Arjen Robben Hints At Bayern Departure, Puts Premier League Clubs On Alert

Alan Duffy

23rd, March 2012

9 Comments

By Alan Duffy


Despite his penchant for diving, moaning and rarely passing to his teammates, despite all that!, Arjen Robben lit up the Premier League in his time with Chelsea, helping the Blues to consecutive titles in the mid-noughties as he sprinted up and down the flanks.

Eventually, after an injury-strewn last season in England, the prematurely-aged Dutchman moved to Real Madrid. After a decent spell with Los Merengues, the wideman then moved on to another one of Europe’s giants, Bayern Munich. However, now it looks likely that Robben will leave the Bundesliga behemoths, with the player frustrated at being left on the bench in recent games. He said:

“It cannot be said that I am 100% certain I will stay with Bayern. A lot has happened in recent weeks and I didn’t play for three games in a row. Everybody saw that. It was not the best of times.”

With only a year left on his current contract, Robben is now looking at his options, news which is sure to have a number of Premier League sides readying their chequebooks. However, Bayern bigwig Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is desperate to keep the wideman with the offer of a lucrative new deal. He said:

“Arjen can make all the difference in a team. That’s why I want him to stay.”

Still, it is looking increasingly likely that the fleet-footed attacker will jink his way out of Germany, with moneybags Man City surely a possible destination. Then again, still only 28-year-old (yes, I know!), Robben could surely do a job for any of the division’s big teams?

 

 

Posted in Bundesliga, Transfers & Rumours

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9 Comments

  1. frank says:

    pretty old story/quotes, and since then he has helped bayern get through in champs league and seems to be back to his best again. you never know though, when u watch bayern games there always seems to be some sort of needle between ribery,robben, muller and gomez. Its like kids in the playground sometimes, all wanting to be center of attention. i rekon they could win the champs league if they all pulled together, i seriously doubt the required team spirit is there though

  2. KingB3113 says:

    I hate it when people comment just to say a story is old (Although you were justified in saying so this time Frank since it concerns transfer speculation)

    Besides that, when did it become the ultimate crime for a manager to sub or bench a player? I mean, I’ve seen guys throwing fits because the manager choose to rest them in the last 10 minutes of a game. And any time Mr Lampard (at the very young age of just 33) isn’t on the field, then question marks are raised about his relationship with the coach and his future with the team. Really ridiculous.

  3. Alan Duffy says:

    @frank – today Arjen Robben’s situation was trending on Twitter and it was being discussed around the footballing world (in my other work, in the international football media, it was receiving a lot of attention today) hence the story being featured on Pies today.

  4. Pkhakheria says:

    @frank , you just got Duffed

  5. ande says:

    Bad research … “with the player frustrated at being left on the bench in recent games”
    He’s started and played throught the last 7 matches. So much for this “news story”.

  6. Alan Duffy says:

    @ande Robben was left out of a few games in February which sparked his current unhappy situation. Maybe I should have said that rather than “recent”, but it is a news story with a number of clubs in England seriously looking at Robben now.

  7. ande says:

    It may seem so in England, but if you follow the Bundesliga (or rather Bayern Munich) closely you’ll have noticed how happy Robben has been lately and that there is almost zero chance of him leaving the club this summer. There are no speculations in the press of him leaving Bayern Munich and belief me, if there was only the slightest hint, the press would be all over it.
    One very important reason for Robben to stay at Bayern may be that they have Müller-Wohlfahrt as a club doctor, who is “world leader in the treatment of sports injuries” (wiki). Robben knows how important Müller-Wohlfahrt’s treatment and experience is for him as an injury prone player. He won’t leave. Only my opinion though.

  8. frank says:

    haha i wasnt having a go a pies or anyone, but my point is these quotes are a few weeks old, i read the story elsewhere, and Bayern and Robbens situation has changed in the last few weeks (what i would call recent), Robben is bang in form, and so are bayern, doesnt really look like a player who wants to leave… so maybe these quotes/this story is not so relevant anymore. Mr international football media man, twitter trends usually lag behind the actual story, maybe try and get ahead of the game and do your own digging instead of using twitter trends as an indicator.
    @ande, you da man.

  9. Hasselhof says:

    This rumor was started by espn soccernet. With their usual “steller” reporting, they cherry pick quotes and spin them in a way to create click through traffic, and as with anything media and internet related, it for reason’s unknown gained traction. As stated, this is a non-story in Germany and the excerpts were taken from an interview months ago. And to be honest, of course he’d be unhappy sitting on the bench. What player of his caliber wouldn’t be? That doesn’t mean he’s leaving, and he’s certainly not going to pledge his undying love and life to Bayern when a huge payday and other top tier club may come calling. He’s going to make Bayern work for his re-up signature.

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