Arsenal Banter Archive July 21 2013

21 Jul 2013 22:40:22
Regarding Fabregas, I don't expect him to leave Barcelona.
Yet thinking about it, if he did, is there anybody that does think he would join United?
He loves Arsenal, that isn't an opinion, its fact. He came close to tears when he left, but it was for his boyhood club, a club that at the time was the best in the world, you don't turn that down.
He has said he only sees himself at either Barcelona or Arsenal.
What are the benefits to joining United? It's not for trophies, Barcelona have a higher chance of winning trophies than United. Its definitely not because of some sort of goal/honour to play for United, he's at Barcelona.
The only reason I could see him leaving Barcelona in the first place is to play regularly. He can achieve that at Arsenal. He will be loved, he will love it, and he will be closer to his family again.
Obviously he could be playing first team in a team more likely to win trophies than Arsenal, but if its about winning he won't leave Barcelona, he will battle to be first team there. If its about being a regular, he would pick Arsenal.
That said, I don't think any of this matters, Cesc isn't going to leave.

What if he wants both?

Have you forgoton the champs league game when he laid the ball on for messi to score before he departed

Deluded,

dave

21 Jul 2013 22:24:33
I would be happy with one major signing, are squad is already getting champs leauge and giving the top teams ago, plus giroud IMO is going to be one of the most dangerous strikers in the prem soon. add a world class st or cf/cam and we would be a force plus a few good signings and we could win the leauge, this squad is young and only guna get better. Have faith and remember. Wenger is in fergies position now he's the most experienced one out there let him show it. plus remember what he said before the window opened. "we will offload all the deadwood crap off the wage book then look to bring in class players" IMO we have spent first month offloading the crap and will now start signing in this month? . Post this one please ed

21 Jul 2013 22:14:36
In Wenger's head is it more important to secure world class talent, or to be seen not to over pay? Unfortunately the evidence suggests the latter. Don't see him paying that extra bit needed to land someone who could make a difference. Expect 'good value' buys.

Didn't he just sign a new contract with Liverpool last year?

55 million for a player who can't even play the first 6 games and is a pure wildcard, do you really want that? {Ed027's Note - If we do buy Suarez (wishful) it will be for around 40m, I reckon we may just put that in, if we do it would bloody surprise me

23 Jul 2013 09:47:19
Ed027, if you really don't want him. why u bid him. with 30 mill you would get higuain for sure.
but you wont. coz. suarez is in a seperate league.
higuain is cf an excellent striker. like giroud and podolski.
but suarez. is something different. who creates from absolute nothing.
he would still score 30+ goals with a ban or without. {Ed027's Note -i never said I don't want him

21 Jul 2013 22:02:58
Its great that this site provided us with a platform to express our thoughts about our great club. Suppose you were a reporter for one those sites which feed us with their BS, Make your rumours and speculation so that you evaluate your success rate at the end of the window. My predictions are;
-Ceaser
-Williams
-Bernad
-Gustavo.
Those who say Wenger won't buy you can as well say no more incoming transfers.
Good luck Gunnerz.

21 Jul 2013 20:35:08
Would anyone be averse to us signing Torres?
I'm certain he will be available soon if not already- and he is absolute quality just was f****ed up by the system Chelski were playing and a few of the other players didn't like his wage
Personally I think with the midfield we have and the other forwards around he would fit perfectly

He's not what he was.

21 Jul 2013 21:18:43
i don't no were all theese bernard rumours come from but they are not true that for sure our top priority is saurez and pos fabregas is he wants to leave

21 Jul 2013 19:13:18
Hi united fan here! Just wondering whether you guys think arsenal will take up the option on fabregas if the bid is accepted, and if so who would he choose if any? I'm only wondering because he left arsenal in my opinion to win trophys, and arsenal still don't look like competing just yet. And by that I mean no disrespect just pointing out since he left you sold your other two best players in Rvp and Alex song. I will admit if you get Suarez I think you may be the surprise team this year, anyway good luck for the season,
Jase {Ed027's Note - Cesc left for trophies? No mate you're confusing yourself, if Cesc leaves it will ONLY be to Arsenal

Cesc won't come back to England unless it is too Arsenal. he has said so many times. Its just papers stirring as usual.
Also the Suarez issue I think is just Arsenals way of getting back at Madrid. No confidence it will happen. would be shocked if it did.

Thanks for your opinion ed but that's all it is in reality, I personally think he would prefer arsenal in his heart, but in his head he would firstly get more money at united, especially with ffp coming in and united having the greater turnover, probably, and I say probably because its a new era for united, but a greater chance of trophies! I'm not saying at all we would get him or he would even want to leave barca at all, but surely if united can offer him all I've stated above then there surely is a chance of him coming? After all we wouldn't be bidding for a player who would just embarrass us surely?
Jase {Ed027's Note - if he wants trophies he will stay at Barca, maybe just maybe there would be a chance if SAF was your manager but it'a not, it's David Moyes. More chance of Chelsea his kid is in London as well as his girlfriend, more money, Mourinho, trophies

Cesc loves arsenal (after barca), has a great relationship with wenger (father figure- look up his exit interview and you'll see just how difficult it was for him to leave arsenal) and keeps in regular contact with him. Also keeps up with the arsenal scores throughout the season, etc, etc.

"I only owe 3 people something in my life, my mother, my father & Arsene Wenger" Cesc Fabgregas.


Also, I don't think people realise just what a good position arsenal are in financially now.

The whole point of signing someone like cesc and trying to sign other top players, in now having the finance to do that, is so we can be genuine competitors again.

Yes we need to attract and actually sign them (for god's sake!)- but that's the challenge for any new players- to turn arsenal into a winning side again.

So to sum up- yes I think wenger would most definitely try and sign him and I think cesc would come and relish winning trophies with arsenal.
LG

Thanks ed, I have a feeling your probably right, I personally can't seeing him joining united either, however it's a strange time at barca at the moment, they were ebarrassed in the champions league last season, they've just lost they're manager due to illness, Neymar has just bee bought who also plays in a similar position to where cesc had been used last season, I would say if there is a time to move for him it would be now, and I think moyes has seen this. As I've said this is unlikely but I can dream.
Jase {Ed027's Note - i'd think now would be the worst lol, me and you see Tito's illness differently, Barca have lost Thiago to Bayern, his brother also left on loan

Two best players, rvp and song? hhm, interesting

21 jul 2013 19:05:28
why don't we give up on suarez/ higuain. and admit team are playing stupid games and preventing us from moving on.

and sign two of dzeko/cisse/soldado/remy/rhodes (absolute quality and you must be blind if you think this kid won't go on too be amazing)/ fred/ reus/ el sharwaraay.

and then go for a very good cb to add more compeition cb's such as hummels/williams/sakho/subotic.

and then go for dm of pure quaility.

get it done soon, if we have a good squad we will challange for cups and press in the league.

If we can't get one of Suarez, Higuain or Rooney then to be honest I don't see many other strikers available better than what we've got already. Would rather we pile the money into a world class creative player and dm
AG

If we sign cisse or Rhodes the fans including myself will be livid.

Rues won't leave BVB
Fred too much like giroud

Don't give up on Suarez or higuain. They're world class. And that's what we need

Cisse average
Remy average and A rapist
Rhodes not good enough for Arsenal

Leave the transfers to people who are paid to do it you clearly no nothing.

I agree if Suarez/Rooney/Higuain fails we go for Soldado

Ed if you don't think arsenal will even pay 40 mil for Suarez but still think you have a chance of getting him I'm guessing you must think a player + cash deal can be worked out. So my question is what player do you think will be offered by arsenal that will interest Liverpool? Walcott? {Ed027's Note - i don't think we will get him.

21 Jul 2013 17:18:55
A question to everyone, but mainly the ed's, as let's face it, they know closer to the score more than most of us!

The windows progressed, almost the end of the first month, people going nuts over no "big" signing that we were promised, or no signing at all for that matter, and the medias having a field day linking us with every possible player going now we APPARENTLY, have £70m to spend, before all these exits.
We've been thrown into links with Higuain, Suarez, Fellaini, Cesar, Williams, Gundogan, Gustavo, Cesc, Rooney, Mata, Agger, Jovetic, Villa, hell, I've seen us linked (admittedly mainly on less reputable sites) Alexis Sanchez, Michu, Vidal, Osvaldo, Lamela, Mandzukic.
And there's many more we've all seen, and I've forgot.
And whilst the other big clubs, Chelsea, Utd, City, are all sounding off, City, spending something like £80m on 4 players, Chelsea, making public noise about Rooney and Utd pursuing, (what I believe) to be a futile chase for Cesc, we've sat here, enjoying our tour of Asia.

My questions, which I've digressed from, are;
A: Are any of you confident of a signing by the end of this month?
Because I'm starting to sway heavily to the "no" camp.

And

B: Do any of you see us getting that BIG signing?
A Higuain, Rooney, Suarez, Cesc, Mata?
I do, not necessarily one of those names, and I certainly don't see us buying a AMC unless it IS Cesc, who by Wengers own mouth is staying for another year at Barca.

If I'm wrong, then I really feel someone needs to fess up and take the blame at the club.

But we'll come to that if needed.

Thanks! {Ed027's Note - I am confident, but I've been confident before (every other transfer window), we need an big signing to compete, we need someone to take us to the next level, last season was the last where I think fans settles for 4th, I think if that happens again this season as well as being trophy less, there will be chaos. If we don't strengthen it could be worse than the past 8

D and Ed, I don't think we'll finish top 4 unless we buy a next level player like you say. Definitely not. We won't win a cup either. We need two world class additions imo just to keep up and land that 4th spot.

If we make those additions, land 4th, then add to them next summer and start challenging, I'm more than happy with that. I'm not expecting us to go from 4th to title challengers this window, not at all.

So long as we add world class and good squad options.

As for the questions- generally, no longer confident at all. The usual signs are showing. But then, I read into this Suarez thing and think 'hang on, we're serious aren't we?'
Why would we be going back 'apparently' with a £41.8m bid, rising by £5m or so, and also waiving Suarez's bonuses of what, £2m, making it closer to a £49m deal in the end (if it's all true) - how the hell is that not serious?!

So god knows what to think!

I've said before I think there will be. No idea who. The reason I believe there will be is for the same reason as Ed suggested. They'll be mayhem from the fans if there isn't significant signings. A few poor results at the beginning of the season, and they'll be red seats, black scarfs and "Wenger out
" chants. The powers that be know this and realize how fortunate we were last season (and the one before that, and the one before that etc. ) On top of that they come out and say "we've got money now. We've turned a corner. We could afford to pay Rooney's wages. " 8 years no trophies. Most expensive tickets in world football etc.
All I'm saying is if they don't, I genuinely think that would be quite sadistic of them, and will ultimately f**k their already very fragile relationship with the fans. It's not going to take a lot next season.
I'm already on the edge, with only internet porn getting me through it. On that note, I have a prior engagement.
Flybo

21 Jul 2013 17:02:32
Just been watching videos of fabregas on YouTube.

That guy is in love with arsenal. And my god how much I miss him here. Would do basically anything for him to come back.

I love you fabregas. You god.

21 Jul 2013 16:07:37
Just a random thought. It seems another well known Wenger trait is to play football his way, with no plan B. this changed a little bit in the run in into the end of the season as pragmatism forced his hand. Apart from well identified gaps, given the players rumored to be available, who would you like see as genuine plan B game changers?

I think we need an out and out winger who can drive to the corner and cut back and a Xavi Alonso type interceptor and deep passer. That would allow us to change formations and also play current squad players into different positions mid-match.

My tuppence worth

Yyc

1) Never understood why Wenger won't buy a decent winger. Even Coquelin is a class winger, breath of fresh air when he plays wide, LB or otherwise. We miss wingers.

2) Never understood why we play 433. At the Emirates we try and be too balanced and end up looking impotent. A club like Arsenal should be lining up 4132 at home, except perhaps against the likes of Man U and Chelsea etc. But 4132 with a solid DM, three more mids and 2 strikers, and just nail teams. We can always change to 4231 or 433 if we need to or once we're ahead.

Marc Overmars was a winger!, Thierry Henry was a winger, Nicholas Anelka was a winger, Robert Pires was a winger, Want to guess what Theo has been doing for the last few years (apart from a few odd games)

Correct me if I'm wrong ECG but I believe the only winger we've had at the club for several years now is Walcott. And I do believe that after those successful wingers you mentioned, Wenger has tried to turn every CF and central attacking mid we've had into a winger, unsuccessfully. The last time we signed a winger was in 2005. It's now 2013. That's my point.

I'm not sure on ECGs point, but I'm with Metal, we need a real winger, a proper wide player like overmars, freddie or bobbie p. I would hate to have Robben at arsenal for so many reasons, don't want him, period - but Bayern did well by relying on wingers against certain (Spanish) opponents.

Good point above also on moving from 4-3-3. But what players out there that we could get provide genuine different options? Anyone have any thoughts?

Gervinh-o-o-o-o-o-o, he's a class winger

21 Jul 2013 15:27:14
I'm not worried about Man City singing those players and us not - I'm worried that they have a manager who will know exactly what he's doing! That's the issue for me!

21 Jul 2013 14:44:18
Which other CF r Real lookin at? Hopin thy sign other targets and leave Suarez to us.

They were looking at cavani, but he's at PSG. Not a lot of other players really.

If they sell hig to Napoli, they will probably up their offer for Suarez. Currently not budging from 25 million and Liverpool want more than 55 million!

21 Jul 2013 14:19:26
Can I just clear something up.

Footballers wear allsorts of numbers when training. Some wear their personalised training kit. Some prefer to wear other numbers in training and still to their "official number" for matchdays.

There is a lot of people speculating about Per wearing number 2 and 4 being available for "you know who. "

Official squad numbers are usually officially released just before the first premier league game. Therefore, don't speculate on what they are wearing on a pre-season tour in Japan.

On Arsenal.com Per is still number 4 so everybody relax and just wait and see.

21 Jul 2013 14:48:24
Anyone watching Arsenal fan Poulter? Come on!

Sorry but he is a **** end think the winner isn't coming from the UK today.

1404

If per is number 2 when the season starts. Start gossiping if the number 4 hasn't already been filled by then

21 Jul 2013 12:22:50
Guys

I don't think Cesc is moving anywhere this summer but if he does and we have the buy back clause then it comes down to if we want him back and if he wants to come back.

if the answer to both is yes then he comes back, an agreement would be found.

Otherwise, if we wanted him and he didn't want us or we didn't want him but he wanted us of if neitehr wants each other then I reckon PSG, Man C, Chelsea etc would all be interested and there could very easily be a bidding war - which if we have the clause about getting half of any profit Barca makes exists it works well for us - money for nothing really!

As for our transfers, I have no inside infor or anything but-

Hig looks to be going to Napoli and it is not a case of "throw in the extra" as I've tried to explained previously

Suarez is possible but I'd be surprised at the figures being mentioned and also because Liverpool cannot afford to lose him

Rooney again would surprise me. The wages and stuff just don't feel like a good fit

One other thing I hate in the media is this crap about "wonkt sell to rivals. ". If terms are agreed to sell a player at say £25m to a foreign club and then an equal bid was rejected from a domestic competitor then the player could claim a restraint of trade against the selling club. Ultimately power is with the players and they go where they want and there is very little the selling club can do.

I'm trying to be patient lol but god its frustrating right. Now after the huge build up to this window - butheres more than a month to go so here's hoping lol

Soopergooner

21 Jul 2013 12:00:57
So it looks like Napoli have agreed a deal for Higuain which will fund Real Madrid's move for Suarez. Could be a real kick in the teeth for the Gooners after missing out on Villa already. With Benteke signing a new deal who would be next on the AW radar? Soldado perhaps? Steal him from under the noses of Spurs?

Sydney!

We'll see.

It will be a kick in the teeth for you as well, losing out on both tiago and cesc.

Oh well, there's always fellini.

We were never in villa this summer and any noise about benteke going to arsenal, was from the player himself.

See what happens.

When you don't get cesc (which you won't)- which targets are left for you?

Nice to see the Manc (er)s getting rattled by their inability to sign who they want now that Rudolph has moved upstairs :))

21 Jul 2013 10:50:06
The way some people on here go on you would think Cesc Fabregas is an Arsenal player!

GRD

21 Jul 2013 13:46:23
Same for Ronaldo on your page you creetun!

21 Jul 2013 08:45:31
Anyone seen the comments from Arry Redknapp in todays Sun. The piece focuses on Cesc and a possible move to MU. Sounds like it would make his day -
" It's weird how so many players seem to leave that club - Fabregas, van Persie, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri.

I don't know why but there must be some reason that makes them want to leave Arsenal. "

'Orrible little man!

Jayjay

21 Jul 2013 14:44:36
I would have loved to have set fire to his head and put it out with a steak hammer but some jammy sod beat me to it!

Stoner

Good old arry.
One eye looking at you, the other looking for you
Flybo

21 Jul 2013 08:30:33
Hey gooners and Eds! I thought I'd take a look at some of the recent Arsenal training pics with the talsk of Per wearing number 2. Well there's been talks of Per switching numbers, ene I brought it up, but I'm not so sure we should look into it too deeply just yet. I noticed Gibbs is wearing #22 (I thought that was Sanogo's number) and then Giroud wearing #11 (which maybe will be his with Santos officially gone). I'm not completely sure since I don't know much except for what is actually given to us by media etc. What do guys think? Some changes in numbers or some missing training gear? Haha. What do you think eds? {Ed001's Note - they often mix up their training gear, especially if there are newbies who might not even have received their personalised kits yet. So it could mean absolutely nothing or it could be a tell tale sign!}

21 Jul 2013 03:48:43
Eds-, I heard that the Brazilian transfer window ended on 20th July. Does that mean that Benard can no longer be able to sign for Arsenal this summer? {Ed027's Note - I think players can still leave

21 Jul 2013 00:56:23
Hi Eds, is there any news of Fabregas coming back to Arsenal? We're hearing that Fabregas is willing to move if Barca want to sell, but the only club being mentioned is Man Utd, even though we apparently have 'first refusal'.

Why insist on a first refusal clause in his contract if there's no interest in bringing him back when available? And if I'm not mistaken, they still owe us cash from the sale of Fabregas?. amongst other sales.

Would love to have him back with us. In the deeper (Xavi) position he consistently got more goals and assists than Xavi. And in the more advanced (Iniesta) position he consistently got more goals and assists than Iniesta. all this is a poorer team and a much more competitive league. For me he was the best playmaker in the world at Arsenal, and he could reach that form again. {Ed027's Note - I wouldn't hold your breath

The reason we haven't put a bid in for him is because he isn't available. Teams can bid all day long doesn't mean they are free to leave. If barca accepted uniteds bid then we would activate our clause. Why do all the leg work when united will find out for us if he available

JoshA

I think it depends on what gaurentees the incoming manager can give him.

Listened to Graham hunter on radio show yesterday- he says its highly unlikely cesc is going anywhere unless he has been lying to everyone about his intentions to stay at barca and that's including his family and agent!

He won't be going anywhere.

20 Jul 2013 23:06:46
Tim Vickery (south american football 'expert') was on the radio today discussing Bernard. He made no mention at all of any imminent move to arsenal or any other club for that matter!

All he said was that there is interest from several clubs in europe.

Sounds like we were fed more BS from cretinous journo hacks!!