsenal at their prime, only Overmars , Gio and Cole can proclaim with any real honour that they tasted success in their future ventures after quitting the Gunners.

Now success is a very gray term. Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri might well jump at my throat claiming they won the EPL trophy in their first season with City. However if success is merely to be measured by medals in the cabinet and not by the actual amount the individual contributes to the medal winning effort , then Robert Horry with 5 NBA championship rings is a greater player than Karl Malone and Tom Moody with 2 cricket world cup wins is more successful than Sachin Tendulkar. Success and greatness in team sport ought to be measured in more than merely by the number of medals and trophies unlike in individual disciplines. Cryuff , Puskas , Zico , Socrates , Bergkamp have no world cup medals to display , but at would any of them have changed their careers with Cristoff Dugarry or Luca Toni. Sometimes medals are merely won by being at the right place at the right time, and can then be hardly be equated with sporting greatness.

Back then to my original point – Nasri had a sub-par season with city and an even worse Euro with France, a far cry from the exalted heights of footballing artistry he displayed in 2010-2011 (especially the first half). Similarly Adebayor , Clichy or Toure haven’t really done anything spectacular in their post Arsenal ventures. Even Gunners Legend Thierry Henry, though he won the Champions League with Barcelona , was pretty much reduced to a bit part player for the Catalans in his years there, a far cry from week after week electric entertainment he used to provide English audiences during his time with Arsenal. As for Flamini and Hleb, average players who seemed much more than that under Wenger’s tutelage and system , sunk without a trace at Milan and Barcelona respectively. Even Fabregas didn’t really steal the show at an embarrassingly rich Barca squad that promptly surrendered their stranglehold on the La Liga to Jose and Ronaldo’s Madrid. The case for him, however, might be different with Xavi getting no younger and Iniesta ever injury prone , he and Leo Messi might well be footballing duo that etches their name in history.

                        Hleb and Flamini : Spectacular failures in Post Arsenal Careers

Van Persie, no doubt is an extremely accomplished striker , but I still think his performances have flattered his own abilities during the past year and a half. Always a feather touch away from an injury, and a failure to match his club performances on the international level should be a warning for the player and potential suitors alike. I personally do not think RVP will ever match the excellence of last season, whether it is for Arsenal or for another club. At Arsenal at least he will be playing a familiar system and under a man who has groomed him from his youth (just ask Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs the importance of the latter). As for Walcott , he is far from the finished product – already cries in the stands have called for the dynamic Alex Oxlade Chamberlain to be promoted over him in terms of first team appearances. He especially should take heed from the fates of Flamini and Hleb as he is in asimilar point in his career and is as likely to vanish out of contention as he is likely to finally fulfil those long prophesies of greatness.

All in all, introspection into the history of Arsenal transfers under Wenger might well forebode that RVP and Theo are best staying put in North London. Podolski is a good player , Giroud I haven’t seen much of, but with a couple of further tweaks , a fit squad and more essentially an early return by Jack Wilshere might just see the Gunners as dark horses to the 3 way challenge predicted between the Manchester clubs and the free spending Chelsea in the forthcoming season