Chelsea were the last team I thought he'd even consider.

comment by itsonlyagame - Jose are you watching, are you ... (U6426)
posted 2 hours, 7 minutes ago
What would you quit Punky?
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Life.

Yo Darren, get your äss here man. Need to talk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27717794

Sorry, Wump. How's it going?

Not surprising at all. The fact is Mammon still rules the world.

Eto made a few outlandish remarks but played under the Dark one.
It would be sad to see Fab driving a fleet of buses at Chelsea.

Why aint RM in for him? I know you guys are not bereft of personnel there but Alonso is really finished.

Cesc to Madrid would have been amazing.

Can you imagine him playing through balls to Ronaldo and Bale?!

Barca are stupid but they aren't that stupid.

"How's it going?"
You really asked that?!

Anyway, about a month ago we were talking about Arsene and you mentioned something I flat out disagreed but it hasn't left my mind since. You said you don't feel Arsene is motivated anymore to be the best in Europe and honestly I am starting to feel the same. Any manager in charge of a club as big as Arsenal and with the resources available to him (thanks to him btw) should aspire to be nothing less than the best in Europe but you don't really get that vibe from him do you.

If it was any other team, with an absolutely world class player eager to rejoin and is available, do you think any other team would have passed that up? We may have plenty of central midfielders but really Cesc would improve us quite a lot no doubt about it. Also I don't rate Cazorla. He is a ball-less bottler. Luxury player at best. Rosicky is getting old now and Wilshere still looks like he needs more time to get over his injury issues and return to form so for me signing Cesc was an absolute no-brainer!!

I know this may be premature and the club may be have had the summer transfer activity planned out (never really happened, not in a long time anyway) and we may get quality players in. But I just have a gut feeling we will be looking for bargains WHEN WE HAD THE CHANCE TO SIGN A WORLD CLASS MIDFIELDER FOR 25 FUçKING POUNDS FFS!!!!

comment by Marcelino-Deila In. (U6171)
posted 16 minutes ago
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27717794
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I have mixed feelings about that. Baffled a player can be so ungrateful yet glad he has left as I have never really rated him.

Yeah it could be. Wenger's a strange one.

I just said on another thread that perhaps he just doesn't want to upset the balance of the team by spending £30m on Fabregas and that it could impact on strengthen areas you really need to strengthen, something he's been criticised for not doing.

Also I have reservations over just how much Arsenal, as Wenger in particular, are willing to spend and that having a £30m player on big wages that isn't an immediate need could limit you in the market.

Time will tell whether this is the case, and Wenger will only be vindicated passing up the chance to resign Cesc if he improves the areas you need and the money spent isn't at a figure where £30m plus wages for him would have had a huge impact.

Big summer for Wenger. Given this Cesc situation it appears that the FA Cup win will be swiftly forgotten if he doesn't get it right and the fans will be on his back again.

"and Wenger will only be vindicated passing up the chance to resign Cesc if he improves the areas you need"

Exactly! Honestly if that doesn't happen, I will have had it with him and will want him out, no forgiveness there unless we go on to win the league. The club needs to move forward with the resources we have now. For so long we have had to wait to get in the position we are and I have been patient but now that we are this position, we need someone who is WILLING to take the club forward, not get stuck in this cycle we are in at the moment.

I know it wasn't directed at me but i would chime in a little.

I think it is quite obvious that Wenger is ok with mediocrity (he would never admit it of course). As long as Arsenal makes top four and 'competes', he considers it a success.

Moreover, i have a sneaky suspicion, he was waiting for FFP to kick in - evidenced by his slightly invidious at the goings-on at Chelsea and City.

Like a school prefect, he was waiting for the principal (UEFA) to step in but he is finding out that even if the principal sets in, the badboys have arrived are here to stay and the punishment meted out by the principal would hardly be condign; he has hard to join them -evidenced by his outlay on Ozil!

I too agree with you on Santi. Talented player but very luxury indeed - as is Ozil tbf!. The idea that Arsene is not even taking up the option on Cesc is hard to fathom, IMO.

invidious remarks, i meant.

DTKF; Barca were silly enough to let Thiago go so why and now looking to Koke who will cost a king's ransom (and who IMO, is not as good as many claim he is).

Fabregas is better than Asier and would bring much needed coherence to RM's still-disjointed midfield and would be cheap too.


PS

IMO, Verratti and Gundogan would be perfect replacements for Alonso. And not 'Pogba' as many claim.

Yeah I can understand that, Wump.

I think the biggest thing with Wenger is that he has set principles about how he wants to achieve success. Building sides is the way he wants to do it. And while that has many pros it can take time and see you fall behind, unless you're on top and able to do it like Fergie did.

I think that's why he has so much faith in his younger players. Which, to his credit, has served him very well in many cases. But has also been to his own detriment with others - Denilson, Bendtner and Diaby just to name a few.

Spending big, not just on one player but several, doesn't seem to sit well with Wenger, in my opinion, as it goes against his beliefs about how to achieve success - hence his attitude towards the money in the game.

I think this is one of his biggest flaws because it's limiting Arsenal in the transfer market - an area Wenger used to be the man.

TRC, yeah but Real Madrid is a bit different.

Agree with the latter. Though Vidal alongside Modric could be an even better bet.

i want vidal please

no ex farza rejects like cesc

You keep your filthy hands off King Arturo

Apparently you, Barca and Atleti have made offers for Rakitic.

He's off to Barca, will be announced either tonight or tomorrow

Another talent wasted by Barca then.

rakitic will chose us as the those other clubs dont have an alluring fuchsia pink away strip

Peks/lads

See some arsenal fans saying the might get Di Maria?

Surely RM won't sell him, was fantastic this season and a real driving force in the Madrid team.

Pathetic attempts here last night to wind me up.

Well, I'm wound up, now feck off.



Talk in Spain is Rakitic has agreed personal terms with Barça and that they're now trying to agree a fee with Sevilla. His release clause is €40M, but he's only got a year left, so they think Barça could get him for around €20-25M.

I hope Sevilla bleed the last penny out of them.

Hengy, it's hard to see Di María leaving right now, but it all depends on how much is offered imo. Reckon something similar to what Ozil went for would do the trick.

That's a shame. I think he'd be better suited to Madrid.

You'd be mad to sell Di Maria. But this is Madrid so it'll probably happen.