As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
bunch wrote:The bbc blog above is good it comes down to hard cash. We don't need the money as much as we need the player so if they really want him they need to pay a price that will allow us to buy a similarly marquee player.
This world cup will allow Cecs to get a few things straight in his mind. There is a good chance that where he is with Spain is where he'll be with Barca: on the bench. yes he might pick up some winners medals, maybe even the big one in the CL, be he can't say he's won trophies when his contribution is the occaisional 20 minutes at the end of won games or starts against the weaker teams.
With us he will still be the centre of everything, the captain and the leader. If we win anything he'll be picking up that trophy.
Captaining a team with the "talents" of diaby, almunia, theo, denilson etc is nothing to shout about If barca really want him and do cough up the necessary money they will simply push iniesta up to be a part of the front 3 and cesc will slot into his position so dont kid yourself that they will bring him "home" to warm the bench
augie wrote:Personally after watching henry in that token last season gesture I am no longer sure that keeping cesc is the way to go. If he expressed a strong will to go to barca this summer then we should get together and agree an acceptable price (we are taking the piss looking for £80m though) of 40m or over.
That's the problem though isn't it. I don't think Barca have offered, or have any intention of offering, £40m.....and he is certainly worth that.
augie wrote:If they refuse to go that high then it looks like we will be stuck with an unsettled player and to my mind he either stays or goes but no more of this "just give us one more season" bollox
I wouldn't even mind the "one more season...."scenario as it didn't do Utd any harm with Ronaldo.....providing we still get a decent price for him when he does eventually go. No reason for us to be that grateful for paying his wages for another year that we give Barca a huge discount on what might well be an even higher market value.....
augie wrote:
Captaining a team with the "talents" of diaby, almunia, theo, denilson etc is nothing to shout about
Sorry Augie but forget his team mates, he is captain of Arsenal Football Club and yes that is something to shout about. To be honest its the only real acheivment on his cv.
Also do you really think and established barca player like iniesta would just say "yeah play me out of position, no problem, let the kid who left take my established role"....i doubt it.
That would be like us buying iniesta and saying to cesc "you play the holding role, or up front with van persie".
couldnt have suggested this over an hour ago then?
The reports i have read today suggest that Fabregas has made a bit of a U turn and said he could stay at Arsenal after all. He also goes onto say how he is frustrated at being sat on the Spain bench for the whole World cup...are the two linked?
Has he realised that the players he is behind in the pecking order for Spain like Villa, Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets are the same players he will be competing against for a place at Barcelona?
Given the fact he is clearly not happy at having his game time cut has he decided the best thing for him is to stay at Arsenal for now, rather than a season of little action for Barcelona?
Once again people took the time to reply, which says to me its worth being here, and you deleted it again, good message board in which new messages are frowned upon!
Cesc is staying imo, he said he only wanted to leave Arsenal for Barca but he was in no hurry to leave Arsenal. The press have whipped this up into a frenzy, Cesc will be at Arsenal for another year
I hope you're right Swale but unless we invest a bit more in a higher level new players I suspect the very best we can hope is this has delayed the apparently inevitable by one year.
Cesc is good enough to start for Barca, but like Spain, theywill stick with Iniesta and Xavi as they are convinced they can only play together. I'm slightly confused by Barcas pursuit of Fabregas tbh, it stinks of trying to paper over the cracks in their club.
rigsby wrote:Cesc is good enough to start for Barca, but like Spain, theywill stick with Iniesta and Xavi as they are convinced they can only play together. I'm slightly confused by Barcas pursuit of Fabregas tbh, it stinks of trying to paper over the cracks in their club.
If there are cracks at Barca, then we must have gaping holes.
If barca really want him and do cough up the necessary money they will simply push iniesta up to be a part of the front 3 and cesc will slot into his position so dont kid yourself that they will bring him "home" to warm the bench
