Written by Fab4.
Arsenal have been boosted in their search for a new No.1 as Manchester City’s Shay Given has revealed he will look for a move elsewhere if he doesn’t start against Tottenham this weekend, and the same goes for Joe Hart.
City are in the privileged position of having two outstanding goalkeepers to choose from, something Arsenal can only dream about, and both Given and Hart have been linked with a move to the Gunners in recent weeks as Arsene Wenger looks for a new goalkeeper.
Given was first choice at Eastlands last season but now faces stiff competition from Joe Hart who excelled while on loan at Birmingham last term. But 34-year-old Given has stated he wouldn’t be content with settling for a place on the subs bench, should Roberto Mancini opt for Hart on Saturday.
“Yeah, we’re both at a stage when we need to be playing football. If i don’t start then I’ll sit down with the club next week and see where my future is and maybe vice versa with Joe as we both feel we should be playing.
I’m 34 and I’m at a stage where i need to be playing, I’ll hopefully play on Saturday but whatever decision the manager makes I’ll respect that and maybe sit down with the club next week.
I hope it’s going to be me, but if it’s not we’ll see what happens.
A loan move could be an option for Given, should he lose his place to Hart this weekend:
He added: “Ideally I would like to stay at the club because it’s a big club and an ambitious club, with fantastic owners and I want to be part of that, that’s why I joined in the first place.
“Possibly, if I didn’t start, then there could be a loan and then I’d come back and see where that takes me.”
It’s interesting that Shay suggests he and Joe have talked about the situation and that whichever one is on the bench on Saturday will look for talks with the manager about their future. So it could be that either Hart or Given are available for transfer (or loan) this time next week. To be honest, i would take either Hart or Given so i don’t care too much who starts, but if one of them is available then Arsene should jump at the chance with both hands!
It’s about time Arsenal stopped having to worry about the troublesome goalkeeping position, which seems to have been a talking point for years now, and gets a reliable No.1 between the sticks.
