Arsenal: Per Mertesacker Contract An Unneeded Wrench

Arsenal lives and breathes loyalty, but sometimes you have to make a progressive move. Per Mertesacker wanting a new contract is not progressive.

I feel bad when I criticize Per Mertesacker. He’s just a great dude and I truly admire his dedication to Arsenal. But when he said he wanted a new contract, I was torn. All of a sudden, we have another wrench that nobody needed.

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Per Mertesacker deserves our respect. What he and Koscielny created was incredibly solid and kept the Gunners from shedding more unneeded points. But in terms of extending him for a longer stay?

Not only would this be a potentially wasted first team spot, but it would call into question so many things that we really don’t want to deal with.

For instance, would Wenger still feel inclined to start Mertesacker and find him playing time? This would severely get in the way of Calum Chambers, Rob Holding and even Gabriel Paulista. All three of those defenders need the time and arguably provide more than Mertesacker would.

He is in the latter stages of his career and, as such, he is only going to get less mobile. I have no doubts that he can compensate with his intelligence and forethought, but this defense is changing gears. With the combined athleticism of Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi, we are seeing a stouter defense than that Mertescielny brought.

To revert now is, obviously, a step back. It’s a major reversion to a system that was less effective. Archaic even. And it’s an unnecessary step back.

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But given the mantra of loyalty and faith, and using recent examples like Mikel Arteta, I’m not fully convinced that Wenger wouldn’t want Mertesacker hanging around. He is definitely a leader and a prominent locker room figurehead, but on the pitch, I see him as the sixth-ranked center back.

Yet I don’t think Wenger will see it that way. I could see Wenger giving priority to Mertesacker over a returning Chambers and a growing Holding. Maybe extending Mertesacker could even hinder Chambers’ odds of returning to North London, but that may be a bit ‘worst case scenario’.

I like Mertesacker and I love what he did for this club, but it’s time to shed some dead weight. He doesn’t provide anything that we don’t already have. Sure, I’d like to have him just to see the dances that he and Mustafi come up with when Arsenal wins countless trophies and I think the BFG deserves a major trophy or two.

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But so did many others.