Van Persie: "Sometimes you have to win ugly"
Tuesday 06 January 2009
Arsenal have made Robin van Persie
a new offer that would extend his current contract with
several years and that is worth several million euro.
The club hopes that the Dutchman
will agree soon, but the striker does not seem to be
in a hurry.
Van Persie said it's more important
to him to win some silverware this season than to focus
on a new contract.
"It would be worth a lot me
to go to Wembley this season and win the FA Cup. When
I signed at Arsenal the club had just won the league
without losing a single game. In my first season we
won the FA Cup. I hoped we could continue like that
but it didn't work out. We often play fantastic football,
but now the time has come to win some prizes,"
Van Persie says.
Last weekend the Rotterdammer showed
his team the way by scoring twice and supplying a third
goal.
In that game Van Persie was the
Arsenal captain for the first time.
In the eyes of his manager Arsene
Wenger the former Feyenoord player fully deserved the
captain's armband.
Wenger thinks Van Persie has come
to be one of the world's greatest players and that is
why the Frenchman puts a lot of value on securing him
for the club longer.
Wenger: "Robin is the perfect
example of the evolution of a football player. Considering
how he arrived here 4½ years ago and where he
is today, he has really developed very well. Few people
will have thought then that he would one day be the
captain of Arsenal."
Wenger sees Van Persie as the cement
of a team that has lost skipper Cesc Fabregas after
William Gallas failed as captain.
"Robin is always very interested
in what is going on within the club. When there is a
problem Robin will always try and come up with a solution.
It was not for nothing that he was the longest serving
player in the last game. He turned out to be an excellent
captain."
Van Persie admits he was surprised
by the choice of his manager.
The two have a great relationship
and Van Persie very much values his coach.
"Cesc Fabregas will be out
for a while and Manuel Almunia was rested. It was a
big honor to be picked."
Van Persie thinks that a lot of
things have to improve in the team that has fallen behind
in the race for the championship after some slips against
smaller clubs.
"All the young players are
working very hard every day to make progress. But we
have to admit that we are not quite as far as we had
hoped we would be. What everyone should realize is that
sometimes you have to win games by playing ugly football.
It's only in recent weeks that the players are starting
to understand that."
Arsene Wenger is prepared to give
the team a quality injection this month, but he rules
out a large number of signings.
"I'd rather spend the money
on one top player. I do not want to halt the development
of guys like Aaron Ramsey by signing a mediocre player."
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