Arsenal: Kieran Gibbs Departure Nothing But Fair

Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs is reportedly considering his future with the Gunners. It would only be fair for Arsene Wenger to either play him or sell him.

Part and parcel of assembling a squad of depth and quality is having to disappoint players who believe that they are receiving less playing time than they deserve. One such example among the Arsenal squad is left-back Kieran Gibbs.

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Ever since the departure of Gael Clichy to Manchester City, Kieran Gibbs was assumed the natural successor. Having sat and learned behind Clichy like Clichy sat behind and learned from Ashley Cole, Gibbs was seen as the continuation of the pacey, attacking left backs that the Gunners have enjoyed throughout Arsene Wenger’s tenure.

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Unfortunately, as they so often do, injuries had their say on Gibbs’ career, and a host of various fitness issues saw him lose his place first to the woeful Andre Santos and more recently to Nacho Monreal. The latter struggled at first when placed in the starting XI, but as he acclimatised to English football, improved significantly last year, performing excellently throughout the season.

Consequently, although Gibbs was fit for the whole year, he was never able to forge a place in the first team, consistently sitting on the bench, playing cup games and coming on with 10 minutes to go to shut up shop. That is not the role that a talented but injury prone 26-year-old aspires to when he dreams of becoming of a professional footballer.

However, since the close of the transfer window, Gibbs is reportedly considering his options as he enters the prime of his career without any realistic first-team prospects at the Emirates. Monreal is quickly advancing in age, now 30, and has not started the season well whatsoever, struggling against Saido Mane on the opening weekend and going off due to an injury against Watford last weekend after getting a run around by Nordon Amrabat..

Wenger seems insistent that he will persevere with the Spaniard and consequently game time will continue to be reduced for Gibbs. It comes to a point where, for a player’s career, it is only fair to either play them or sell them. It has come to that point for Gibbs.

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Wenger must make a decision regarding Gibbs. He must sell him or play him. It is the only fair way to merit the contributions that he has provided the club.