The Arsenal Thread

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To find anyone close to World Class is going to cost you. Transfers are all calculated gambles, there are no guarantees. Even Banega would cost 30M, particularly once they sell

I know which is why 35-40M for Cesc is too low for a player of his calibre.
 
I know which is why 35-40M for Cesc is too low for a player of his calibre.

tbh I expect Arsenal to stand at about 40-45M, and i can see a compromise being reached in the near future
 
tbh I expect Arsenal to stand at about 40-45M, and i can see a compromise being reached in the near future

The ball's in our court. As you've said yourself before, we have no obligation to sell and are under very little pressure to do so - financially, or in terms of Cesc's agitation. He won't hand in a transfer request or publicly push for a move. As Dan Roan said on the BBC the other day (slightly tedious article, but he's respected as a reliable journalist) - Arsenal are willing to sell him, but only if they make the right bid. Us listening to respectable offers is a compromise enough IMO and we won't compromise for below the £40-45m mark.
 
The ball's in our court. As you've said yourself before, we have no obligation to sell and are under very little pressure to do so - financially, or in terms of Cesc's agitation. He won't hand in a transfer request or publicly push for a move. As Dan Roan said on the BBC the other day (slightly tedious article, but he's respected as a reliable journalist) - Arsenal are willing to sell him, but only if they make the right bid. Us listening to respectable offers is a compromise enough IMO and we won't compromise for below the £40-45m mark.

He wont publically push for a move, but he may well be doing so privately, thats my point
 
The ball's in our court. As you've said yourself before, we have no obligation to sell and are under very little pressure to do so - financially, or in terms of Cesc's agitation. He won't hand in a transfer request or publicly push for a move. As Dan Roan said on the BBC the other day (slightly tedious article, but he's respected as a reliable journalist) - Arsenal are willing to sell him, but only if they make the right bid. Us listening to respectable offers is a compromise enough IMO and we won't compromise for below the £40-45m mark.

Agree with you Joss but there is limit for everything. Maybe Fabregas and Wenger had a gentlemen agreement that Arsenal will let him go who knows. Like Mike even I think there will be some sort of compromise on fee.

---------- Post added at 08:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:10 PM ----------

Wonder how will Barca afford to pay any money for transfers when they are even not taking photo copy in color format.. Now they are taking photo copy in black and white to save some money..

Despite winning all they make loses and Madrid makes profits..

Club president Sandro Rosell revealed that the Catalan giants have cut down on bodyguards, catering and even resorted to banning colour photocopying in order to save money.
"By being austere, hard and losing friends," Rosell said when asked how Barca - who lost £19 million last year - are trying to make ends meet.
"We are suffering with it. We removed the catering events, our bodyguards. And we have even stopped making photocopies in colour at the club.
"Now we do black and white and save on toner."


---------- Post added at 09:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 PM ----------

ESPNSoccernet ESPN Soccernet
Sport.es report that Real Madrid have thrown a €50m spanner in the works to Fabregas' move to Barca. Surely Arsenal couldn't resist that bid

PeterOpondo Peter Opondo

If #RealMadrid have trully offered 50M Euros for Fabregas, Arsenal should do business asap, If just to spite the belligerent Barca


Would be amazing if Arsenal end up selling to Madrid for 50 Million.. Amazing **** take it would be. Doubt Fabregas will agree to move to Madrid, but in the modern game anything is possible..
 
Talking of Fabregas...

Latest Catalan Conspiracy article claims Barcelona didn't do enough to keep Fabregas and Pique and that they're now desperate to re-group the original 'Golden Age' of youngsters that they had at La Masia in 2003. Fabregas is the last piece of the puzzle... Also says he was "stolen" by Barca when he was a youngster in the first place.

A timeline doesn’t always tell the whole story. Many forget why Barcelona (who think they’re entitled to unconditional respect off the pitch because of recent sporting achievements on it) let Arsenal’s most valuable player leave the club in the first place.

At 10 years old, Fabregas was the perfect age for Barcelona to “steal” him from CE Mataró (just as Arsenal “stole” him from Barca), even though the lower league team tried everything they could to hide him from Barca’s scouts. Installed into the dubious cult-like atmosphere of La Masia, he grew as a player in the defensive midfield position at first, playing alongside current Barcelona first-team players Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué, with Pedro and Sergio Busquets also around the same age group.

Often referred to as La Masia’s ‘golden generation’, or ‘baby dream team’, the class of 2002 was far superior to their competitors in the youth leagues, often winning matches in spectacular high-figure scorelines. It wasn’t unusual for Fabregas to score and assist countless goals every season, despite his reserved position on the pitch.

Yet, Barcelona did very little to keep Fabregas and Piqué from moving to Arsenal and Manchester United, respectively. Some might argue that Barca couldn’t compete with the money the English clubs could offer the players, or blame the rules in Spain preventing domestic clubs from offering contracts to player under 16. But the simple truth is that Barcelona would have had no problem at all holding on to these players if they really wanted to. How? A simple promise of a fair chance would have sufficed.

What Arsenal did with Fabregas is simple, and it has nothing to do with money; they promised him a fair chance to claim his place in the first team. And keep their promise they did, seeing as he made his first team debut only 40 days after joining the north London club.

If Barcelona really wanted to keep the ‘dream team’ intact, there are no rules preventing Spanish clubs from making a promise. Instead, Fabregas was informed that with players like Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Phillip Cocu filling up the central midfield positions, he would find it hard to get into the first team.

So naturally, being an ambitious and competitive individual, Fabregas opted for the choice that would give him the best chance of first team football at the highest possible level, and the only club fitting this description at the time was Arsenal.

After six years of not winning a single trophy, Barcelona started to form a long-term plan with the arrival of hardcore Catalan nationalist Joan Laporta as president in 2003. The outline was to go back to its “roots”, using the teachings of Johan Cruyff on the pitch, and borderline xenophobic indoctrination behind the scenes.

Former Ajax players like Frank Rijkaard (as manager) and Edgar Davids were brought in to encourage the total football-inspired style Barca so desperately wanted the world to admire them for. At the same time, Catalan youngsters at La Masia were getting groomed to fully take over the first team in the future. Temporary world class players like Ronaldinho and Deco were signed for short-term purposes, until homegrown youngsters were ready to take over those positions (in this case Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta).

Similar patterns emerged in recent history with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who spent only a year at the club until Barca could get their hands on David Villa, who was preferred because of his nationality. Dmytro Chygrynskiy was also an expensive temporary signing, but as Gerard Piqué blossomed earlier than expected, the Ukrainian defender had to go back to his original club just 12 months after his dream move.

And so ‘Operation Catalunya’ began in the mid-noughties, echoing the nationalistic approach of Basque-only cantera clubs like Athletic Bilbao or Real Sociedad.

The first step was to bring back the lost generation – the La Masia ‘dream team’. Piqué had also been told he wasn’t wanted, and moved to Manchester United a year after Fabregas signed with Arsenal. He was the first to return through a £5m deal in 2008.

Unlike Piqué, Fabregas was an established first team player at the time ‘Operation Catalunya’ started to gain real momentum. Barcelona enquired about his availability as early as 2007, and as a result of growing noise from the Catalans, Arsène Wenger made Fabregas club captain in 2008, in a strategic move to show how much Arsenal valued their midfield playmaker.

In 2009, ‘Operation Catalunya’ was at full speed, and Fabregas was now viewed as the last remaining puzzle piece of Barcelona’s plans. Arsenal wouldn’t talk to Barcelona about the availability of their captain, so in an attempt to unsettle Fabregas, without blatantly breaking FIFA tapping up rules, the club instructed their players to start talking about Fabregas in the media.

While Barca players were acting as pawns for the boardroom agenda, Joan Laporta was giving another story to the Arsenal board, pretending to have no control of what his players were saying in the media about their old friend. In fact, Laporta was giving the Arsenal board reassurances that Barcelona would leave Fabregas alone, all while instructing his players to ramp up the media tap-up project.

After 6 months of intense media commentary from his employees, Laporta thought he had softened Fabregas enough to test his employers resolve with an insulting €35m bid, which got turned down immediately. Laporta promised the Arsenal board he would respect their position and not come back. But in the shady offices of the Nou Camp, the Barcelona board was furious that Arsenal dared to keep them from what they felt entitled to have.

At this stage, Laporta even started an impressive crusade of unsurpassed hubris, suddenly claiming that the market value of Fabregas was to be set by himself and FC Barcelona – not the club at which he was currently employed. He was also quoted insinuating that it would be in Arsenal’s best interest to sell Fabregas, as if the move would benefit both clubs.

The Cesc Fabregas transfer saga, pt 1 | The Catalan Conspiracy

Think what you like about the name etc. but I think most people will agree the Fabregas stuff is dodgy. I hate to bring it up, but I thought it was an interesting, if exaggerated, view on events...
 
I would not turn down 10m for Diaby. <_<

I'm not sure anyone would! But makes some sort of replacement for him all the more important. Lansbury and Aneke have bright futures, but we can't have a 19 year old providing back-up for another 19 YO (Wilshere...) If Diaby goes, I fully expect us to replace him with a signing.
 
I'd think for the 10m we receive, we could get a superior replacement for sure.
 
I'd think for the 10m we receive, we could get a superior replacement for sure.

What I was thinking, 10m for Diaby is a fantastic offer. Add 5M to that and we could get Vidal. A Quality replacement, first XI player.
 
Arturo #Vidal managed 6 goals and 7 assists from only 17 appearances at DM. His average rating (for that position) was 7.76

Vidal also played twice at right-back and picked up a rating of 8.03 together with a goal and an assist.

Arturo #Vidal's defensive statistics make for positive reading: 4.7 tackles, 3 interceptions and 2 fouls/game. (v Alex Song -> 3.3, 3 & 2)

Francis Coquelin was on loan at Lorient last season and made an average of 1.7 tackles (but 2.2 when at home) & 1 interceptions/game. #AFC

Twitter
 
vidal's contract will end next season and he doesnt want to sign a new contract with leverkusen as he wants to go to bayern. Saw it on bayern's forum. Even bayern themselves are only prepared to offer ~17m at most or get him free next season.
 
vidal's contract will end next season and he doesnt want to sign a new contract with leverkusen as he wants to go to bayern. Saw it on bayern's forum. Even bayern themselves are only prepared to offer ~17m at most or get him free next season.

Leverkusen hold out for the most they can, similar to schalke and Bayern over Neuer
 
Vidal will cost more than 15m

He is in the last year of his contract, he will not cost more than that.

They can't hold out for anything.. He wants to leave and he won't sign a new contract, it's essentially 15M or nothing.

---------- Post added at 05:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:41 PM ----------

Apparently, Nasri, Fabregas and Clichy have the same Agent. He has also just signed up RVP.

Twitter
 
The Fabregas article was very interesting; I have to admit, I think Barcelona's behaviour last summer was despicable.
 
He is in the last year of his contract, he will not cost more than that.

They can't hold out for anything.. He wants to leave and he won't sign a new contract, it's essentially 15M or nothing.

---------- Post added at 05:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:41 PM ----------

Apparently, Nasri, Fabregas and Clichy have the same Agent. He has also just signed up RVP.

Twitter

well they can, they can decide to have him for the year and then lose him, feeling that a season with him playing is more important, considering how key he is to their play, hardly15m or nothing
 
HI-LARIOUS article on a Barca forum on why Thiago is better than Fabregas. Not WILL BE in the future, IS NOW better than Cesc Fabregas:

---------------------------

Sorry for polluting the site with yet another Thiago orientated article, but I thought of mine first :P

Thiago Alcantara is now a European Champion, and was the scorer of the final goal, as Spain triumphed 2-0 against Switzerland in the European Championship final. At under 21 level that is.

Still the obsession with Cesc Fabregas continues. Why? In Thiago, Barcelona have the better player.

I’m not talking potential-wise here, or because of the cost involved in signing Cesc.

I genuinely believe that Thiago is a better player than Fabregas now, in the present day.

Right then, finished thinking of reasons why I’m wrong? Because I’ve got a couple of my own, for why Fabregas can only wish to be as good as Thiago.

star-divide.v777cf8a.jpg

The Spanish side at this under 21 tournament are being captained by Athletic Bilbao’s, Javi Martinez. Martinez is a great player, and has played very well, but make no mistake, the leader of that side is Thiago.

On Wednesday, Spain found themselves a goal down versus Belarus. It was getting late, all hope looked lost, Spain needed to fashion a chance. Who did they pass the ball to?

Thiago.

Every time Spain won possession, or got into the offensive third, they found Thiago. This was the man they trusted, the man they knew had the talent to fashion a chance from nothing. Note, the first pass almost always went to Thiago, not World Cup winners Juan Mata, or Javi Martinez.

In Thiago, they had the closest thing to Xavi, the fulcrum of the senior side. In Thiago, they had hope.

In Thiago, they had the equaliser.

It was the 89th minute, and Spain were all but out, until Thiago played a defence splitting ball to his Barcelona teammate, Jeffren. Of course, Jeffren still had a lot to do, and he delivered as well, but Thiago’s vision, confidence and passing ability made that goal happen.

Emphasis on confidence there.

One of Xavi’s best qualities is his confidence. So many times I have read people criticising Xavi, saying they don’t like him because of his arrogance. He says Barcelona are the best, they deliver, he plays with a swagger, and he delivers. That isn’t arrogance, that’s ability.

Now look at Thiago. He is fairly outspoken too. Not only has he annoyed England with his comments, but also the Barcelona faithful, with comments regarding his future. This doesn’t bother me, as he transfers that confidence onto the pitch.

For Barcelona, this confidence has proven his downfall on occasion, but he has taken it onboard, and during these Championships, he has excelled, and looked mature, calm, composed...world class.

The composure he showed us in the semi-final was terrific, the confidence he showed in the final was sublime. Having just made a substitute, Spain had a free-kick just inside the Swiss half. Everyone expected a pass, and rightly so, but with Thiago, you can expect the unexpected.

The man of the match saw the keeper off his line, and went for the top corner. The audacity to attempt it was there, and the sheer class to pull it off, was also there. Talent in abundance, Thiago had won the European Championship, as man of the match, with a goal from 50 yards.

Similarly, Fabregas is considered the leader of the Arsenal team, both literally as captain, and influence on the pitch, as he is their "go-to guy". Now, he is a great player, but does he deliver?

Well, he did, but now, with his mind elsewhere – Barcelona – he is slipping. Fabregas is still a good player, but the Arsenal players are beginning to lose confidence in their skipper, and the fans are following suit. While Arsenal were playing their last game of the season away at Craven Cottage, Cesc was living it up, back in Barcelona, watching the Spanish Grand Prix.

On the pitch, I am of the opinion that Fabregas is better at shooting, and scores more goals, but is not as good a passer as Thiago, whose range is magnificent. Fabregas is the leader of Arsenal, but he is not the fulcrum. Lately that has been the role of Jack Wilshere.

Also in Thiago’s favour is his performance in the big games. When called upon by Guardiola, Thiago has excelled. For proof, watch the second game versus Villarreal, were Thiago was exceptional. Fabregas cannot boast as good a showing this season. For proof there, watch his mistake in the game he was meant to perform, against Barcelona in the Champions League.

Now, did Fabregas atone for this in the matches he played versus the traditional "big four"? Nope, nor did he perform against Manchester City, or in the North London Derby.

No doubt the Arsenal fans will attempt to torrefy me and say that he was the one who played through the pass to Iniesta. Blah, blah, blah, if he was so good, he would have started the game.

So, this is why Fabregas is only valued at £30 million, and even that is a stretch, because in Thiago, they have the player they need, one who can replace Xavi, before becoming a legend in his own right. All while Fabregas goes down as the guy who passed to Andres Iniesta.

FC Barcelona: European Champion Thiago Alcantara is better than Cesc Fabregas - Barca Blaugranes

BUT - Fair play to this guy:

Is Thiago Actually as Good as Cesc Fabregas: A Barca Blaugranes Debate - Barca Blaugranes
 
well they can, they can decide to have him for the year and then lose him, feeling that a season with him playing is more important, considering how key he is to their play, hardly15m or nothing

Whether he plays for a season or not. It's still 15M or nothing money-wise..
 
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