Transfer News Roundup- Cesc, Mata, Gervinho and more..

ManU wins the league, then goes out and gets immediately better in the transfer market addressiing major needs right away.  Seeing their signings in combination with very little movement at the Emirates is INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING!!!

Wenger, just do SOMETHING, for f's sake!

uh... does any1 have any idea how guardiolas gonna play with fabregas, iniesta, xavi, busquets, affelay, keita, and maschaerano? playing time seems like its gonna be limited for every1 other than the three spanish guys. plus they have young midfielders to develop too. dont see how all this is gonna work out

Wenger turned down 10M for Diaby??  That's nuts.

If Wenger collects 40M for Cesc, 20M for Nasri (as rumored), 10M for Diaby, 10M for Clichy, 10M for Bendtner, and 10M for other sales (Denilson, Arshavin) - that's almost 100M, plus any non-sale funds that were allocated to transfers.  As a fan, I would Wenger to massively overhaul the club and would happily allow a 'rebuilding' year if 5 or so new starters were brought in.  Wenger could spend on average 20M each for 5 new starters, which should yield top quality talent. 

This is a critical year in the rebuilding of the squad - this cannot be another year where Wenger decides to roll the dice with a thin squad of youngsters.

You realize we were only 4 points out of first with a month to go, right? Why would a massive overhaul/rebuilding year be necessary?

Yea and if we do sell Fabregas to Barca, I hope we don't include someone like Thiago in the deal (not because he's not a good player) but I don't think we need the Barca DNA crap again in like 4-5 years.

I hear what you're saying.  But on the other hand, if we got a quality player for a few years, and then sold him for a profit, I could certainly live with that.  I don't have any regrets over bringing Cesc into the fold a while back, despite all the current transfer headaches.

I just read that Thiago extended his contract at Barca, and included a huge buyout clause.  So I guess we can forget about getting him in return if we sell Cesc. 

But just how much playing time is Thiago gonna get if they sign Cesc. I mean if U say Cesc will most likely be on bench i can understand, but I can't imagine Cesc being behind Afellay,Mascherano and Thiago on the Depth chart.

Well Afellay, Mascherano and Thiago all play different positions on the field, but I agree with your overall point.
This is why Barca are bidding so low for Cesc. Sure they want him, but they don't need him.

Additional material by Lady Bracewell-Smythe, and her man, Bisket
.

After a narrow escape from the dungeons under the Daily Stuff our
reporters have been send on a new mission. A mission to the sun. No, not
the paper.  A mission to outdo our rivals The Daily Snuff, the Morning
Lark, and the Under 12s section of the Arsenal Supporters Club.  Not to
mention The Sun.  No!  The sun shines in Barcelona!

I don’t know if you know that sort of feeling you get on those hot
days at the end of June when the sky is a light pink or green with
cotton-wool blobs and there’s a bit of a hurricane blowing from the
west, and you know you haven’t yet recovered from last night at the pub?
A kind of uplifting feeling that you can do it all again today.
Romantic, if you know what I mean.

Now the men on the Daily Stuff are not much for romance, but on this
particular morning it seemed to our reporters (or say they say in their
account of what follows) that what they really wanted was some passing
young lady of a certain vintage and size to trott along and ask the lads
to save her from a bunch of maundering members of parliament who were
harrassing her.  Or something.

A kind of bracing feeling that gives one the edge.

So it was this day as our intrepid fellows took their bags and filled
them with coloured ink for photocopy machines, (a smart move as later
turned out), donned their Lady Nina Bracewell Smith look-alike costumes
and headed west for the airport.

Now we didn’t know this at the time, but airports are full of
security people who are very suspicious about ink.  Not sure why that
is, but there it is.

Ink.  They can’t stand the stuff.  Apparently you can make quantum
bombs from it or something.

Anyway, after learning that we were from the Daily Stuff, and were
going to help that aged and revered institution (Barcaloanus) sort out
its stationery cupboard they told us that they were great Lady Nina fans
and we went on our way.  (Actually we think they may have mistaken Lady
Nina for Lady Gaga, but we don’t look gift horses in the gift horse, as
it were, so we moved on.

At the second (of nine) security barriers we explained that we were
Lady Nina (and her man, Bisket).  They asked the reason for our trip but
we broke through by putting money in the hands of the border guards and
all was fine.  It is vital to keep up the ancient British ways.

On the plane Bisket studied the menu devoutly before ordering a cup
of cocoa, cold veal and ham pie, slice of fruit cake, and a macaroon.

When we came to Barcelona we took a cab that brought us to Nou Camp.
Which isn’t that nou any more in fact.  It is rather a monument to the
past.  A past when people had better eyesight and could see a football
at 3000 yards.  These days, with the decline in carrot production in
northern England, and the use of sonar, eyesight has declined, and those
beyond the first tier at the ground pay reduced prices to listen to the
roar of the greasepaint and feel the smell of the crowd.

Thus it was that us, the men on the spot (apart from Bisket who is
our man with a spot) asked if we could speak with the Barceloanus
president. When we said that we were from the Daily Stuff, (an
association we explained that was closely associated with Untold Debts
and Money-Laundering, a well known Spanish football blog) we were not
allowed in!   Even the fact that Biskit had been practising Katalan (the
local language) on the flight over, would not get us in.  We had given
all our spare dosh to the border guards at Heathrow, and were sunk.

So we remained stationery and offered stationary (or vice versa)
until Biskit  said ‘We bring you this” and pointed at the bag filled
with the coloured ink.  (He also offered a bunny rabbit in the shape of
Lady Nina but that clearly confused the poor fellow.)

Here sadly something got lost in translation for instead of hearing
words concerning the working of the modern digital photocopier the
doorman  understood: “We bring you Cesc”. The doors opened and we could
enter the offices from the most successful club in the history of
history.

Because of the savings Barcelona had to make it was very quiet in
there.  No bouncers, no banquets, no books, no trophies (all down the
pawn shop as we discovered later), no gentlemen tending each individual
blade of grass, no one wiping the seats….

Even the doorman looked rather familiar.  He brought us to a door
 where it said Mr. Rossel, President of FC Barcelona and told us to
wait. The doorman entered the room and half a minute later he came back
to the door and called us in. There was no other person in the room. But
then us, acting as the paper’s “men on the spot” tumbled the ruse.

The doorman presented himself as Mr. Rossel himself! And yes it was
him!!!  The boss would doubling as a humble man about the streets!!!!!!

Oh what democracy!  What fun!  What irony!  What a victory for the
republican revolution and the overthrow of  the dictatorial fascist
hierarchy of days gone by!  “Why don’t they do this at Arsenal?” said
our man.  “Perhaps Lady Nina would do the door opening duties at the
Ems!” replied Biskit, and there was much nodding of heads and general
chortling in the direction of Gibraltar, for no particular reason other
than when one chortles one needs to be pointing in some direction or
other and that was the direction chosen by chance on that occasion. 
There was no political significance in this at all.

“So you bring me Cesc,”  he (the doorman stroke President) asked

“No!!” I exclaimed (in the manner of Harry Enfield on one of those
early shows, before it got a bit silly with all that Russian President
intro).

Now I am by and large a man who never uses one exclamation mark will
two will do.  “We bring you this!!” I said and showed the coloured ink
for the photocopy machines.

You know the way love vanish from a man’s eyes and its disappearance
can change a fellow’s whole  approach to life in seconds.  Well that’s
what we got here.  It was really frightful to contemplate

If you ever have seen disappointment on a man’s face, this was it. 
If you have seen the joy and laughter on the face of a seven year old
when being given a puppy and before the notion that for the next ten
years the child will be expected to clean up the mess, this wasn’t it. 
If you have ever seen the smug grin on the face of a man who has not won
the general election he has just fought, but knows he has persuaded the
Liberals to join him in coalition and it will not only sustain him in
power, it will also destroy that annoying bunch of radicals and long
haired wierdos once and for all, this wasn’t it.

It nearly broke our hearts! “But this isn’t Cesc,” he said.  We
admitted it wasn’t Cesc at all but was in fact coloured ink. But we
pointed at the fact that for now they could use the ink to make colour
copies. It wasn’t much consolation. But after thinking it over he said:
“well we can use the ink.”  (He also asked if we had brought him a puppy
dog or fought any interesting elections of late but we said no, we had
not.  It doesn’t get to become too chummy with these foreign types).

But then, returning to our journalistic roots, and once more becoming
“our men in foreign parts” we said, “We can only give the ink in return
for an interview.” He looked at the ink one more time and agreed. And
so we got our exclusive interview with the Barceloanus president.

Mr R began by addressing me:

MR R: In society circles in England, I believe, you have a fairly
fruity reputation as a hostess, Lady Nina.   But you also have a
reputation for being a dealer and a wheeler.  I am told no one can
remember a single meal with you at which you didn’t turn the
conversation sooner or later to the subject of Cesc.  You are always the
same you English.  You are boiled fish!

M Adeup: Are you going to buy Cesc?

MR R.: Yes but we don’t know when.

MA: Have you made an offer yet as the press are reporting it?

MR.R.: Oh those boys from the press. They always try to help us. But
in fact the only thing we did was go to the Sun and say that we are
thinking of putting in a bid for Cesc.

MA: So the Sun is not completely telling the truth by saying you made
a verbal offer? And all those other media who report the same? Are they
lying?

MR.R. No, we only talked to the Sun about this. They are our
privileged source. We thought it would be better if Arsenal also talked
with the editor of the Sun. And Lady Nina.  You know English people
amongst each other. We hoped it would help us in getting Cesc.

MA: So is the Sun acting as your manager and agent in this transfer?

MR.R.: Oh yes, they are. They are our go between in this transfer. We
say what we want to them and they will make it public in the media.

MA: And did Arsenal reply to you or to the Sun?

MR.R.: No, to my surprise they didn’t reply to any of us. I don’t
know why.  I was told that you, Lady Nina were a little late getting to a
meeting (apparently the trams in the Kingsway tunnel were running a
little late).  We are respectable, the Sun is respectable. In a way you
could say that Arsenal is being disrespectful to all of us.

MA: Are you willing to pay the price for Cesc?

MR. R.:  Come on guys if we cannot even afford coloured ink do you
think we can pay a decent price for Cesc?

MA: Would you consider a change of players to bring Cesc home?

MR. R.: Oh yes we would certainly do this. After all the only thing
we want is to make Cesc happy, bring him home and make the fans happy! 
In fact we are starting to look rather stupid, having let him go at 16,
and then spending all our time hunkering around the lad, saying that he
doesn’t have real human DNA but DNA made out of the local stone.  Very
odd!  Strange no one has picked up on it before.  Not very good your
local journalists, are they?  We had one round here the other day from
the BBC and he kept telling us how he keeps eleven pet rabbits in his
bedroom.

MA: So you would consider swapping another player who came to you at a
young age with Cesc ?

MR.R.: Yeah we do anything to get Cesc back home except pay the money
for him.

MA: So you would consider giving Messi to Arsenal in order to take
Cesc with you?

MR.R.:  Who was your employer again?

MA:  I am Lady Nina of the Bracewell-Smith clan, and this is my man
Biskit.  Now answer!  Are you considering this?

MR.R.: yes, no, er….

MA: Can I write the first yes as your answer Mr. President?

MR.R. You are not Mr Usmanov in disguise are you?  Hard to tell you
English apart, you all look the same!

MA: Can I write it down as a yes Mr. Rossel?

MR.R.: SECURITY!!!! Where are those guys these days? Never around
when you need them.  I will have you thrown out of here. You and your
funny English website with all its funny spellings and odd words and
jokes no one can understand and the way you always laugh at us having no
money. Well let me tell you, your country is broke!

MA: I think Spain is also bust sir.

MR.R: Is it?

There was a long pause as Bisket smiled.  Or, rather, he had a kind
of  muscular spasm about the mouth that they get in parts of Tottenham,
which is the nearest thing he ever gets to smiling.  Then the president
remembered that he had fired the security people along with the resident
troop of belly dancers, cat tamers and pole vaulters.

MR R.: I must ask you to leave now or I will put my security uniform
on.

MA: So you will consider a move of Messi in change for Cesc? (Our
reporters are really hard men and known to push for an answer when the
pubs are open.)

MR. R. (being distracted by pulling on his security uniform) yes I
will do it…..

MA: Okay thanks Mr. President, this was the answer we have been
waiting for.

MR.R.: …yes I will throw you out

M Adeup (dressed you will recall as Lady Nina, and putting on a
female voice): No need El President we know the way out. Oh, and here is
the ink.

The Barcelonaus president tried to run after our reporters but
stumbled upon the bag with the coloured ink.

Back on the street we ran (as fast as the Lady Nina costume would
allow) to the nearest internet pub and sent us this exclusive interview
with the president of Barceloanus.  So it is final: Cesc will go to
Barcelona and Messi is on his way to Arsenal. The deal is certain, it
was written in coloured ink.

Lady Nina Bracewell-Locket appears courtesy of MegaDodo Publications
Ltd.
 

I don't get it.

Am I the only one who doesn't bother to read this guy's comments?

Nope, too long..and it 's me talking about long!

I rather enjoy them. 

tl;dr

This isn't the Comedy Central chat thread, buddy.

Wait...do what now?

After doing some thinking, I think Wenger is trying to avoid what is currently happening at Liverpool. Just take a look, they already bought the replacements when the old ones have not left. Their central midfield is choked currently, I believe Aquilani is also back there. That would be bad for the club. And also from our past experience with Arsene and the board how sure are we that if we sold Fabregas we will re-invest the proceeds. I do not think we need any examples in that direction. I mean I'd rather want us to keep Fabregas after all a Fabregas in Arsenal is worth an five Eden Hazard's and five Gervinho's in Lille. Anyway that just by the way I hope we sign Cahill, Samba, Gervinho, Hazard, Mata, and a couple of guys from football manager (Hey some of them are absolute beasts).

Hazard just linked to PSG, who can probably offer him competitive wages, though not CL football. 

Vela's agent recently said that Arsenal are not gonna sell him. Do you think it would be wise to send him on another long term loan? Or should we play him in CC and FA?

CC and FA, for my money. Or long-term loan to a team that will play him regularly, maybe somewhere in France or Spain. Doesn't really matter. He is kind of irrelevant, unfortunately. 

Must be nice to be irrelevant and still get paid loads of cash.

What do others think? He has an impact, so saying he's irrelevant it a bit much, but I don't really remember thinking about him at all last season. 

A boy can dream... 

I certainly make that my goal in life anyway.

Lille already sign Dimitri Payet from Saint-Etienne, supposed to be the replacement for Hazard and/or Gervinho.

I'll ask a question to the readers that I recently discussed with JG through e-mail.  Do you think it's important to bring in players who have recently won something important, just to give us a more winning mentality?  Players like Gervinho, Mata, Vertonghen, Thiago, Falcao, etc?  Or does such a thing matter?  Should we just focus on getting the best talent, regardless of whether they've won something recently?
Normally I'd say it doesn't matter.  But with our recent problems being linked to attitude and belief, I think it might have an impact. 

To some extent it is, but U've got to be careful with that, cause some players have won stuff, are hardworking etc but still are crap e.g. Monsieur Silvestre. I think it has more to do with those who have the neva say die attitude. If U get players with the attitude of Wilshire, Vermaelen, Van Persie and Fabregas it doesn't matter where they are from(whether they've won anything) the will win something. Anyway that's my opinion.

Totally agree. You want the individual to have a winners attitude but doesn't necessarily mean he has to have won things. Likewise, just because you've been on a winning team doesn't mean to say you've got that winners mentality.

I think it's somewhat important. In sports where play-offs matter more teams do this very intentionally. A bit different here, but the same principle should apply. 

Valencia looked at the Daily Mail and saw them report that Arsenal bid for Mata and said..."wait what?  Did they talk to you?  No, Okay..."  It'd be nice to have him, and also Mata has a 20 mil release clause "supposedly" which is funny that we only bid 18...also, Alvarez was spotted as an amazing talent three years ago before his injury and if it weren't for that he'd be in the NT and prob on a big Euro team already, I watched him play a few games this year and he's the real deal...and it will be nice to have some height.

I think the 18/20 issue is due to the fact that the original report says Arsenal submitted a bid of 18M British POUNDS, and the release clause is 20M EUROS. Subsequent articles then mixes up the British Pounds and Euros, and then the 18M quids submitted became 18M Euros etc etc. but Basically. 18M British Pounds is pretty much equiv to 20M Euros. I googled that. But ya. I suppose I wouldn't mind Mata in the place of Cesc if Cesc does go?  

I LOVE ARSENAL <3
GOOO TEAM.

And by the way, the money we've been supposedly offered for Clichy would go a long way towards getting Baines purchased.  If we were so inclined. 

JG,
Do you think if we sold Cesc and bought Mata, that the plan would be to play Mata centrally?  Or would we leave him on the wing and use either Nasri, Wilshere, or Ramsey in the middle?

I'd vote to have Nasri in the middle... he's already stated many times that's his preferred position and being played out of his comfort zone is part of his frustration with the club. Mata could definitely take Nasri place in the wing if it happened.

I've watched Mata during 4 years now. He wasn't really part of the team when I followed Valencia... He is either a second striker (like Vela) or a winger with a decent cross, great pace, good finish and simple dribbling. If you really want to have a basic idea of Mata,  think about a Carlos Vela that has reached a higher stage of his potential. He used to play on the left wing when Silva was still with Valencia and moved centrally, right behind the striker when he left (Silva). 

So, he wouldn't be able to take Fabregas's place, but he can definately take Nasri's place once Nasri is moved more centrally to emulate Fabregas...

One more thing, I really don't trust this Gourcuff boy. He used to be great, but choked with O.L.. I don't think he can make it here in Arsenal.

Thanks for the info, Lorient. Do you know how good Mata is when tracking back? And good to hear Mata is versatile- always a good thing with our perpetually-injured squad.

If Cesc goes (and I fervently hope he doesn't), I would nominate Arshavin in the "Cesc" role if we stayed with our current formation. His defensive frailty is less of a problem in the # 10 position, that's where he plays for Russia and where he played for Zenit, and no one else on the team (other than Cesc) can match his creativity or pure passing ability.

I would be going for Kaka if Cesc goes. And if all else fails, then I agree, give it to Arshavin

I'd be stunned if we got Kaka. We wouldn't pay the transfer fee, and even if we were willing to, I don't see any way we'd be able to pay his wages -- he makes roughly twice what our top two earners (van Persie and Cesc) make. And I can't imagine he'd be willing to take that kind of pay cut.

This whole 'self-sustaining' financial model Arsenal have is certainly showing it's flaws lately.

Well I also don't think this model will work, Considering players like Denilson, Bendtner, Almunia and the like on Relatively good wages but offering nothing significant sportwise.

I'll let Wenger know. I don't think it's his defensive frailties as much as his lack of effort at times. Which I suppose are the same thing. But in that central role he has to drive the team forward, he can't coast, and if I'm Wenger I don't think I can count on him for that. But we do see that in Wilshere and Ramsey. 

I agree with that if you're looking at players on the team as it is now.  But if we had a pile of cash from selling Cesc, I'd be very disappointed if we didn't re-invest in a great player at that position to hopefully be a starter.

If Cesc leaves and we do get 40mil, it would be great to re-invest the money in player purchases. We can get a talented playmaker like Hazzard or a striker like Benzema from money generated through Cesc sale.

I don't think so- to the best of my knowledge, Mata has always played on the wing due to his speed and creativity. I think he'll play there whether Cesc goes or not. And if Cesc does indeed leave, then I think Wenger might contemplate a change in tactics- as seen numerous times last season, the 'Cesc role' was only adequately filled by, well, Cesc because we have no one else in our disposal at the moment who can perform the role of an attacking playmaker as well as he can (Wilshere and Ramsey, maybe, someday.) Of course, Wenger might pull a Wenger and make Mata change and adapt and perform wonderfully (especially if we're getting other guys like Gervinho and Alvarez, plus we still have Arshavin, Walcott, and JET). But just getting Mata alone would be a huge boost to the team.

I know I shouldn't believe even half of what I read about transfers.  However, doesn't it seem like the story about our purchases always goes like this: "Wenger has offered 10 million for player X, while the club has insisted on 12."  And then we never end up with that player.  Ugh.  I know that we have to be reasonable with our finances.  But good grief.  If you find a player worth bidding on, and you really think he'll help the club, just freaking pay the extra 2 million and get the guy.  If it's really true we've offered 18 for Mata, it would be a shame if we lose him, despite "only" needing to come up with 2-3 more million. 

Agreed. At some point, you have to give and adding 2 million doesn't suddenly make the deal bad business and poor economic sense if thats what AW is afraid of.

Wenger is his own worst enemy in this respect, as his stubborness is notorious. Any "selling" club which prefers to hold onto a player knows thy only need to set the bar a couple of million above our offer, and Arsenal won't budge and we won't land the player... Then Man C storm in and cough up 10 million more.