Early-ish in the morning yesterday, Fire Twitter staple @TrueMartyParty seemed to have confirmed a story that was quietly being mumbled around for a few days:

Several sources have confirmed that David Arshakyan has refused a loan to Tulsa. #cf97 — UnMundoSzinFronteras (@TrueMartyParty) June 2, 2017

That’s right, a player who seems to have no chance at playing with a lot of development left to go decided to turn down basically guaranteed game time because he thinks he’s better than the team. I know that’s a bit dismissive and maybe a bit rude, but that’s where the story boils down to. I think a logical point could be given to Arshakyan as he was bought for a large sum and expected to play much more often than he has. Whether this refusal may mean a possible transfer or not is unclear, but the coaching staff should not be too happy about it.

On the opposite end of this story, Joey Calistri has been playing excellently for the Tulsa team and seems to have turned many heads. The same goes for Collin Fernandez, who is now playing at a more defensive position than previously thought in his career. They seem to be ready to come right back to the Fire and maybe even start and that’s because they’re getting extra game time in. That’s the basis of developing players and allowing them to prove themselves.

So as an open letter to David Arshakyan: Please take the coaches’ offer and go to Tulsa. It may seem a step down especially when you feel like you were wanted there, but they want you to go there because you are wanted. You’re not proving yourself to anyone on the bench and if you want to do just that, go to Tulsa. Fighting for a spot on the training pitch can only do so much for you, especially when the players ahead of you are playing so well right now. Take the chance that they give you and show that you are who they think you are and you know you are.

Main point is: Arshakyan turned down a chance to prove himself and I think that’s a bad move.