Fabregas goes to Barca for £35million

[Niall_Quinn]

Because Wenger isn't being 100% truthful and nobody wants to sit under such dishonesty. The players are tired of the excuses and they've come out and said 'no more excuses'. Check Theo's and RVP's past few interviews. Wenger has run out of time.

He's able to convince the board to sell Cesc on the cheap but he can't convince them to adjust the wage policy. That makes no sense to me.

We might not know what's going on behind closed doors but the players do and they're walking.

Yep, RvP has been crystal clear and I fully expect him to walk in the summer. Which is fine because we have Chamakh. The Cesc screw-up compared to the wage limits makes perfect sense from a cynical perspective (which I think is all that counts at Arsenal these days). The former is money in, the latter money saved. It's the money out bit we struggle with.

[Cripps_orig]

You don't believe any of that.

Yes i do

Ronaldo was always only going to go to Real.

Mancs got £80m+ for him. Im not saying we should have got that much for Cesc but when on form, he is the best CM in the world so £40m+ is a fair asking price, a price i believe Barca would have played had we played hardball but Wengers rep of bending over is well known throughout Europe and clubs know they can get our star players on the cheap.

[Letters]

Yep, RvP has been crystal clear and I fully expect him to walk in the summer. Which is fine because we have Chamakh.

[Power n Glory]

Robin will probably go to Madrid or Munich tbh. I know Mourinho likes him, wouldn't be surprise if he goes to Manu either.

But when that time comes, people will be less understanding and call him disloyal.

It's unfair for a player to put his dreams on hold so the manager and board can balance the books. It's also unfair when the fans are paying for it.

It's okay for Wenger, regardless of the trophies, he has his name firmly stamped on Arsenal because this stadium and the foundations of the club have been built by him. He'll always be remembered. But for players, they don't have long careers and one game can change their fortunes forever. Look at RVP with all his injuries. Theo with his and I'm sure Cesc felt the clock ticking when he sat out for months watching football instead of playing.

[Marc Overmars]

Yes i do

Ronaldo was always only going to go to Real.

Mancs got £80m+ for him. Im not saying we should have got that much for Cesc but when on form, he is the best CM in the world so £40m+ is a fair asking price, a price i believe Barca would have played had we played hardball but Wengers rep of bending over is well known throughout Europe and clubs know they can get our star players on the cheap.

Don't you think we played hardball for long enough though? Barca were never going to pay over the odds because of some moral stance they had, they believed he was theirs anyway and had a divine right to him.

Utter cunts but there you go, we should have flogged him at the start of the summer, I think everyone knew we were unlikely to get 40m+ for him, considering Barca had already made 2-3 similar offers nowhere near in the region of what we wanted. This was our biggest mistake, clinging on to someone who clearly didn't want to play here anymore and you didn't need to be a club insider to know that.

Besides, 30, 40, 50? It doesn't matter what we got because it's evident we were still rummaging around in the bargain basement anyway.

[Cripps_orig]

Dont think we played hardball at all either this summer or last summer.

The only reason we didnt sell last summer was cos Barca didnt come up with the money we wanted. Its the same this summer, the difference being Cesc himself forced the issue and Wenger wouldnt do anything to harm his "son" and went to the board and told them to lower the asking price.

Yes we should have sold in May. Its a piss take that we waited all summer for him to go and still dont get a good price

[Darth Vela]

Because Wenger isn't being 100% truthful and nobody wants to sit under such dishonesty. The players are tired of the excuses and they've come out and said 'no more excuses'. Check Theo's and RVP's past few interviews. Wenger has run out of time.

He's able to convince the board to sell Cesc on the cheap but he can't convince them to adjust the wage policy. That makes no sense to me.

We might not know what's going on behind closed doors but the players do and they're walking.

All those comments about needing to make signings were made before we signed 5 players, things might be a little different now, although if we continue to fail or collapse miserably again next March then I think he'll be off if a decnet offer comes in.

[BOBN]

There are plenty of foreign players in England who dont pine for a move to the club they support.

They get on with it

its entirely about barca being the best in the world right now and us fagging. if we were invincibles status and they were scuttling around for a top 4 spot like they were at that time he would have been more than happy to support from afar.

it was a cop-out letting him go that cheap. yes I agree we should have encouraged and accepted outside bids. would have added credibility to our stance. cesc would have eventually been open to real madrid if the arsenal situation became untenable, just as he was reportedly open in 2006ish.

[BOBN]

here we go. cant believe we let this weasal dictate our transfer policy. when owen left real he was desperate for a move home to liverpool, he ended up at newcaste because they were te ones who came with the money. big club.

this plum woud have gone anywhere if we accepted a bid from real and told him his services were no longer wanted since he was having a destabilising effect. simple as that.

Cesc Fabregas: I did speak to Real Madrid but I’m staying at Arsenal


Arsenal fans will be delighted to learn that Cesc Fabregas has turned down a move to Real Madrid and pledged his future to Arsenal. The 20-year-old Spanish midfielder had been linked with a return to his native country for several weeks and the speculation wouldn’t go away. Fabregas revealed he has spoken to Real, but was persuaded to stay at Arsenal by Arsene Wenger.
Cesc said: ‘I spoke to Real’s president Ramon Calderon and sport director Predrag Mijatovic and they are spectacular people… It was very satisfying to listen to them as Real Madrid is a great club but I have decided to stay at Arsenal.’

[McNamara That Ghost...]

That doesn't suggest to me he realistically considered going to Real Madrid. I don't think it ever was a realistic option, no matter how much Real Madrid might have wanted it.