Arsenal solid centre-back Thomas Vermaelen seriously considered quitting Arsenal after the departures of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas.
Although he thought about the prospect of leaving, I feel the fact he re-signed for another four years shows his passion for the club and his desire to keep fighting even if things weren’t going his way.
Vermaelen said on last summer and Arsenal’s recent resurgence:
I thought about it really long and hard because I knew there were some doubts about the club. But the most important thing for me is that I feel happy here.
Another thing is that I’ve only played one year my first. Last year I was injured, so I thought I had to give something back to the club and the fans. I felt, for me, it wasnt done here.
I still believe in the club and the structure of it is really good, so these are the main reasons I stayed.
People think if things are difficult it is always better at another club.
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But if things are not going as you want in the beginning it doesn’t mean you have to quit.
Thats the job, you have to fight for it and get better and better.
Its easy to quit and go somewhere else, but that doesnt mean somewhere else is better.
This is a really nice club, I feel at home here. The board, the boss, the fans … they have a lot of belief in me, so why should I leave?
You always feel part of the team even when you are injured and if you’re part of a team that is getting criticised its not always fun.
Its better that you have people talking good about you, but this is part of football.
Its not always easy, sometimes you get difficult periods and we had that at the beginning of this season but now, step by step, were getting better.
The organisation in the team is better and, if you talk a lot from the back and make sure your shape is good as a team, it makes it easier to defend.
If you make sure Alex Song in front of you and others in front of him have a good shape it helps as well and that means you’re not getting under pressure.
Hopefully the criticism we received at the start of the season will make us stronger towards the end of it and I hope we can improve with every game. Were doing OK, but its not perfect yet.
Because we didn’t have a great start we were in a situation where we had to look at every game separately and just fight for every point.
We still have to work hard throughout the season because there are other teams doing well, so it will be tough.
But Im pleased the way we are playing now and how were organised, that’s really important.
If you have Robin scoring every game then its going to be good for us as well.
I definitely feel it is no coincidence that Arsenal’s recent defensive improvements have directly coincided with Vermaelen’s return. The Belgian defender is a rock at the back at the back and definitely helps in the organisation department as well. Hopefully he will keep his fitness up and not see the treatment table for a long time!
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