The "Where is the Fabregas thread" thread

Reus got crocked last night. Ligament damage and out of WC. *edit - note to self, must keep up*

This Fabregas situation depresses me. I'm still not convinced Ozil won't turn into another Arshavin and we're letting a World Class player go to the chavs while waiting for the end of the transfer window. In the meantime, Liverpool have been quietly going about their business, getting the new guys in before the WC, Chelsea are getting their business done as well. Both finished a few points ahead of us but right now with who they're getting in, we're a lot further behind them now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR4kFC-bKok

:coffee:

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Originally Posted by Bergkampwonderland10

Cesc 2011 "'Apart from Arsenal and Barcelona, I don't see myself playing anywhere else,and if there is one place to go back to, it is Arsenal for sure.'
he told Sky Sports News.

Cesc 2014 "I'm so happy to a Chelsea player, playing the Mourinho way"

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Problem is Barca don't want him and neither do we, so what else can he say or do?

This is it. We can hardly tell him we don't want him and then get upset over who he subsequently chooses.

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Originally Posted by Steve French

This is it. We can hardly tell him we don't want him and then get upset over who he subsequently chooses.

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Who is the 'we' in this scenario?

The club say they don't want him so I can't be upset?

Doesn't follow.

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Originally Posted by Sterling Archer

Who is the 'we' in this scenario?

The club say they don't want him so I can't be upset?

Doesn't follow.

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We can't afford his wages, little bit skint I guess

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Originally Posted by Sterling Archer

Who is the 'we' in this scenario?

The club say they don't want him so I can't be upset?

Doesn't follow.

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Being upset at the Club's decision not to sign him makes sense. But once that decision has been made, it is unreasonable to get upset at the player for taking up whatever option is available to him.

I wasn't happy with the way Fabregas engineered his move to Barcelona. I highly doubt though that if at the time he thought for a minute, he'd end up with those scroates at the Bridge, he'd have made that move.

He's in a shit position - apparently being forced out by his boyhood Club and not wanted by the Club that made him. Yep, its his fault he is in that situation, but he has to play for someone.

If he goes to Chelsea, it's because he's choosing to go there.

No one's forcing him.

I'll find it difficult not to puke at the sight of him in a Chelsea shirt.

But if we have the gist of the story, it goes something like this:

Barca have him as surplus to requirements.

He wanted to come back to Arsenal.

We don't want him and have declined our option which we insisted as being a part of the transfer agreement.

If we don't want him - it would then be a bit rich for him to be restricted to a list of teams he can choose from so our feelings aren't hurt.

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Originally Posted by Injury Time

We can't afford his wages, little bit skint I guess

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:haha:

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Originally Posted by Sterling Archer

If he goes to Chelsea, it's because he's choosing to go there.

No one's forcing him.

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Prob that millionaire's divorced wife he's now with, living in London and everything :coffee:

The Chelsea 1st XI line-up for next season looks a bit daunting thanks to Arsene:

GK - Cech
RB - Ivanovic
LB - Azpilicueta
CD - Cahill
CD - Terry
DM - Matic
CM - Oscar
RM - Willian
LM - Hazard
AM - Fabregas
CF - Costa

Then you've got Courtois, Ramires, Schurrle, Torres, Ba, Salah, etc.

Look a bit light at the back but with a back four who aren't made of glass like our lot, they will reinforce there. Mourinho always manages to get a decent defender or two, unlike Arsene. Maybe they'll even get Ashley Williams in and make him look a world beater while AW ponders over whether £4M for a 29 yo CD might be lacking a little sharpness.

I don't know about you guys but this looks to me like another major coup for Chelsea. Worryingly the names being bandied about who we are allegedly after don't seem to go any way to address the spankings we took at Citeh, Liverpool and at the Bridge. We have a weak spine and the heads go down too quickly. Not sure how 21 year old Bundesliga lightweights, La Liga benchwarming strikers and anything these days from Serie A is looking like a good move while we pass on the chance of bringing back a World Class prodigal. Balotelli? Fuck off.

Didn't they sign that Zouma lad at CB too? He's supposed to be a decent prospect...

Aye. Another player who snubbed United because he wanted Arsenal and ended up at Chelsea. I could be wrong, but there may be a pattern emerging here.

Don't worry though guys, AKB :unsure:

Well we can't be worrying about what Chelsea and other clubs are doing - 99% of that squad is already there without any help from us anyway, and, if we've decided that we don't need Fabs ourselves, then we can't afford to be signing him just to make sure other clubs can't have him. Wouldn't stop Chelsea going out and buying someone else anyway - all it would mean is that we'd have 30-40m less to go after our own targets...

I wonder if Barca still owe us some money from the Fabregas sale? It was only 3 years ago he left wasn't it? Cant see them completing their 35million payment already. If he is for sale for 29 million, I honestly believe we should buy him, if only to keep out of the hands of Chelsea and Man Utd. He would fit perfectly for Chelsea and we would look like a laughing stock again having let him walk there. I really hope the fact no deal has yet been announced means nothing has been decided yet and our lack of interest is in fact a smoke screen and Cesc holds out a little longer…so we get the 'feel good factor' of a major signing a little later. I really hope that our transfer business is being done now in a discrete manner…and all the journos that think they know everything like Ornstein…are totally off the scent. Signing Balotteli, Remy (and keeping Podolski) would be fine up front in my opinion and they would be around 30million. I think Lars bender would be an excellent signing, along with Cesc and a winger Sanchez…then sort out the defence with Begovic, Caulker, and Aurier and we'd look in good shape.

As I understand it Barca still owe Arsenal a substantial amount running into millions. I've heard £7M but I think it might be more than that.

Agree we can't worry about what Chelsea or other clubs are up to but BW10 is bang on when he says we would look a laughingstock if we let Cesc go there because he is the last piece of their jigsaw. That line-up is phenomenal - speed, skill, power, strength and the capability of scoring goals all over the park. Look at Arsenal and we know we need another CD, a CDM who will roll his sleeves up and screen the back four without whingeing to the ref the whole time, a CF who is quick and will hit the ground scoring from the off, and a full back who has pace, can actually cross the ball and even better can score a goal or two.

When you look at who Arsenal are reportedly after, Aurier ticks the boxes at the back, sure. Not sure why we need Lars Bender as he is an attacking midfielder, something we have plenty of already (one of the reasons we decided against Cesc, allegedly). Sven Bender is a consideration, but he's on a long contract and Dortmund won't be selling him any time soon. We've seen enough of Kalou to know he's a lightweight who ducks out of a scrap. Don't we have enough players like that already? Balotelli is a nutjob who will implode with frustration the first game we go 2-0 down after 5 minutes (we know it will happen, AW's in charge) just like Gallas did against Birmingham when Eddie got crocked by some nobody pubber. Do we need a player like that anyway? He's fallen out with every team he's belonged to.

Not sure why we're after the benchwarming kid at RM. AFC's recruitment of young lightweight forwards has never been that great. Remy would be a logical step providing he gets a regular game and gets his scoring boots on. I get the feeling AW would use him as an impact sub which could turn him into the new Nicky B. I know little about Pedro - but isn't he again an attacking MF, something we don't need?

I understand Atletico want Vela and expect Arsenal to get their arse in gear and do some kind of deal so they can offload Costa to Chelsea. I'd like to think AW would actually have the balls to say we'll give you Vela and a wad of cash and we'll take Costa. Sadly Arsenal don't do those deals anymore, we're happy to be the middle man getting royally shafted while everyone else benefits.

Me bitter? Probably. My grapes are definitely sour today. I can only reminisce about the times when they were full and plump and juicy - the days of Pires, Overmars, Henry, Petit, Vieira, Edu, Adams, Campbell, Gilberto, Wiltord, Kanu, Seaman - sigh...

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Originally Posted by Slacker

The Chelsea 1st XI line-up for next season looks a bit daunting thanks to Arsene:

GK - Cech
RB - Ivanovic
LB - Azpilicueta
CD - Cahill
CD - Terry
DM - Matic
CM - Oscar
RM - Willian
LM - Hazard
AM - Fabregas
CF - Costa

Then you've got Courtois, Ramires, Schurrle, Torres, Ba, Salah, etc.

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Chelsea have actually quietly gone about acquiring a phenomenally expensive squad. And the insane wages that go with it too.

Matic - £22m, Oscar £25m, Willian £32m, Hazard £32m, (Fabregas £30m), (Costa £32m), (Filipe £17m), Schurrle £18m, Salah £11m, Zouma £12m. And then the likes of Ginkel, Marin, Moses, Ba all bought for about £8m each, and those like Ramires, Lukaku and of course Torres who were bought a few years ago for big money as well.

Helped in no small part to getting enormous fees for Luiz and Mata I'm sure, and if you believe the press possibly Hazard to PSG as well.

But yeah, they're definitely a little horse.

For me, Wenger is a super talented manager, and there is probably no one better in terms of his vision of the game and the way it should be played. He has made so many young players brilliant too…so there is absolutely no question of his talent there…but his biggest failing and something which I fear will never be 'fixed' is his short-sightedness when refusing to consider the teams that are a direct challenge to us…and by that I mean tactics on the pitch and transfers off it. FOR ONCE, I would like him to be a little tactical when it comes to transfers…and say there is no way in hell he'd let Cesc walk to Chelsea. Now, when Fabregas left us for Barcelona, I actually never thought he'd leave them and I was quite happy for him to go because we'd basically built our team around him and he was agitating for a move…so to be honest, I never really wanted him back, I think a lot of fans had had enough of his whinging. I also thought he slowed our game to much with his sideways passes (although he always made a game-changing move in 90 mins…) sometimes his over-passing just killed me. BUT, he does have a lot to offer and maybe surround by different players and not being held in the same regard as he once was would be of benefit to him. He would be coming back to fight for a position not guaranteed one. BUT the most important thing would be he would not be pulling on a chelsea shirt. I am not 100% convinced of Chelsea's interest in Fabregas…they might well be looking at other targets too..and trying to get us to force our hand early…I don't understand why they would sell Mata and bring in Fabregas…very similar players imo.

Well for me this is a sad day. Fabregas in a Chelsea shirt! FFS!

He's the Arsenal player I've enjoyed watching the most post Invincible's. Never loses the ball and a killer passer. I have no idea why we've let him join Chelsea, he's better than anything we have in midfield other than Ramsey of 13/14. Premiership proven, knows the club, fans love him, knows Arsene. There's just no risk in signing Fabregas and was a good price as well.

Madness IMO.

Maureen and Fabregas. Eugh!

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Originally Posted by Grebbo

Well for me this is a sad day. Fabregas in a Chelsea shirt! FFS!

He's the Arsenal player I've enjoyed watching the most post Invincible's. Never loses the ball and a killer passer. I have no idea why we've let him join Chelsea, he's better than anything we have in midfield other than Ramsey of 13/14. Premiership proven, knows the club, fans love him, knows Arsene. There's just no risk in signing Fabregas and was a good price as well.

Madness IMO.

Maureen and Fabregas. Eugh!

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He wasn't available on a free transfer and apparently he wanted wages too. Plus he wouldn't pay us to join. So it was never really a viable option.

Joking aside, it's another van Cash sized scandal - finances above everything, the heart and essence of the club and the desires of the fans - nowhere. I think eventually it will be the joyless bankers running Arsenal rather then the gypsies, gangsters and Blatters that will make me not want to watch this game any more. Fans are more than ever on the outside, but it's a lot more expensive to be pissed on these days.

So who will be runner-up to the chavs this season - obviously they have won it now they have added gold plated quality to the critical areas. We could have stopped part of that and massively helped ourselves in the process but chose to invest in cattle ranches instead.

What does that bloke Kroenke actually do? Has he even bought a round of drinks yet?

Gypos? Scousers? Us, if Vela magically transforms into a world class striker?

Just to add fuel to your fire NQ, there is one story doing the rounds today that, as Vela doesn't want to come back here, we are considering buying him for the £3.5m so that we can sell him on in this window for £15m.

Normally we would all laugh at stories like this, but the way we now seem to operate - anything is possible.

Doesn't part of the buy-back clause stipulate that we can't sell him for a year if we activated it? That scenario all seems a bit far-fetched to me anyway (not to mention a pretty shitty thing to do) - I think this is either exactly what it seems, and we're trying to bring him back, or we're negotiating with Sociedad about them buying our share of the rights.

Incidentally, I wouldn't put too much stock in those quotes about Vela not wanting to come back - for one thing they're second-hand quotes that have come from Sociedad's president and not directly from him, and even if they are true, he's also on record as saying that he'd be open to a return, that he thinks he's better prepared to deal with living in England now, and that we'd be stupid not to take him back. Basically he seems to have said something that covers him for every eventuality so far...

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Originally Posted by I am invisible

Doesn't part of the buy-back clause stipulate that we can't sell him for a year if we activated it? That scenario all seems a bit far-fetched to me anyway (not to mention a pretty shitty thing to do) - I think this is either exactly what it seems, and we're trying to bring him back, or we're negotiating with Sociedad about them buying our share of the rights.

Incidentally, I wouldn't put too much stock in those quotes about Vela not wanting to come back - for one thing they're second-hand quotes that have come from Sociedad's president and not directly from him, and even if they are true, he's also on record as saying that he'd be open to a return, that he thinks he's better prepared to deal with living in England now, and that we'd be stupid not to take him back. Basically he seems to have said something that covers him for every eventuality so far...

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I imagine any sell on restriction could be waved by the "wishes of the player", I guess any delay in announcement just adds fuel to the embers...or the club stretching this out for our only signing...other than Diaby return...Theo return..secure services of Kallstrom...the Greek kid will be used to offset Wilshire, Ox, Kos, Bif coming home in body bags.

Could this be moved to 'other football'?

That'll show him.

The impression I got from what Vela said was that he'd be more than happy to come back to us as long as he plays regularly. But he has absolutely no intention of being a bit-part player again - he wants games and he wants them now. If we do bring him back he deserves to be given a real chance this time.

As for buying him just to sell him for a profit, that's fine by me as long as Wenger is nowhere near the negotiations. Keep him focused on our real transfer targets and use the £12m extra to fund them.

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Hear...il/story.html?

I always thought NQ would be more daper tbh

Good read..

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...-cesc-fabregas

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Originally Posted by fakeyank

Good read..

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...-cesc-fabregas

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It is. Nicely summarises the impossibility of raising even a token justification for not taking up the no-brain offer. He forgot the bit about us still being owed money, I think in the end we'd have picked him up for around £20mill. The reduction would have covered the first year's wages. Fucking crazy.

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Originally Posted by Injury Time

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Hear...il/story.html?

I always thought NQ would be more daper tbh

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:lol:

I know Wenger will say that we have other priorities and that signing Fabregas would "kill" Ramsey and Wilshere, but there comes a point where he needs to accept the environment he is in and that if he does not sign Fabregas, one of our biggest rivals will. Realistically only 5 clubs in the world could afford him, and 2 of these were in a city he wanted to live in.

With Chavski having Costa and Fabregas already signed, and another one of our "rivals" having stolen Sagna, we are looking a bit pathetic again.

Top decision by Wenger. A lazy, specialist in failure player in decline.

Where are all those who said Fabregas would go there and prove Xavi and the like were inferior because ge can do assists? :lol: he was like a fish out of water next to real class

Heres what the official Barca website had to say:

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'But despite glowing starts to each campaign, Cesc’s contributions to the cause gradually decreased as each season drew to a close. From being someone who joined in with the attack, supplying and scoring goals, the magic tended to fade later on in each season. He only scored one, six and one goals in the last 24 games of each season. For some reason, he was never as good in the second half of a season as in the first.'

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Arsenals most unsuccessful captain and the root cause of our late season declines. Arsenal FC is not his personal hotel and we have other problems to worry about than signing back up for Ozil.

That Wenger is not giving a shyt about what soppy fans think proves these a gimmer of hope that theres still some vintage Wenger left in there somewhere.

Simply another demonstration of just how classless Barca are.

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Originally Posted by BOBN

Where are all those who said Fabregas would go there and prove Xavi and the like were inferior because ge can do assists? :lol: he was like a fish out of water next to real class

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Didn't Fab provide the most assists for Barca last season? Setting up goals is a pretty good attribute tbf.

Wenger knew Fab would be available this summer. Remember when Moyes was bidding for him last summer? (Moyes :lol:) Wenger was asked at the time about the situation and he said Fab wouldn't move that summer but would the next. So if Wenger had wanted Fab he wouldn't have bought Ozil and would've just waited another season for Fab. Wenger must think Ozil is the better player and they both can't play in the same team.

Happy to out myself as a soppy fan on this one. Maybe we park this one until the end of the season and let's see how successful Cesc is in comparison to Iniesta, Xavi, Rakitic, Barca, AW, Arsenal, Man U, etc.

Off the top of my head I know for a fact that when Cesc was at Barca he scored more goals per season than Xavi and Iniesta. Considerably more goals except in his first season when Xavi scored one less. Not bad for an assist specialist.

I'm still not convinced about Ozil. Some people are saying he's going to kick on next season but I'm not sure. His demeanour and his propensity to not roll his sleeves up when we're under the cosh is totally different to Cesc, who was there on the front line in a battle.

My faith in AW is shot TBH. He reminds me of GG the season before he was sacked - happy to let things rot to prove he's the one in the right (and as we all know, he wasn't).

We have just won the FA Cup and finished with the most points for about 5 years.
Right now I think the decision on Cesc was the wrong one BUT our midfield is probably our strongest area squad-wise and IF we make the right signings elsewhere (big if) then it could still be a decent transfer window.

We just won the FA Cup and finished with our most points for 5 years.

That's precisely why we HAD TO buy Fabregas. Momentum, morale, buzz, progress, ambition.

If we get Pogba then I'll say wow, something bigger was in the works so great. If we get Bastien, same thing.

If we get Barry then stick your head out the window and listen for gunshots because I'm going on the rampage. Every time we get a foothold the club does something to smash the fans and leave them in a big bloody pile on the ground.

It could still come, we could still bring in real quality. But there's a way to manage these things, a way to build the expectation and then deliver on it. The bods at Arsenal are masters of building desperation.

It does feel flat at the moment but let's see what they do this summer.
If it's nothing much or some 18 year old French kid then I'll be joining you on the rampage.

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Originally Posted by Letters

We have just won the FA Cup and finished with the most points for about 5 years.
Right now I think the decision on Cesc was the wrong one BUT our midfield is probably our strongest area squad-wise and IF we make the right signings elsewhere (big if) then it could still be a decent transfer window.

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It might be the strongest area now but it remains to be seen whether it will be at the start of the season.

Cazorla's quotes about not wanting to discuss his future with his agent until after the world cup smacks of someone who is looking to leave, especially given Athletico Madrid's interest. If he was happy he would have put that rumour to bed.

I think we will do well to keep him, mind you it wouldn't be surprising if we sold him for 20million Euros and wheeled out the "we have Joel Campbell and Serge Gnabry, Cazorla would have killed them" type statement.