Fabregas goes to Barca for £35million

[Ernesto]

First of all, good riddance to Fabregas. He's hardly been a pr!ck in the mould of Adebayor, Ashley Cole or Anelka, but he's not showered himself in glory either.

£35mil (if that's what we sell him for) is robbery. The Ronaldo fee pushed the boundaries of the transfer market and we really should be using that as a precedent for any player we sell. It's in the eye of the beholder, but if Fabregas is considered world class, then he ought to have been sold for more. Either that, or we get one, maybe two Barcelona players in exchange as part of the deal which would arguably be a much better option given our now threadbare squad.

If we had another manager who wasn't so predictable in his transfer policies and tactics on the pitch, I would actually be very excited about Fabregas leaving. It's no coincidence that we haven't won a trophy while we've tried to build a team around him. It's no coincidence that we've shown the mentality of a rabbit caught in headlights and recorded some of our most embarrassing results ever in recent seasons with Fabregas as captain.

All that being said, we now have a huge void to fill in a crucial position of the pitch. Do we have anyone lined up? The newspapers would suggest Juan Mata. Is he good enough? Is one player enough? This is our chance to really make a change in footballing philosophy but, with Wenger in charge, I'm not holding my breath.

[Japan Shaking All Over]

I will go along with wishing him luck in a move........but I won't say I'm sad to see him go, the main reason being that I'm fed up with this saga that has dragged on around his obvious love affair with his boyhood club and the on/off~ness of his transfer which now looks more on than off.

I do agree with Letters that the guy putting in some seriously massive performances over the course of his career but at the same time showed a loss of passion in others. I don't think he would sulk so to speak if he stayed but I believe any below average performance would be jumped on by everyone the fans and the media alike and this is not good for the over morale of the team which may be suffering now as this fucking drama goes on.
As Letters says we need that money to invest back into the team and the sooner the better as new players/quality players/CL tested players will in turn give a boost to the squad. We can let ManU sign Snjeider, Young beat us to Jones but we don't have to roll over and play dead, we get back up form a team that will challenge and meet the the top 3 on the pitch.......we beat Chelsea and Utd last year, there is no reason why we cant do that again........players like Cahill or maybe Samba will help us I believe address our weaknesses against the lower clubs.

I only hope that we are not looking at a trend......kind of started with Viera and Henry where other clubs thought we were soft options that they could pick off our best like a sniper........that we do not become a feeder club, I believe that the best way to allay that fear is to build a winning team and know when to say 'no'. Cesc was always going to leave we always had that hanging over our head but we have to try and not let that happen anymore, by the sounds of it we almost stood by our guns this time.......it doesn't look like the 40 million is going to be met but for the future there is hope, whether that is with Wenger at the helm is another thing tho! Can we have a winning them with Cesc and maybe Nas......I think yes, I know there are some who say it sends the wrong message to sell our two prized assets but the team has a cancer both on the pitch and off, both the way we play and the mental strength we show/lack - this cancer if allowed to grow will have just as bad an effect on the team and my hope is that money wisely spent on players who want to represent would counter the negative impact Cesc's and Nas's departure would have. Fuck the boys if anything should be chomping on the bit ready to meet the challenge, prove to those that write us off that they are wrong........

Wenger would do no harm to quote a few lines from Henry V - St Crispins speech

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.

From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

[BOBN]

^ damn thats powerful

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.



but yeah im glad this overrated cunt is leaving, he caused me too many arguments with fellow gooners. our system was fundamentally flawed with such a weakling at the heart. two good seasons in seven. his presence in the side coincided with our most barren period in living memory.

[LDG]

Keep saying, fantastic a player as he is. He's never done it for us on the big occasion, and he's not been the captain Arsenal need.

35mil may not be what we really want, but the transfer prices out there are completely obscured. I you look past the silly money, you'll see 35m is pretty decent wedge....and in contrast with things to come, I think we'll look back on it as good business.

Only worry I have is that RVP will be given the armband. It should be TV5. No questions asked.

[Marc Overmars]

I think the clearest example of not being able to buy brilliant players for less than ridiculous sums is the fact that cesc could be going for £35m. Don't care about the fee...£20m or £60m, we won't see a return on the pitch.

I think in this case Wenger will have no choice but to spend. Otherwise he's pretty much nailing his coffin shut.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

No you can't, you can only play in the cl if you played in the Europa league before. Thats why Torres was allowed to play in the CL and.

If he played for us in the CL he'd only be able to play for barca in the CL if we got relegated to the Europa league.

No, we're talking about the Champions League qualifying. Effectively it is not considered part of the Champions League given you have to register your squad again for the group stages. If he played for us in the Champions League proper it wouldn't be an issue as the transfer window would've already passed.

[Fats]

^ damn thats powerful

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.



but yeah im glad this overrated cunt is leaving, he caused me too many arguments with fellow gooners. our system was fundamentally flawed with such a weakling at the heart. two good seasons in seven. his presence in the side coincided with our most barren period in living memory.

Thats BOB ON BOBN

[milla]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...lona-move.html

£36 mil plus add on and Cesc to pay £4 mil from his own pockets. Extra dividends for the owner this year.

[IBK]

My tuppence worth.

AFC has not covered itself in glory over this saga. Its destabilised us for 2 years - and IMO the club is guilty of sending out mixed messages. Its says that the player isn't for sale, then changes this to the player is for sale, but only at our valuation, then sells below the valuation anyway. Basically, everyone out there knows that we will cave in eventually.

In particular AW is guilty of playing this wrong. First the armband - like his previous 3 captains - is used in a misguided attempt to instill some loyalty. But he has basically cheapened the captaincy, and this IMHO has affected the general regard in which our club is held by its own players. Second, by his refusal to accept that the writing is on the wall. I feel strongly that he convinced Fabregas to give us one more season to win something, last year. But instead of planning properly for his depature he thought that he could convince him to stay again - and totally misread the situation.

But for all that, we should not forget the biggest factors in this saga. The first is our failure to win anything for 6 years, finishing 4th more often than not. The sad truth is that this alone will see our best and most ambitious players wanting to leave - and the club's room for manoevre in transfer/contract negotiations is massively reduced in these circumstances.

The second is the player himself. Because it is first and foremost Fabregas himself who has allowed Barcelona's tactics of grinding us down to be so successful. He has done it more intelligently than some other players have in the past, but in essence, he has effectively been on strike all Summer and made it crystal clear that his bridges are burnt. He has given us more service than Nasri, so comes out of this with a little more credit than him, but the bottom line is Fabregas has allowed Barcelona to fuck us over - and that is what he will be remembered for, in my eyes. So I won't be wishing him the best - I am completely indifferent to what happens to him now, and would simply like to forget that he was ever an Arsenal player.

[Cripps_orig]

Hope this cunt is booed the fuck out of town when/if he comes back with Barcunts. And any message he leaves for the fans spouting BS should be spat on. He is truly scum of the lowest order