Arsenal FC: Gunners Smart to Take Risky Stance with Robin Van Persie

Arsenal had better hope that Robin van Persie isn't set on leaving and not just because the impact of his departure would rank somewhere between catastrophic and apocalyptic.

According to The Daily Mail, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis plan to present van Persie with two options when they meet on Wednesday to discuss his future with the club:

Stay, or stay longer.

As in, van Persie can either accept a new deal, which would likely afford him wages of £130,000 a week for three years, along with a £5 million signing-on fee.

Or, he can play out the final 12 months of his current contract and shop his services freely thereafter.

In essence, Arsenal plans to go all-in on van Persie (on its own terms, of course) while also testing his commitment to the club. The wounds opened by the sales of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy are likely still fresh in the hearts and minds of Gunners' brass after another season without silverware that was derailed, at least in part, by last summer's shakeup.

The loss of a talismanic talent like RVP would probably push Le Professeur and his associates at the Emirates Stadium into scramble mode once again and, in turn, jeopardize the pursuit of the club's first trophy since 2005.

Of course, such a hardline stance is not without its perils. The refusal to sell van Persie, the PFA Player of the Year and leading goalscorer in the English Premier League, means that Arsenal may lose him for nothing rather than using him to bleed millions in transfer fees from one of the umpteen powerhouse clubs that are rumored to be after him.

It's also entirely possible that the ultimatum will upset the notoriously moody van Persie and serve as the festering point for a melodrama that could consume the entire side in its chase for glory.

Then again, the Gunners can take some modicum of comfort in the no-nonsense approach that North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur took in its dealings with Luka Modric. Harry Redknapp and Daniel Levy refused to sell him to Chelsea and, after an early-season tiff, were able to coax some fabulous football out of the cranky Croatian.

But while Wenger and Gazidis will be the ones proposing the options to van Persie, it is they who will have no choice in this matter. They must keep van Persie at all costs, as much to chase silverware in one regard as to stave off the wrath of angry, title-thirsty Gooners in another. For them, it's as much a matter of victory as it is one of job security.

And when there's that much on the line, with such an important player hanging in the balance, the riskiest option is also the only one worth choosing.

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