Archive for August 6th, 2010

The battle for Cesc is over, and we won

856 comments August 6th, 2010

Truth be told, it was over a long time ago.

Barcelona wanted Cesc, but only on their hugely unrealistic terms.  Despite our repeated refusal to negotiate, Barca could have made an offer so mouthwatering that no negotiation was neccessary.  Had they come in with a bid of £50m or above, I doubt whether Cesc would still be an Arsenal player.

The truth is that Barca never had the requisite funding.  They spent cash they didn’t have on David Villa, and sold the likes of Toure and Chygrynskiy to balance the books.  They felt that if they could unsettle Cesc enough, they might be able to get him for a bargain £30-35m.  The problem for Barca is that entire strategy was dependent on Fabregas handing in a transfer request.  For Cesc, that was never an option.

Cesc is a Catalan.  He’s a Barcelona boy.  But North London is his home from home.  His Enfield landlady is a second mother.  Arsene Wenger is a second father.  And the Arsenal fans are his adopted family.  He’d never compromise the club that gave him his chance.  At the height of his distress, just after he met Wenger to speak about his desire to leave, his principal concern was not whether the move would go through, but whether or not he would retain the respect of Arsenal fans.

Yesterday, he got his answer.  He returned to training at the Members Day in the familiar surroundings of the Emirates, and received a warm welcome.  There isn’t a sane fan out there who doesn’t want Cesc Fabregas to be part of the club for as long as possible.  £50m couldn’t buy his combination of class, courage, and commitment.

Some fans are demanding a statement from Fabregas.  Personally, I don’t think there’s much for him to say.  He can’t make like Adebayor and come out and say, “I never wanted to leave” – that’d be dishonest, and Cesc would never patronise the fans in that way.  He can only say he’ll be here for the coming season – and that much is already clear.  I think he might aswell do his talking on the pitch. We’ll see.

I’ve never been to Members Day. Apparently yesterday’s was a bit disorganised. There was a shareholders Q&A with Kieran Gibbs, Nicklas Bendtner, Johan Djourou and Theo Walcott.  The highlights seem to have been Djourou saying “It’s good to play with yourself” and Bendtner revealing that his all-time hero is Batman.  TheGoonBlog has a fuller report.

I wish I had some exciting transfer news to bring you – I don’t. It look like that Spahic is a no go, which is no bad thing – I’d prefer a more established name if we can get one.  There is no point in Cesc staying if we do not provide him with the required support.


Search Gunnerblog

Get your Gunnerblog t-shirts now!

get regular updates from GS with twitter

Top Gunn

Cesc Fabregas
The man in form.

    Retro Arsenal T-Shirts from
RetroFootballTShirts.co.uk - Bringing Back The Good Old Days!:
www.retrofootballtshirts.co.uk: Click Here!

Latest Posts

Sponsored Links

Calendar

August 2010
M T W T F S S
« Jul   Sep »
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  

Posts by Month


Most Recent Posts

Posts by Category

Syndication

Powered By

eXTReMe Tracker