A familiar sight - RVP nursing an ankle
Juventus is reportedly preparing a £20million bid for Robin Van Persie as a replacement for Alessandro Del Piero, now 36 years and close to retirement. This might be a sick twisted attempt to get Van Persie and Giorgio Chiellini reacquainted on the same side of the field.
After all it was Chiellini's tackle that blew out Van Persie's ankle ligaments which led him to miss more than 6 months of last season. It led to a bitter feud between Wenger and the Dutch football federation and a comical digression into the bizarre curative aspects of placenta therapy.
According to Daily Star (another fount of journalistic verity), the deal could be sweetened by throwing in Felipe Melo who was on Wenger's radar a few seasons ago. Instead, the Brazilian chose to move to Juve.
This is probably not going to happen. Arsenal really does not have enough depth at the striker position. Marouane Chamakh has been good but his intestinal fortitude playing that position is a work in progress. Nicklas Bendtner might start some Carling Cup fixtures but he is not consistent enough for the longer Premiership season. Carlos Vela maybe leaving on loan to get more playing experience. Van Persie leaving will deplete the striker corps unless there is a comparable player coming on board. One has seen no signs of that developing.
It is also hard to see Wenger shipping him off to the Serie with Van Persie just getting back from an injury plagued couple of years. This time he might get stuck in long enough to help the Gunners through to the end of this very tightly contested season.
The Melo part of the deal also does not work - with Song playing so well, another holding midfielder will add redundancy. And Melo will not come to the Emirates to sit on the bench.
The other part is Juventus's necessity for another striker - scoring goals has not been a problem. With 32 they top the Serie and Fabio Quagliarella has knocked in nine. So one would question their need for an additional striker.
Leave a comment