Mathieu Flamini will be 24 on March 7.
He is on £20,000 a week and has apparently been offered a five-year deal on £50,000-a-week.
But he hasn’t signed.
Some say he wants more money. Others says Juventus are in for him because he will be a free agent this summer. So the Italians can pay him the cash they would have spent on his transfer fee.
Flamini is not a superstar and not one of the best players we’ve seen at Arsenal since 1996.
But he is vital right now.
Why? Because Fabregas and Hleb are very important to Arsenal’s style of play – and Flamini is important to Fabregas and Hleb.That’s why Arsene has to keep him. He’s French, he’s in place, he knows the players, they know him, he’s doing a fine job, and he can grab a goal.
He’s a known quantity. Because Flamini is a known quantity, it should be easy to put a value on him.
Yes, you can sign another tackler, maybe another French tackler, but you don’t know how quickly the new midfielder will settle in or whether he will ever be able to do what Flamini is doing now.
Obviously, signing new players is expensive and always a risk. Many fail, many disappoint.
So this is the moment to remind ourselves that every player on Arsene Wenger’s wish-list is an unknown quantity. There are no money-back guarantees in a football transfer. If you’re not completely satisfied after 30 days, you can’t send them back.