"Yeah but thats just dumb. Letting Nasri go on a free. You know it is."

Some might say the same about shelling out £30m on a single player. But, no-one bats an eyelid at that when talking about certain clubs.

Look at it this way if you like, Arsenal paid ~£10m for Nasri, and *may* 'lose' £20m by not selling him - total cost for 4 years service (excluding wages)......

.....yeah, it is nonsense, but then so much is in football - surely a Chelsea fan knows that better than most?

yeah and you developed him into what he is today and are possibly on the verge of letting him go for nothing.

your club needs to find a balance between making a tidy profit and investing in playing staff.

"your club needs to find a balance between making a tidy profit and investing in playing staff."

What? Based on this incident? You could say the same happened with Flamini, but that's about it. You can't force someone to sign a contract - all you can do is get the most out of them within the constraints of that contract.

I could give you a long list of players (that will at some point include Cesc) who have left for significantly more than they signed for - I'm fairly sure there isn't much you could teach 'my club'. I'm sure you could find a list of net transfer dealings on the internet, and I guarantee Arsenal will be towards the top.

Incidently, I imagine such a list would have 'your club' towards the bottom of it with plenty of players over the last 6-7 years having been brought in on vast transfers only to leave on peanuts, or simply retire. Maybe you should be more concerned with them finding a "balance between making a tidy profit and investing in playing staff"?

ok

not sure why you've made this into a slanging match between arsenal & chelsea.

good going moron.

"good going moron."

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Way to pull a conversation round!

"not sure why you've made this into a slanging match between arsenal & chelsea."

Erm, I haven't. I was making a valid comparison to highlight my point - it doesn't have to be Chelsea, it could any club from ManU/Liverpool/ManC/Spurs/etc. who spend high money on transfers. I chose Chelsea because I felt you would know more about them, no need to get ansy.

"good going moron."

I'm not a moron.

I guess you got the point at least anyway.

my point was henrys cat

this isnt the first time this has happened. letting a players contract run down.

everyone mocks the profit you make yes but this situation with nasri is ridiculous. letting a player of his calibre go on a free would be silly.

also the players we have bought have repaid us with trophies. the players you have bought have repaid you with nothing.

im not sure what point you're tryna make or im tryna make really.

and apologies for the moron comment.

stil have no idea why you've brought chelsea into this thread.

"the players you have bought have repaid you with nothing."

---------------

Naughty Anelka.

Naughty Overmars.

Naughty Henry.

Naughty Vieira.

Naughty Petit.

Naughty, naughty, naughty Kaba Diawara.



(Ok that last one was a gimme.)

sorry, how long ago was that? and what have you won with your new crop of players since then?

all you managed to show me is that you've become a good selling club in recent years

"this isnt the first time this has happened. letting a players contract run down."

That's right, and it's not the last time either, and it's not unique to Arsenal. That was one of the points. It happens everywhere, all the time.

"everyone mocks the profit you make yes but this situation with nasri is ridiculous. letting a player of his calibre go on a free would be silly."

Unfortunate, not really silly. As it happens I agree we should sell Nasri - but I can see the argument to not.

"also the players we have bought have repaid us with trophies. the players you have bought have repaid you with nothing."

As it happens, yes. But they could have easily repaid you with nothing too - just like all the other clubs who buy players who have 'repaid with nothing'. We haven't quite had 'nothing', anyway, no trophies, but plenty of exciting matches, outstanding play, brilliant goals and journies across Europe. Yes, no trophies, but that's all in the game - surely there was a reason you were a Chelsea fan when they won nothing, wasn't there?

"stil have no idea why you've brought chelsea into this thread."

I did explain that, you're a Chelsea fan are you not? Seemed sensible to make my point with something you know about. I have no specific beef with Chelsea.

henrys cat

point is, unless you start acting like a big club and start paying the wages and transfer fees everyone else is playing, you wont win the league.i know its football gone mad, soul ripped out of the game etc etc but its what you have to do now.

look at liverpool. flashing the cash just to get back into the top 4. kennys spent more in 6months than you've done in 6 years.

to go from being a 3/4th placed team to a 1st placed team will require a change of transfer at arsenal. signing gervinho and possibly letting nasri and cesc go doesnt exactly send shivers down the spine of any other team.

"That's right, and it's not the last time either, and it's not unique to Arsenal. That was one of the points. It happens everywhere, all the time."

--------------

Exactly.

Last summer we signed Chamakh for free after waiting for his contract to run down with Bordeaux and Bolton may well find themselves in a similar position next summer with Gary Cahill.

you can keep nasri.. in the hope he does sign a new contract with yourself. what if he doesnt?

i think nasri leaving is not about all about the wage but more about him having more chance of winning trophies at city/utd than at arsenal

for such a well run club, you surely could do better in the transfer market and buy some steller world class players who knows what it takes to win a 38 game league.

Exactly.

Last summer we signed Chamakh for free after waiting for his contract to run down with Bordeaux and Bolton may well find themselves in a similar position next summer with Gary Cahill.
-------
Ok. Are you a business or a football club?

You're prepared to let nasri go on a free because it wil mean you'll sign cahill the same way and thats what makes you happy?

"for such a well run club, you surely could do better in the transfer market and buy some steller world class players..."

-----------------------

In all the time that I've been following Arsenal, the only "fall off my chair" signings we've made were Bergkamp, Campbell and possibly Platt.

In over 35 years, that's not a great average in "steller world class players" being bought in per season I'd say.

"unless you start acting like a big club and start paying the wages and transfer fees everyone else is playing, you wont win the league."

Not entirely true, but consider this. Last year Arsenal were able to overpay on their loans to the tune of ~£120m. This reduced the interest payments, and lifetime of the loans, ie. hastened the time when we have no huge debts. Now as those debts are reduced we will have more and more money to spend on players, and this will be sustainable by the club itself, based on actual income.

It is difficult to complete with teams with bottomless pockets, but we do and will continue to. We will be able to compete in the 'big clubs' transfers too, so if that future doesn't send 'shivers down the spine of any other team.', well it should. Arsenal are playing a long game, it has an element of risk, sure, but while we're still in touch - and we are, you know it - we are well positioned to dominate in a few years. Unless these clubs can start turning a good profit, they will get left behind themselves - no-ones pockets are *genuinely* bottomless.

Anyway, who knows what'll happen - can't wait to find out though.

"unless you start acting like a big club and start paying the wages and transfer fees everyone else is playing, you wont win the league."

------------------

Borussia Dortmund.

It CAN be done.

yeah i get the point about loan repayments rather than spending on transfers at the moment.you repay the stadium but then arsenal fans need to put up with not winning a trophy then for as long you're not competing with the rest of the clubs in the transfer market

it wil be interesting to see once everything is paid off, how arsenal act in the transfer market.. wil they spend big or spend wisely..

you're right no one has bottomless pockets but take chelsea. not everyones cup of tea. we adopted a policy of investing in playing stuff heavily. enabled us to win trophies which in turn increases our world wide exposure, increases our revenues. at the moment, we're not making a profit at all, but i dont see us being in the red forever with roman around, his aim is to win something every year. not ideal but it works to an extent.

what you've done is invest heavily on a stadium which has increased your revenues but severally hampered your ability to compete in the transfer market. you're playing the long game. we're playing the short game. i dont see wrong in either method to be honest.

------------------

Borussia Dortmund.

It CAN be done.
----------------------

It can be done. but they've had midtable finishes for quite a long time too. last title before last year was 2001-2002

Did borussia spend big in the last year?

2001–02 Bundesliga (I) 1st
2002–03 Bundesliga (I) 3rd
2003–04 Bundesliga (I) 6th
2004–05 Bundesliga (I) 7th
2005–06 Bundesliga (I) 7th
2006–07 Bundesliga (I) 9th
2007–08 Bundesliga (I) 13th
2008–09 Bundesliga (I) 6th
2009–10 Bundesliga (I) 5th
2010–11 Bundesliga (I) 1st