Chamakh

[highburyJD]

all clubs sells players big or otherwise
Figo Barca2Real, most top SerieA players have played for a couple of Juve, AC and Inter, Keegan & Rush left Liverpool when they were the best team in the world

our big sales I've mostly seen as good deals (Fabregas is the glaring exception)

[QuartzGooner]

Quartz:

Apologies

No problem.

Babatunde:

As Augie says, no one question whether Diarra was good enough for us, especially in midfield.
But to paraphrase Charlie Murphy, Diarra was a "Habitual Linestepper" and that is why he was shown the door.

SteveO says this behavior has never been confirmed but I know it happened, you will just have to trust me on that and that he was involved in arguments in training. I cannot go into more details.

I guess that a compromise would have been sitting Flamini and Diarra deep, with Cesc in front of them and Rosicky and RvP wide, with Adebayor up front?

It would have meant Hleb and Walcott on the bench but I think that midfield would have won us the title.

[SteveO 35]

I'm not doubting that he was frustrated and that probably led to a few tense moments, but it is the job of the manager to deal with that professionally - not simply let players walk away at a fraction of their value. I'm sick of all this 'sell on clause' shit too which is just an admission that you think the player is worth more than the value you actually sell him for. Would you rather have sold him to Real Madrid for £20m directly or just got a portion of that 2 years later when Pompey flogged him ?

Anyway, I refuse to believe his behaviour is anywhere near what Carlos Tevez has done this season, or Wayne Rooney last year when he actually spoke out against the club's lack of ambition and got his agent to tout him around to Man City and anyone else willing to pay £160k+ per week. Both of their managers seem to have accomodated them into their current squads.

Quartz - you offered a decent suggestion yourself mate in terms of formation and accomodating him and Flamini in the same team. A top class manager would have done that, and top class players can adapt - Diarra could have played anywhere in the midfield as he had the energy and class to play box-to-box anyway.

Anyway, he and Flamini are long since gone and we'll never know now how that 2008 side would have fared, but I think they were a lot closer to being title winners than the class of 2011/12. A number of current and ex players have suggested as much too. Shame that team never got to develop to its full potential really - Adebayor, Hleb, Flamini, Diarra, a pre-injury Eduardo etc.

[Babatunde]

Fans of serious big clubs would never ever put up with this shit, it's farcical.

I'm guessing you don't think Chelsea are a big club then. He left them for, what, £2M? played a handful of games for us and we sold him for about £5M and picked up a hefty sell-on fee when he went to Madrid.

As soon as you can compare what Chelski have won since they sold Diarra, and what Arsenal has won in the intervening period, I will begin to treat you as an individual with an opinion worth any sort of merit...

[flash gunner]

Fans of serious big clubs would never ever put up with this shit, it's farcical.

I'm guessing you don't think Chelsea are a big club then. He left them for, what, £2M? played a handful of games for us and we sold him for about £5M and picked up a hefty sell-on fee when he went to Madrid.

As soon as you can compare what Chelski have won since they sold Diarra, and what Arsenal has won in the intervening period, I will begin to treat you as an individual with an opinion worth any sort of merit...

Youre slipping back to your old ways Baba

[LeGinge (Northern Branch)]

It really is incredible when you think about it. The 'economic genius' Arsene Wenger, has wasted over £60k a week on Chamakh for the past 2 years. I'll take a look at Mike Ashley at Newcastle and Pardew...so lemme see...they also sold their star striker (as we will be this summer). Carroll sold for £35 mil. Wage bill drastically reduced? Check. All the wasters on silly wages cleared off.

Then what did they do? Theyn signed Tiote (who is far superior to Song in every facet) for £2 mil. Papiss Cisse, signed for £10 mil, better than everyone at Arsenal bar RVP. Demba Ba, one of the players of the season, who would waltz into our team in a front 2, signed for a pitance. Hatem Ben Arfa, handy player, signed at no great cost. And what is that I see?

ALAN PARDEW, with a net spend of Zero, having made a profit on player trading, and with a wage bill that is under £70 mil, (over £50 mil less than Wenger then) has managed to take a team, improve them and is challenging Wenger for CL football. I said this at the start of the season and was mocked but I don't look so silly now: Newcastle have a better pool of players than Arsenal. Fact. What Arsenal do have, is more money and a better first eleven. But look at their midfield options , look at that pool of strikers: Ba, Cisse etc....Where Wenger is playing Ramsey in left midfield, they have Ben Arfa. Name Arsenal's creative spark this season please? (and don't bore me with injuries either).

Wenger is a fraud, I have said this a million times. He is the fourth highest paid manager in world football, yet you wonder what he is being paid all that money for. If Pardew can challenge for CL football and get a point at Old Trafford (not lose 8-2 then), and thrash Man U 3-0 at home; if Moyes can get Everton in the top 4 on a shoestring budget; if Redknapp can be in an FA Cup semi, get CL footie on a lower wage bill etc...

I ask again: just WHAT is Arsene Wenger good for?

I believe Chris Hughton signed Tiote. He also signed Ben Arfa on Loan that same season. He was bought at a cut price due to him being nearly out of contract and having just come back from a serious leg injury.

Pardew gambled on Ba (who supposedly failed a few medicals elsewhere - how true that is I don't know) after he had a decent period with West Ham. To suggest it was a master stroke by Pardew is ridiculous. It was a gamble on a player that already had PL experience that paid off.

Pardew inherited a decent squad and lucked out with Ba. I want Wenger out but to compare the two is ridiculous. Newcastle will finish below us by a comfortable margin and within two years Pardew will be found out, fired and managing Southampton / Charlton (again) or similar level team.

RE Papiss Cisse - I'll reserve judgement until he plays a full season. On the face of it he probably is better than Chamakh, Park etc... but at £10m I wouldn't have bought him, especially considering the potential £10m lay out for Podolski.

[highburyJD]

As soon as you INSERT ANYTHING YOU LIKE HERE, I will begin to treat you as an individual with an opinion worth any sort of merit...

try that catchy turn of phrase with someone you don't know today, maybe in a pub
see how it goes for you...