Arsenal desperate to keep RVP

It all seems like last summer all over again. This time last year Arsene Wenger was battling to keep two of his best players in Cesc Fabregas and $amir Na$ri. The former had been pursued relentlessly by Barcelona for two years. Fabregas refused to to play for Arsenal in pre-season despite the fact that he still had three years to run on his contract. Na$ri had his head turned by the riches on offer at Manchester City even when he had a 90k/week contract offer from Arsenal.

Arsene was reluctant that none of them would leave and said nobody would think Arsenal was a big club anymore if they were to be sold. Well, that didn't turn out well did it? Fast forward three weeks later, both of them were gone. That disastrous management had telling consequences for the club as both the players and fan base lost faith in Wenger's ability to turn things around. One has to question the signing of Park Chu-Young from relegated Monaco and the mad rush at the last hour to make up for glaring gaps in the team. But credit to Wenger as he still managed to pull the team up to third place.

This summer, bar the RVP situation, the club is in a much better state and have taken bold steps in the transfer market. Podolski has been signed and if recent reports are to be believed, Olivier Giroud will be announced as soon as France exits Euro 2012.

Robin was reportedly offered a mouth-watering contract worth 140k pounds/week and a 5 million pounds loyalty bonus to extend his contract by three years. He didn't sign before jetting off to the Euros. The signing of Podolski, capped 100 times by Germany and the imminent arrival of Giroud could go a long way in convincing Robin about the on-field ambitions of the club. He's been offered a lot of money to stay as the captain of one of the top teams in Europe. His performances with the Netherlands would not have added any zeros to his worth so he might be better off staying at Arsenal and re-paying the faith the club put in him through out his injury plagued first six years at the club.  Wenger remains confident he will still be here by next season even if he does not extend his contract. It remains to be seen if the club will turn down a huge bid for a player who turns 29 in two months and has a history of getting injured.

It would be hard to replace his 37 goals in all competitions last term as any replacements will take some time to adapt to the pace and physicality of the Premier League.