Gunner89 wrote:

Cole shouldn't have done that but all former players accounts I've read that he was let down by the board regarding the wages.

Please do share. I am quite intrigued honest thoughts on this saga from former players exists. 

By the way Cole is a cunt. 

I think, ignoring the brouhaha, we lost out badly on that deal as the extra £5k a week would have saved us suffering the likes of Silvestre and denied the chavs a ready-made LB.

There was never anything to gain by him leaving us. In hindsight cash all the way would have been better, but it's not like it genuinely mattered. We wouldn't have been able to sign a player on Gallas's level anyway back then. He could have worked out.

Ofcourse we did, we lost arguably the best left back in the world, let alone the League and got a clown in return.

And now Seaman has talked about the episode, telling the Daily Star Sunday: “Ashley Cole got dealt with badly at Arsenal and he was hung out to dry a little bit – and that is all I can really say.”

“The true ­stories never come out.

“Ashley has been dealt with wrongly by the club and I am not going to go into anything else on that.

“I love Ashley as a player and as a man. He is also the best left-back in the world, not one of them, the best left-back.

“He used to get changed down but one from me, ­because he was number three.

“I have seen him grow up into the great player that he is now.

“And I feel really proud for what he has achieved. I know some Arsenal fans may not like that but I am sorry but I know what I know, and I like him.”

This is not gonna end well.
Cashley's subsequent behaviour has ensured that he is, now, one of them.

Gunner89 wrote:

Cole shouldn't have done that but all former players accounts I've read that he was let down by the board regarding the wages.

Its well documented that he wanted his agent paid by the club on top of his own wages. They were set to make him basically the best paid fullback in the world. Cole was just an extremely greedy rat.

Klaus wrote:

There was never anything to gain by him leaving us. In hindsight cash all the way would have been better, but it's not like it genuinely mattered. We wouldn't have been able to sign a player on Gallas's level anyway back then. He could have worked out.

To be fair to Wenger I thought Gallas was a great player when we got him. He'd been immense for Chelsea. I don't think anyone really predicted what a monumental failure he'd be at Arsenal.

I don't think he was a failure exactly, not as a defender that is. 

He wrecked the dressing room though. He may just as well have scored an own goal or two. 

Mourinho is such a bitter spiteful man.

Most of the appeal of signing Cech would be to get at him. That aside Id be ok with Cech signing but I wouldn't be unzipping my flies

Galas was fine until he destroyed the team psyche with the sulk. I thought he'd been better than Terry at Chelsea. Can't complain about the Gallas - Cole once we accept that Cole was a goner.

Rohit wrote:

I don't think he was a failure exactly, not as a defender that is. 

He wrecked the dressing room though. He may just as well have scored an own goal or two. 

He was dodgy as hell as a defender too. A few goals cut him some slack but overall he was garbage for us.

Absolutely disagree. Gallas was a great defender and he performed really well for us. People keep talking about the Birmingham incident but other than that he was all positive.

I am sure 90% of the Arsenal fans were happy with that deal because Gallas was easily one of the best central defenders at that time.

Yeah, nobody could have predicted the way he went but at that time we got a great defender from Chelsea. No love at all for Cole, I will never forget reading that "when my agent told me on the phone that I'll get 55kpw I nearly swerved off the road" bullshit.

qs! wrote:
Gunner89 wrote:

Cole shouldn't have done that but all former players accounts I've read that he was let down by the board regarding the wages.

Its well documented that he wanted his agent paid by the club on top of his own wages. They were set to make him basically the best paid fullback in the world. Cole was just an extremely greedy rat.

Yeah, as I understood it he wanted a 5k a week wage for his agent. The club quite rightly said they would pay this but it would be coming from his wage (much like you might have something like health insurance paid straight from your salary for convenience instead of having to organise payment separately) since the agent was his employee. But he felt the club should be paying the agent on top of that. Not even sure it would have been within the rules for the club to have an agent on its payroll.

Thought we were getting the better of the deal at the time and I like Gallas as a defender initially, but obviously it all went wrong in the end.

Clrnc wrote:

Absolutely disagree. Gallas was a great defender and he performed really well for us. People keep talking about the Birmingham incident but other than that he was all positive.

I am sure 90% of the Arsenal fans were happy with that deal because Gallas was easily one of the best central defenders at that time.

When at Chelsea he threatened to score an own goal if he didn't get his way, Jerome Rothen has described in his book how Gallas used to steal from other players bags Diaby has corroborated this, he was hated by the other players wherever he went utter utter cunt of a human being.

I thought it was a poor deal. Real poor.

5m plus a player turning 30 less than 12 months later for a 25 year old player coming into his prime who was the best in his position.

Gallas wasn't even a first choice CB at Chelsea those days.

Clrnc wrote:

Absolutely disagree. Gallas was a great defender and he performed really well for us. People keep talking about the Birmingham incident but other than that he was all positive.

It was not "all positive" he never gelled with another defender here. I can remember him getting making some real howlers in his time too. And I don't remember any great defensive performances, more just games where he'd score a goal and people would rave about him. By the time Vermaelen joined we were so used to Gallas super low level of performances we all thought TV was the second coming.

Gunner89 wrote:

Cole shouldn't have done that but all former players accounts I've read that he was let down by the board regarding the wages.

From what I understand the problem was a petty dispute between the board and his agent. He wanted £60k a week which the board were willing to offer. His agent wanted £5k a week on top of that. The club turned around and offered the agent £5k and Cole £55k. I think the agent turned around and told Cole they hadn't honoured their word and he felt quite upset as to why they would not honour what they had agreed. Dein was a very smooth operator and I'm very surprised under his watch things escalated the way they did. He was to blame as well as others in this whole mess. He should have never left, it was a big fuck up by both sides, over such a minor amount as well. Especially for a guy who was probably the best LB in the world at the time, absolutely ludicrous how that all went down.

Fantastic Mr.Fox wrote:

L'Equipe saying Cech deal is close.

Lets hope so! I believe they are reporting that PSG have pulled their interest as Cech wants an Arsenal move.

Fantastic Mr.Fox wrote:

L'Equipe saying Cech deal is close.

kike the other day, lequipe today, rozzas sly comments, maureen copping pleas in the press. im inclined to think something is afoot here

They say PSG have given up trying to sign him cos he hearts us

... has anyone actually seen this story in l'equipe? I don't see it anywhere.

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

... has anyone actually seen this story in l'equipe? I don't see it anywhere.

Gazza M wrote:
Fantastic Mr.Fox wrote:

L'Equipe saying Cech deal is close.

kike the other day, lequipe today, rozzas sly comments, maureen copping pleas in the press. im inclined to think something is afoot here

There's no doubt we're in for him now and that he wants to play for us.

Mourinho is literally the only sticking point and imo I think he'll give in eventually.

Gunner89 wrote:
Pepe LeFrits wrote:

... has anyone actually seen this story in l'equipe? I don't see it anywhere.

Ty.

Conditional tense - not exactly houseboat, but not much to get excited about yet.

I would be a bit disappointed if we sign Cech because I still have faith in our Pole.

He may had stinker of a season but as the FA Cup final showed a fully committed and concentrated Wojech can still be a decent option for us.

Plus, he is Arsenal through and through and 25 is no age for a keeper.

Really, really think Cech is damaged goods and his signing will prove to be more harm than good.

Alfonso wrote:

I would be a bit disappointed if we sign Cech because I still have faith in our Pole.

He may had stinker of a season but as the FA Cup final showed a fully committed and concentrated Wojech can still be a decent option for us.

Plus, he is Arsenal through and through and 25 is no age for a keeper.

Really, really think Cech is damaged goods and his signing will prove to be more harm than good.

Same, I want Chez to stay and play a prominent role at Arsenal.

He's an immature wally. Wanting him over Cech would be barmy.

Can't see it myself either. Also think Cech is being severely underrated here. He's been one of the best goalkeepers in the world for over a decade. We'd be so lucky to have him.

Alfonso wrote:

I would be a bit disappointed if we sign Cech because I still have faith in our Pole.

He may had stinker of a season but as the FA Cup final showed a fully committed and concentrated Wojech can still be a decent option for us.

Plus, he is Arsenal through and through and 25 is no age for a keeper.

Really, really think Cech is damaged goods and his signing will prove to be more harm than good.

I tend to agree Alf. And I think Cech is quite overrated. I mean he's a good keeper but he's not what he used to be and I don't see him making any major difference at the back for us. He was on par with Woj for the 13/14 season but both had their problems this season. I'd be inclined to back Szczesny and Ospina to battle it out unless someone truly world class was available.

signing cech would be a sign of the ruthlessness we've wanted from wenger - effectively consigning one of his babes to number 2 for the forseeable future. i was all for woj getting 1 more shot, but he's going to have to earn it the hard way. i can see him sticking around, and stepping in when cech is winding down in a couple of years.

Gazza M wrote:

signing cech would be a sign of the ruthlessness we've wanted from wenger - effectively consigning one of his babes to number 2 for the forseeable future.

I think that's partly why I want this to happen. Cech is perhaps not the best keeper in the league any more, nor on a completely different level compared to what we've got, but he's undoubtedly better than both Ospina and Szczesny. And we need improvement, even if it's 20% here and 30% there. The difference doesn't have to be night and day. Replacing Gibbs with Monreal improved us this season. Replacing Szczesny with Ospina improved us. Replacing Debuchy with Bellerin improved us. All those impovements together made us a lot better collectively. Now it's time to take it one step further, instead of being content with what we've got. That's how you improve a team.

Exactly, there were a fair few who didn't want us to sign Sanchez last summer because they felt the money could be better spent elsewhere and because most of us anticipated Podolski, Chamberlain, Walcott, Ozil, Ramsey and Wilshere playing a bigger role this season. And that made sense - at the time.

It's quite hard to plan exactly how a season goes and any sensible signing like Cech should be welcomed with open arms. So what if he fails? If we're so keen on replicating the likes of Manchester City, United and Chelsea we need to be less loyal to our players and take more chances. People give United grief for Falcao but, in truth, it was a gamble worth taking and it was a smart move. And now that we have some decent squad depth, I'm in favour of just signing top players in whatever position we can sign them because even a DM and a solid RB changed our fortunes dramatically this season.

At the very least it sends a message to the squad that the expectations of this club are higher that they used to be. The signings of Ozil and Sanchez did that, I'm sure signing Cech will send the same message.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Can't see it myself either. Also think Cech is being severely underrated here. He's been one of the best goalkeepers in the world for over a decade. We'd be so lucky to have him.

He'd be rejuvenated in a new setting and would have a point to prove as well. I'd like a keeper with better distribution but apart from that I'd be over the moon.