Arsenal: Telling time for Arsène Wenger as one player leaves and others consider move

Arsène Wenger’s grand vision for Arsenal is stalled at a cross and there is the mounting sense of a big juggernaut coming into view.

Divided: The gap between Arsène Wenger and players including Cesc Fabregas (right) appears to be widening Photo: REUTERS

The restless passengers at Arsenal already include Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri – Gäel Clichy has jumped off after completing his four-year, £7 million move to Manchester City yesterday – and, with only two years remaining on their contracts, the fear is that Robin van Persie, Andrei Arshavin and Theo Walcott will also climb aboard.

The fuel for this juggernaut is both the certainty of superior wages and the suspicion of better opportunities elsewhere. Heads are being turned and that has caused a momentum which threatens terminal harm to a philosophy at Arsenal that is, at the same time, both admirable and fragile.

It also amounts to the most testing and pivotal summer of Wenger’s 15 years at Arsenal. His reputation and legacy is likely to depend upon whether decisions over the next two months can reverse a spiral at Arsenal that has accelerated downwards at an alarming rate since the Carling Cup final in February.

Should Fabregas and Nasri join Clichy, in leaving, Wenger will have to replace three players who have been among a select group of automatic first-team selections.

It would be like Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba all suddenly deciding to leave Chelsea.-Telegraph