Robin Van Persie

[Sule]

Van persie's contract expires next year and he is stalling on the new contract because he knows he may have better offers from mancity or some other team.

Also, arsenal are again being linked with average players this summer like granero and podolski. Why would van persie want to stay?

Also, arsenal do not want to pay big transfer fees and big salaries to any player. Milner, kaboul, gary cahill, suarez, robinho, david silva, villa all were linked with arsenal in the past but went to teams who paid bigger money.

Have they failed to acquire silverware over the past sesasons? Yes.
Have they played CL football every year since Wenger's appointment? Yes.
Gunners are doing just fine w/o huge wages.

RvP is playing some of the best football on the planet. Only other players who can compare on current form are Messi, Ronaldo, and Rooney. These four players have consistently been putting their teams on their backs when needs be to get the job done. This just goes to show the kind of talent RvP is and what he can do with it when he's not injured.

How can you disregard a man who is on course to break goalscoring records in the Premiership? He nearly broke the record for most goals in a calender year.

[jabarinho]

Van persie is a good player but i am saying he is not world class. World class strikers are drogba, aguero, higuain, benzema, rooney, villa, zlatan, tevez. These players do the simple things well, but also have extra magic with consistent ability to get past defenders and/or amazing pass vision.

I know adi will rip me up when he sees tevez on my world class striker list haha

RVP does the simple things well but where are the spectacular plays to make him world class? His goals are mostly tap-ins and all of his assists are from corners, free-kicks and hopeful crosses.

Getting 31 goals and 8 assists in a season does not make a player world class. I dug up some stats from previous years to show this point:
adebayor 29 goals and 5 assists for arsenal in one season.
michael owen 28 goals and 5 assists for liverpool
diego milito 32 goals and 6 assists for inter milan
forlan 33 goals and 11 assists for atletico
mario gomez 39 goals and 3 assists for bayern
luca toni 34 goals and 7 assists for bayern
dani guiza 27 goals and 6 assists for mallorca

Check the stats and you will see many similar players with big numbers. None of those guys are world class.

[Sule]

Van persie is a good player but i am saying he is not world class. World class strikers are drogba, aguero, higuain, benzema, rooney, villa, zlatan, tevez. These players do the simple things well, but also have extra magic with consistent ability to get past defenders and/or amazing pass vision.

I know adi will rip me up when he sees tevez on my world class striker list haha

RVP does the simple things well but where are the spectacular plays to make him world class? His goals are mostly tap-ins and all of his assists are from corners, free-kicks and hopeful crosses.

Getting 31 goals and 8 assists in a season does not make a player world class. I dug up some stats from previous years to show this point:
adebayor 29 goals and 5 assists for arsenal in one season.
michael owen 28 goals and 5 assists for liverpool
diego milito 32 goals and 6 assists for inter milan
forlan 33 goals and 11 assists for atletico
mario gomez 39 goals and 3 assists for bayern
luca toni 34 goals and 7 assists for bayern
dani guiza 27 goals and 6 assists for mallorca

Check the stats and you will see many similar players with big numbers. None of those guys are world class.

Higuain - Hasn't cemented a starting berth at Real Madrid. Hasn't had a great season in the past two years
Benzema - Name a consistent, successful year he has had post-Lyon
Villa - WC at times. I wouldn't place him above RvP.
Others I agree with.

Describing his crosses as "hopeful" is a bit irrevalent. That like calling Xavi's tacticul nous "wishful thinking"

You have to remember those stats are from players at the end of the season. Van Persie still has a way to go until the curtains close. Also, it's well-known how injury plagued RvP's career has been. Even with that he has consistently scored well for Arsenal and with his health staying intact, people are finally noticing that he can maintain his level of play.

Also with the players you mentioned, they were considered World Class for that season. Look at Forlan'smove to Inter Milan and his performances at the World Cup. Adebayor was praised as a phenomenal, all-round striker. Michael Owen was a borderline saint in England. Milito put all of Europe in his pocket for a year and led Inter to domestic and european success. Gomez and Toni were hailed as some of Bayern's best recent purchases. They may not be considered worldclass anymore but when they were playing great football, they were considered great players. Same goes for RvP

[Adi]

jabarinho has obviously lost it.  I'm glad someone with a football brain (Sule) has come in to provide some common sense.

By the way, Drogba WAS world-class... he is not longer that.  He's on the decline and just a rotation player on a top team.

I would take a healthy Van Persie over most of your listed players: drogba, aguero, higuain, benzema, rooney, villa, zlatan, tevez. 

Rooney and Zlatan are a toss up.

[jabarinho]

jabarinho has obviously lost it.