Hasta la Vista Andre!- Santos Out?

Undoubtedly the title of this post will have many Gooners breathing a sigh of relief. Yes, seeing the overweight Brazilian going AWOL at left back may be something of the past. Maybe.

Since arriving from Fenerbahçe on August 31 2011 Santos has hardly been a fan favourite although his marauding runs forward may have been enjoyable at first, his many frailties were soon to be exposed. Costing £6.5 million, Santos was hardly a bargain and came with fans expecting him cement his place as the first choice left back. However, throughout his time at Arsenal Santos has been consistently outshone by the younger and less experienced Englishman Kieran Gibbs, both in attitude and performance.

It’s clear for anyone to see that Santos is errrm...chubby? Don't laugh, this is a serious issue. Rumour has it the club have issued Santos a strict diet he is to keep to, eliminating his personal favourite- Brazilian Steak- Unlucky Andre. Or maybe not unlucky Andre as rumour also has it that Santos has failed to comply with the diet. Hence the fact he has not shed a single ounce since his arrival at the club. This is one of the many attitude issues which are aggravating AW.

As well as that, Le Boss is said to be unhappy with his work rate and application both in training and on match days, as well as his all too often lapses in concentration. AW is also said to be fuming- as are all us Gooners- about Santos' ludicrous shirt swap with arch enemy number 1 RVP. Doing it at the end of the game would have been silly, but half time? Even you're smarter than that Andre...and that's not saying much.

So he's alienated the fans and manager. It's fair to say he could have started his AFC career a little better. The fact is Santos is the kind of player Arsenal need to get rid of if they wish to compete. He is a player who shows glimpses of brilliance: cavaliering and penetrating charges forward and rushing up to dispossess his assigned winger, but too often these things don't happen and are replaced with him being left out of position and labouring, or having a winger ghost past him. Santos typifies the inconsistency of the modern day Arsenal. His good moments- his goal at Stamford Bridge where he ran riot down the flank, have been outnumbered by his bad ones- being humiliated by Jefferson Farfan and Antonio Valencia.

Santos- Typical of the modern day Arsenal

So it looks like after two dreadful performances against Schalke and United, followed by his rightful dropping from Last night's starting XI, Gooners may have to endure no more of the 'chubby' Brazilian.