Tag Archives: She Wore

Jack Wilshere contract news imminent

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After 6 months of negotiations, it seems there has finally been a break through on Jack Wilshere’s contract.

Having nearly left the club last summer, Wilshere forced his way back into the Arsenal first team this year. Maintaining fitness, with mixed form, Arsenal were encouraged to offer him a new deal.

Early reports were that Arsenal wanted to pay him a lower basic, with high incentives (ie appearance fees). The net result would be Wilshere earns more than he does currently if he plays, but Arsenal will pay him less than they do now if he does not.

It showed a lesson learnt from the Abou Diaby time at the club, who maintained a high salary regardless of whether he played or not.

From Wilshere’s side, this was not acceptable. He felt he was worth more than Arsenal were offering, and the club reached a stalemate.

Over recent weeks, there have been some wrangling’s, with Arsenal reportedly offering more on his basic wage, but lower incentives. The net result if Wilshere played was the same, but the Englishman would also receive slightly more than the original deal if he failed to play.

Recently married, and his 3rd child on the way, a move abroad was going to be unlikely. Even a move away from London would now be a struggle for him.

My bet is at some point in the last 6 months, his agent has also quietly canvassed other Premier League sides to see what they were offering.

I imagine those clubs above Arsenal failed to give Wilshere the news he wanted.

They were either unwilling to give him (or his people) the huge contract he desired, or the first team football he craved.

The reality is, he would not be a guaranteed starter at any club above Arsenal (nor I suspect will he be at Arsenal next year) so those clubs would have been uncomfortable paying him a huge salary.

Note: I know Wilshere (and his people) were not “allowed” to speak to other English clubs until his contract runs out, but you are naive if you think his agents did not have unofficial discussions in a service station somewhere.

https://twitter.com/AFCfreddie8/status/994129036388524032

The reality dawned for Wilshere, he would have to look below Arsenal to get guaranteed playing time. Everton, Leicester, Newcastle, West Ham, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace. But none of these clubs would be able to match the contract Arsenal had on the table, let alone beat it.

The result is, Wilshere has come closer to Arsenal than Arsenal came to Wilshere, and this was shown in Arsene Wenger’s comments yesterday.

A new 3 year deal on a lower salary but with incentives based on playing time has been provisionally agreed. It is likely to have other incentives, such as salary increase based on game time, and an option for a further year.

All in all, a good deal all round.

Keenos

Laurent Koscielny injury GREAT news for Arsenal

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You have to wonder if Koscielny will be seen again in an Arsenal shirt.

That was my thought process in an article I wrote after the Europa League defeat to Atletico Madrid.

Laurent Koscielny’s troublesome Achilles once more reared its ugly head. Crumpled on the pitch in extreme pain, he was forced off after just 12 minutes. Immediate diagnosis was that he would be out of the World Cup.

Soon to be 33, I felt at the time it could keep him out longer, and so yesterday’s prognosis that he is set to be out for 6 months is not surprise.

“You will not see him until December at best,” said Wenger.

It pretty much rules the Frenchman out until 2019. At that is best case scenario. As we have seen with Santi Cazorla, any sort of surgery on your Achilles can lead to further complications. Even if he returns in December, he will only have 18 months left on his contract.

By the time that contract expires, he will be 35. This is almost certainly his last contract with Arsenal.

He has already spoken about wanting to see out his career at Lorient, and even before the injury, I felt that his Arsenal career was coming to an end. That he perhaps only had 1 more year left in him at the top level.

Whilst I do feel for Koscielny, this long term injury could actually be good news for 2 reasons for Arsenal.

The first (and lesser) reason surrounds the captaincy of the club.

For too long, the captain of Arsenal has been messed around with. Since Patrick Vieira left us back in 2005, the only consistent player we had as a captain was Cesc Fabregas – who led us for 3 years.

Robin van Persie was given it to try and encourage him to sign a new contract, whilst in recent years with the likes of Thomas Vermaelen, Mikel Arteta and most recently Per Mertesacker barely captained the team on the pitch.

The concern going into next season was that Laurent Koscielny was going to be the natural successor to Per Mertesacker, as the current vice-captain and senior professional in the team.

That concerned me as I felt he only had 1 good year left in him, and even next year he might not be guaranteed to start week in week out (if we sign a top centre back). That would leave us in the exact same position that we have been in recently. A captain who does not always play.

With captaincy off the table for Laurent Koscielny, it naturally gives the club a chance to look a bit longer term. Give it to someone who will be captain for the next 5 years, not just the next 12 months. If Aaron Ramsey signs his new deal, he is the man for the job.

The second reason is that Koscielny’s injury will force the clubs hand in the transfer market.

We needed a centre back last season. Instead of signing the player we needed, we stuck with Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi, with Per Metesacker and the youngsters Rob Holding and Calum Chambers backing him up.

After Konstantinos Mavropanos performances in the later end of the season, it would have been an easy option for the club to say “lets stick with Mustafi and Koscielny, with Holding, Chambers and Mavropanos backing them up”. This would have been a disaster.

Koscielny is clearly on the wain. He has always been error prone, but more mistakes seem to have crept into his game in the last 18 months. As for Mustafi, there are question marks over whether he will ever be good enough.

Had we gone into next season with Mustafi and Koscielny as our centre back partnership, it would have led to another season of disappointment. Now the club has no choice but to go into the market and sign a senior centre back to partner Mustafi.

Whilst the injury is bad news for Koscielny personally, it is great news for Arsenal as we can moved forward into the new era post-Wenger with a new captain and new centre back partnership.

Keenos

Arsene Wenger’s surreal send off

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I have found the whole Arsene Wenger leaving stuff just a little odd.

The obituary style articles by the majority of media outlets were morbid. It is the type of stuff that they have saved for when someone dies. To have Wenger’s obituary written and published when still alive made uncomfortable reading.

Then we have the weekends big goodbye.

It was the final home game, the big goodbye. A chance for fans to thank Arsene Wenger for his 22 years service, and a chance for Wenger to thank those same fans for his support. It was just all a little OTT.

The guard of honour before the game, the guard of honour after, the t-shirts and those inflatable balloons with a gigantic picture of Wenger. The oddest of them all was the 6ft white letters which spelt out Merci Wenger.

It almost felt like somewhere in the club, there was a brain storming session, and instead of picking the best ideas, they decided to “do them all”.

Giving Wenger the gold Premier League trophy that the club were awarded by the Premier League after the 2004 unbeaten season was also frustrating. It is a trophy that belongs to the club. Had they given him a replica, I would have understood, but to give him the original was too much.

The trophy should belong to the club, the players, the fans, not something to be given away. Again, someone in that brainstorming event would have suggested it, and they have decided to do it. My only hope is that Wenger does the right thing and lets it sit in the Arsenal museum, for future Arsenal fans to view.

I think the reason I found the big goodbye so awkward is that it is not yet goodbye. We still have two games left to go.

The season might be over, we can not finish higher or lower than 6th, but to have such an extravagant farewell when he still has another week in the job is just odd.

It is like having someone’s leaving do at work when they still have a week left at work. They’ve said their massive goodbyes after a few beers in the pub, slagged the company off to their closest colleagues, but then still have to turn up for work the next day to sit and spin on their chair and annoy everyone.

I am sure London Colney will be a strange place this week. After the “celebrations” of Sunday, it will feel like the season is over, despite their still being 2 games left to play.

Sunday was a brilliant day. With The George shutting as well, it was a quality drink up in the sun. Wenger deserved a huge send off, but I question if it ended up a little OTT – and did not respect that fact that we still have two games left.

I am probably just moaning.

Keenos