Put Up Or Shut Up Arsenal

Albion chairman Jeremy Peace is fighting of bids left, right and centre for defender Curtis Davies as he looks to keep the popular defender at The Hawthorns. So far Peace has turned down offers from Wigan (£9 million) and Portsmouth (£8.5 million) as the club hold out for an offer of £10 million. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is a big fan of Davies, but at that price is a little put-off. Oh well Arsenal do not want to pay £10 million for the defender so let`s accept an offer of £8 million, poor little Arsenal don`t like to pay over the odds for one of England`s most promising young defenders in years – Oh well.

Albion are not in the position of having to sell Davies to stay afloat, thanks to the Baggies board and chairman Jeremy Peace not throwing money at players Albion can afford to keep their star players or at least get the money that they demand for these players before they are allowed to leave.

Jeremy Peace has set his stall out since the club were relegated from the top-flight, Peace said that the club would do everything in its power to keep these star players at The Hawthorns and up to now he has done a fantastic job at fighting off the vultures circling the club. Davies, Zoltan Gera, Tomasz Kuszczak and Nathan Ellington have all been the subject of bids from Premier League clubs but Albion have stood strong refusing all offers that have come our way.

Albion have told these clubs that the players are not for sale unless they match the valuations that Peace and the Albion board have set out, as of yet no-one has matched these valuations so the players remain at The Hawthorns. The longest running saga of the summer so far concerns the future of Davies.

Curtis Davies has been linked with bids from Wigan Athletic and Portsmouth but the club doing all the talking is Arsenal. Albion have turned down bids from Wigan and Portsmouth but Arsenal have yet to put in an offer. Albion are holding out for a bid in excess of £10 million for the defender but Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has baulked at that price.

Oh well Arsene, if you don`t want to pay the asking price that is fine, offer us £8 million and you can have him – NOT!

The asking price is £10 million, if you think that the asking price will drop the closer we get to the transfer window your wrong, Albion do not need to sell and won`t sell just because it`s Arsenal showing an interest. If you want the player pay the price, I don`t agree that Curtis Davies is worth £10 million but it`s what Albion are asking, if you do not want to offer £10 million for his services then stop talking about him.

Wenger has told the press that he thinks that the money being asked for his too much and that Arsenal could not pay that kind of money for promising young players each season, oh well no loss there then.

Arsenal paid the price for Theo Walcott and he has furthered his career with a number of appearances for Arsenal reserves, does Curtis really want to go this early in his career? Yes Albion are in the Championship but he is guaranteed first-team football and Albion are one of the favourites to go back up so would it be a disaster for him to follow Andy Johnson`s lead and stay with Albion helping us to gain promotion?

A message to Albion would be to offer the guy an improved contract, he is our most important defender and some would argue the best player in our squad so make sure he is rewarded for being that. My advice would be to sell off that misfit and waste of talent Jason Koumas and use his wages to increase Davies` weekly sum, at least Davies looks like he wants to play for Albion and has acted professionally.

Curtis Davies is an important part of what Albion are building for the future, he is worth more than £10 million to the club, young fans look up to him, first-team players admire him and strive to show the same commitment and he is an honest player, not many of them about.

He is only coming into his third season of professional football and he still has a lot to learn, one season in the Championship will not do him any harm, if Albion fail to gain promotion then he can look for a move next season. You can not question his commitment to Albion during pre-season, he has been committed during the warm-up games and has spoken about the speculation stating that he would be more than happy to stay at Albion this season IF nothing else happens.

I beg Albion to hold onto Curtis Davies, he is more valuable to the club than £10 million in the bank, if you do sell him Mr Peace please ensure that the money made from his sale is re-invested straight back into the squad, Davies would be a hard player to replace.