Arsenal: Per Mertesacker Brings The Importance Of Continuity

Per Mertesacker is set to sign a contract extension with Arsenal, bringing the all-important characteristic of continuity to the club.

Continuity is important. It is a sporting ideal that is very difficult to master but advantageous if achieved. Arsenal, for some at least, have been able to reap the rewards that continuity has brought them but the pain of other clubs suggests that they must work hard to persist with such a belief.

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The long-lasting success that Sir Alex Ferguson enjoyed at Manchester United centred on continuity. Not only did his won reign span four separate decades, but he cultivated a winning culture through staff who stayed with the club for numerous years and players who, even late in their careers when they did not enjoy the regular game time that they would have perhaps yearned for, established themselves as key members and leaders in the squad.

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The likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, others who have enjoyed success in recent years, have also had continuity but in a different manner. Rather than their manager, they have a core of players who have become entrenched in the club’s values. John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba in the blue half of London, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero in the blue half of Manchester.

Arsenal are on the rise. They have been since Arsene Wenger has had the pleasure of growing in his aggressiveness in the transfer market. But continuing that rise is no easy feat. Keeping players, experienced players who have learned the culture and can impart on the culture on others, is essential to being able to produce sustained improvement.

Consequently, signing Per Mertesacker to a contract extension, keeping him at the Emirates beyond his previous expiration date of 31st June, is exactly the type of move that Wenger must make he is to succeed in his quest for continuity.

Whilst Wenger himself does to some degree ensure that the future is still anchored in the success and the growth of the past, the influence of continuity is only heightened by the existence of players such as Mertesacker who will continue the working of Wenger on the pitch, the training ground and in the dressing room.

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Mertesacker, although no longer a regular fixture in the starting lineup, like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes in Ferguson’s later Manchester United sides, can still have a significant effect on this Arsenal side. Continuity is why the signing of Mertesacker is extremely important.