Barca are wasting Cesc’s time
23 comments June 21st, 2011
One almost has to admire the gall of Barcelona. They doth bestride the narrow world of European football like a colossus, and occasionally they behave as if they’ve got an ego to match.
Speaking to Catalunya’s TV3, club President Sandro Rossell revealed:
“I don’t know if Cesc will sign or not. We’ll offer less than €40m and if Arsenal don’t agree, then Cesc will not come. Have no doubt, he has a great desire to come here.
We have €45m for signings, plus money from sales. There is no more money.”
The immediate retort is that Cesc is worth more than €40m, so Barca’s offer is redundant. Further analysis suggests that they’re about to spend €35m+ on their primary summer target, Udinese winger Alexis Sanchez, leaving no money for Cesc.
I’m sure at some point this summer a derisory offer will whirr through the fax machine at Highbury House. And at that point it will, rightly, be dismissed out of hand. Barca can tell their fans they tried, Arsenal can hold on to a player whose contract runs until 2015, and we can all wait while this tedious saga drags on another twelve months.
That’s currently how I see things panning out. At the end of last season I thought Cesc would go, but I overestimated Barca’s desire to sign the player. They’ve made it clear that Sanchez is more of a priority, with talk of a move for a centre-half (perhaps Milan’s Thiago Silva) also overshadowing any bid for Fabregas.
The only thing that could change things is Cesc forcing a move through by handing in a transfer request, and I consider that extremely unlikely.
It’s a good job it looks like Cesc is staying, as there are a whole load of other players heading towards the exit door. We’re just a matter of days away from the end of June, which was seen by many as the deadline for Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy to sign new contracts with the club. Neither has, and Clichy is now being heavily linked with a move to Serie A and Roma.
The likes of Bendtner and Denilson will also be on the move imminently – the former has been linked this morning with Newcastle, which is a move that’d make a lot of sense: they have money to burn and a vacant number nine shirt following the sale of Andy Carroll.
Meanwhile, QPR playmaker Adel Taarabt says he’s being tracked by both Arsenal and Chelsea. I’m sure we watched him a few times last season – his form was so good it would’ve been neglectful not to – but his comments read like a ploy to extract more money from his current billionaire owners than a hint at a realistic possibility of a move.
I’m a little surprised that Arsenal are yet to do any major business. Perhaps it will all happen in a flurry. Perhaps it won’t happen at all. Eek.
