So Johan Djourou has no intention of leaving the Arsenal. The Swiss stopper has taken the opportunity to make a statement to dispel any rumours of unrest by reaching out to fans and public alike through his Twitter account.

The press has been rife with rumours of a potential move to Italy with Napoli being mentioned as a likely destination. Fees have even been reported with a price range of £8-10 million being mentioned.

All be it most of the quotes for this story have been allegedly made by Johan’s agent. Djourou’s twitter account has given us the opportunity to hear the news from the man himself as he tweeted:

“I just want to deny all what have been said in the press about my transfer. It isn’t true at all.

I have been at Arsenal since 10 years now and I’m always committed to the club”

The statement seems pretty clear on Johan’s intention to stay at the club. He clearly seems proud of his long-term affiliation with the club and has stated so. This is the type of statement Arsenal fans have been waiting to hear from skipper Robin Van Persie yet we still wait.

Many questioned the authenticity of the Djourou twitter account as it contradicted all the news in the press about unrest and Johan wanting to play first team football to enhance his international career. I can confirm that account has been active for a very long time as Johan conducts many a competition on twitter and via his fan page on facebook. The account @JohanDjourou is listed on the Arsenal.com website as one of the official twitter accounts for the Arsenal players. To have a fake account fed through the Arsenal website would be very poor and embarrassing to all concerned with the website. Check for yourself: http://www.arsenal.com/news/player-tweets

The comments from Djourou have clearly split the opinion of Arsenal fans. On one camp Djourou is not rated good enough for the Arsenal team and we should sell and take as much as we can get for the player. In the other camp Arsenal fans see the worth of Djourou as a squad player for Arsenal; one of the best 4^th choice defenders around who would be hard to replace.

I would fall into the latter camp, I see Johan’s worth to the team. He has been part of the set up for a very long time and clearly loves representing the club. He still has some parts of his game he needs to work on but is able cover to the defence.

I do not think he currently is good enough to dislodge the first choice pairing of Koscielny and Vermaelen but that is just currently. He showed a couple of seasons ago the fight and determination that Arsenal fans demand and was probably our best defender that season. After taking a backward step last season Johan needs to knuckle down, work hard and get back to the level of a couple of seasons ago. It’s unfortunate he has to prove himself all over again to win back the faith in many Arsenal fans but it’s not an impossible task.

I’ve been here so long I remember changing your diapers

He is a great 4^th choice back up but there’s nothing to say he can’t improve further, especially with Steve Bould now involved with the first team. That is an ideal situation as Bould was a master of the centre back craft, his advice and guidance should be a boost to all the defenders at the club.

Now that Johan has stated his intend to stay at the club Arsenal fans really need to get behind him and support him. There’s no point abusing him on twitter telling him how rubbish you think he is, we need to recognize the respect he has shown. As I mentioned earlier he has at least used his social networking platform to put the fans straight on his career.

Our captain has done no such thing, understandably Robin has been invaluable to the Arsenal team and without him our season would have been in massive limbo. Yet the longer the silence continues the more likely it seems he may move on. One feels if he was really staying a tweet about his love for the club would dispel all the gossip mongers and leave him to have a distraction free Euro 2012. There’s no point hearing from his dad, his wife, his cousin or his cleaner, we need to hear from the man himself.

Johan may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I think Robin should take a leaf out his book and be honest to the fans that clearly love him. Like a jilted girlfriend we need to be able to get over it and move on, don’t string us along. The Radiohead album is in the CD player, do we need to press play?

Enjoy your day people.

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