To Keep or Not To Keep Part 6: Striker Edition

Morning all,

I could go into further detail about the Robin Van Persie saga but to be honest it is time to put it behind us. I am in many ways glad it is over and whilst this was never the outcome anyone wanted we can finally move on. If you want to read a great piece on the situation, his legacy and the general feeling check out arseblog today, as I feel it sums it up best.

I however will not dwell on the situation and instead I will ignore the increasingly likely reports of another departure in the form of Song to focus instead on other players that may be leaving in the “To Keep or Not to Keep” series.

Something a little different today, we will look at 3 players all at once, and the reason for this is all 3 players had very little to do for Arsenal last season. There were numerous reasons for this whether it be a player going out for loan, a player never being trusted or a player completely devoid of any confidence.

You may have guessed in this triple addition we are looking at Chamakh, Park and Bendtner.

If we start with Chamakh then, a player I have never been a fan of I will admit. In spite of that I will try and be as neutral as I possibly can be. He did play some games but due to the form of Robin Van Persie combined with his own bad form, his playing time was certainly limited. Even so, this is how he fared:

Player	Apps	Minutes played	Goals	Goals Per Match	Goals Per Minute
Chamakh	11	169	1	0.09	0.01

Nothing to write home about but it is clear that confidence was low and he seems to be a player that needs to be in the team playing to get himself into some sort of form. Unfortunately the situation itself was a vicious circle for him in that he wasn’t able to play due to his bad form but he needed to play in order to gain some momentum. Ultimately the season was a complete failure and was very forgettable.

It was frustrating to see especially given the impact he had when he first signed but in all honesty he was never the most prolific of players even at his peak.

The matter of keeping or selling is somewhat complicated by the imminent departure of Robin Van Persie. can we afford to sell all of our strikers and only have the two new arrivals. Either way i say he is not Arsenal standard and must be sold. Not to keep!

Park Chu Young:

Hmm. I don't know what to actually say about this particular player. Despite playing for us for almost a year i don't think i know anyhing about his ability, other than Wenger doesn't deem him good enough.

In that case, either do I.

Short and sweet: Not to Keep.

Niclkas Bendtner:

Again quite difficult to analyse his performance given he hasn't played for the club in a while and when he did, more often then not he was played out of position. He is a player who has done well in patches but has never matched (or even got close to) his own perception of his quality.

I will not deny he has ability and I do think in the right team and with the right service he could well be a very good and important player. I think the fit has never been right at Arsenal and as such we know which way this is going. He has quite publically ruled out a stay at the club and more recently said that Arsenal want him to leave as well.

As such it is very likely he will leave at some point before the transfer window closes. There is mounting speculation that Milan are after his signature and they would be able to afford the high wages Bendtner would demand. Despite that, out of the three strikers, he would be the one I would keep if we had to but on his own merits we have another player that has to go.

If all three do leave which is looking likely, then it is essential we buy another striker. There are rumours about Llorente and I would love that but as mentioned yesterday, I cannot see that happening. As such, I would not be too surprised if we see Chamakh staying at the club this year. *Sigh*

That'll have to do for now. Will be back later with part 7 of the series. Enjoy your day.

GoonerVerse.