Claudius wrote:

Did you guys watch Barca Cesc? The guy was butter. He just had issues owning a position amongst Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. But within those constraints he was every bit as good as the player we saw here. This Cesc sucked at Barca narrative belongs on Fox News.

In my opinion, Cesc peaked in 2006-2008 - even by the time he left Arsenal, we'd fashioned him into a number 10 hybrid that made him a match winner but a lesser footballer. Maybe it's a personal preference but for those two years prior to Hleb and Flamini leaving, Fabregas pretty much dominated every single midfield through pure technique. I haven't seen many players do that at such a young age.

Moving him further forward made him lose that side of his game (although he briefly recaptured it for a few months at Chelsea).

Mirth wrote:

Claudius wrote:

Did you guys watch Barca Cesc? The guy was butter. He just had issues owning a position amongst Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. But within those constraints he was every bit as good as the player we saw here. This Cesc sucked at Barca narrative belongs on Fox News.

In my opinion, Cesc peaked in 2006-2008 - even by the time he left Arsenal, we'd fashioned him into a number 10 hybrid that made him a match winner but a lesser footballer. Maybe it's a personal preference but for those two years prior to Hleb and Flamini leaving, Fabregas pretty much dominated every single midfield through pure technique. I haven't seen many players do that at such a young age.

Moving him further forward made him lose that side of his game (although he briefly recaptured it for a few months at Chelsea).

Point being that he did so as a CM and not as CAM.
Whilst his goals as CAM were invaluable the reality was that by moving him AW undermined the midfield and team for the next decade as he never got it sorted.  IMO the perfect opportunity to rectify that error was when he signed AA, but he then played him wide instead of CAM and moving Fabregas back to CM.  The issue could/should have been sorted within the first season but AW knew better.

Mirth wrote:

Moving him further forward made him lose that side of his game (although he briefly recaptured it for a few months at Chelsea).

I don't think we wanted to do it to be fair. Cesc just evolved that way as a footballer and you couldn't really shoehorn him into a midfield base after a certain point. Guardiola and Mourinho failed to get him to play in central midfield too. They couldn't use him there in the national team either.

To be honest, bloke had one of the best final balls in the world so I get why he wanted to play further forward. I never thought it made him a lesser player. It made him a lesser midfielder for sure, but he was effectively a forward and not a CM from around 2009 and onwards - and a good one too. Like most special players he needed special partners though. Matic at Chelsea worked out for a brief time. This was back when Matic played like Ngolo Kante with the technique of De Bruyne despite being built like Sol Campbell. He was absolutely unplayable the year Chelsea won Premier League with Mourinho.

Yep, and in fairness, Barcelona went with that approach as well to the detriment of their own team.

Absolutely. Wasn't a fan of his game from 2009 onwards.

The way Mourinho used him the first year he went back to Chelsea was perfect. Sitting deep and spreading passes around while having another DM cover your ass. He is best as a DLP, average as a number 10 and ineffective as false 9.

I agree that the fee we got for him is pathetic though considering he was one of the best out there. Not to mention we allowed Barca to pay in installments.

Calling Cesc an average player in his time with us in which ever position is a bit much in my opinion. He moved further up to cover for his defensive weakness, harness his goal scoring potential and take full advantage of his final ball. We did all of that. It's not his fault that we persisted with Denilson, Diaby and Song behind him.

Modric went to Madrid a year later for more or less the same fee.

Ray wrote:

Modric went to Madrid a year later for more or less the same fee.

Yes, but you couldn’t compare Cesc and Modric at all. Modric has been a good player, but he never dominated big games for Spurs, never ever was anyone scared of him running a match.

Cesc ran games for us regularly.

At both of their times of leaving, Cesc had done far more in the Premier League than Modric.

fresh off the presses: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/32461/11752748/arsenal-launch-40m-bid-for-crystal-palace-forward-wilfried-zaha

Hahaha great banter of a bid

I'm already getting WhatsApp trolled over this...

Embarrassing unless Raul knows something we don't about Palace's willingness to sell. Would worry that even at this price, we're looking to shift one of our big players (ie. Aubameyang or Xhaka).

Don Pacifico wrote:

I'm already getting WhatsApp trolled over this...

Embarrassing unless Raul knows something we don't about Palace's willingness to sell. Would worry that even at this price, we're looking to shift one of our big players (ie. Aubameyang or Xhaka).

I have been murdered on WhatsApp before I even knew we made the bid

Xhaka out is fine, but if we sell Aubameyang to bring in Zaha, then we might as well give up now.

I actually think £40m is closer to being a fair valuation than 60m. I'm not sure I'd even go for Zaha at that price, but I certainly wouldn't go any higher unless it's in the form of performance related add-ons. If Palace don't want to sell for less than £80m or something equally ridiculous that's on them.

maybe they want mkh and mustafi too in a player swap? those 2 are valued at £60m*

• lmao

Porny has spoken.

Don Pacifico wrote:

I'm already getting WhatsApp trolled over this...

Embarrassing unless Raul knows something we don't about Palace's willingness to sell. Would worry that even at this price, we're looking to shift one of our big players (ie. Aubameyang or Xhaka).

Looks like we're banking on zahas camp to force palace to the table. Could work,  or could backfire hugely

Give them mkhi, musti, + 40m

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert wrote:

Porny has spoken.

And..? 

Gazza M wrote:

Don Pacifico wrote:

I'm already getting WhatsApp trolled over this...

Embarrassing unless Raul knows something we don't about Palace's willingness to sell. Would worry that even at this price, we're looking to shift one of our big players (ie. Aubameyang or Xhaka).

Looks like we're banking on zahas camp to force palace to the table. Could work,  or could backfire hugely

Classic Sanllehi Barca tactics. Just need Auba and Laca to force an Arsenal shirt on him.

Make sense, barca often bank on the player going on strike for a cut price deal like cesc. Sky sports also reporting Zaha unlikely to train with palace again, determined to force the move through

Bet we don’t get this done.

Clrnc wrote:

Make sense, barca often bank on the player going on strike for a cut price deal like cesc. Sky sports also reporting Zaha unlikely to train with palace again, determined to force the move through

i criticized barca for this bullshit, and i dont want arsenal doing the same thing. its scummy. it sucks.

I think we will. It’ll be £45m plus add ons. Recon we’ll sell a couple but management will be prepared to increase our budget

mdgoonah41 wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Make sense, barca often bank on the player going on strike for a cut price deal like cesc. Sky sports also reporting Zaha unlikely to train with palace again, determined to force the move through

i criticized barca for this bullshit, and i dont want arsenal doing the same thing. its scummy. it sucks.

Agree but we are beggars now we have no chance if we dont do this. We have been the victim of so many of such shite maybe it's time to be the unscrupulous one now.

As I speak Zaha just scored

Raul is the type of wily, dirty bastard needed to get this done IMO.

mdgoonah41 wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Make sense, barca often bank on the player going on strike for a cut price deal like cesc. Sky sports also reporting Zaha unlikely to train with palace again, determined to force the move through

i criticized barca for this bullshit, and i dont want arsenal doing the same thing. its scummy. it sucks.

In fairness what Barca did was very different. The campaign to lure Cesc spanned over two season, with countless public comments from their players and management. 

Making a bid purely to stir things up is still pretty underhand but ultimately it's on Zaha as to how he chooses to conduct himself. 

We'll definitely have to the throw in players if we want to get it done. Chambers is one that jumps out as palace have been interested previously

Gazza M wrote:

We'll definitely have to the throw in players if we want to get it done.  Chambers is one that jumps out as palace have been interested previously

what if we give them xhaka, mustafi, mkh, and ozil? do they have anyone else that we could use?

Will be rejected & is getting predictably ugly.

Don't you just love Arsenal.

Wilfried Zaha’s brother Judicael has told Sky Sports News: ‘Wilfried will always hold Crystal Palace and their fans in the highest regard and all the support they've given means the world to him. It’s my brother’s dream though, to play for Arsenal.
Given all Wilfried has given to Palace to help them remain a PL club, I hope Palace will be able to see their way to agreeing a deal with Arsenal that allows Wilfried to realise his dream of playing European Football for the club he’s supported since childhood

Michael Bridge- Those asking me if I think Zaha will go. Answer - I don’t know. Given the bid, the statement from his brother, the price of Wan-Bissaka...I see this getting messy, which is a shame. #CPFC #AFC

James Olley
Only way I can see #afc getting even close to a deal #cpfc might accept for Zaha is by offering player(s) + cash or offloading a couple elsewhere to boost funds. Player’s desire to move may help bridge the gap a little but they are miles apart as things stand.

Michael Bridge from Sky is Tier 1 for Palace.

#AFC are willing to include 1 or 2 players to get Zaha’s deal over the line as per B/R journalist Dean Jones(Bleacher Report).

Wonder if we can then give Xhaka to United to make up for the 25% cut they won't be getting. This could be the greatest transfer in history.

Don’t like how this is going to be honest.

We should just target another winger, and first sort out all of the waste in the squad

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

MistaT wrote:

Isn’t United’s cut only 25%?

I like Zaha, but I’d agree with the assessment that he’s not worth more than £50m, if that. Any chance Palace would take £40m and one of Chambers / Nketiah / Nelson?

Personally, i don't want him if Manu get 20m cash for nothing.
Your post has me wondering if they could screw Manu by swapping players.
We give them all our unwanted players and they can pass Ozil on to utd as the 25% payment saving themselves the £350k a week wages.

mdgoonah41 wrote:

Gazza M wrote:

We'll definitely have to the throw in players if we want to get it done.  Chambers is one that jumps out as palace have been interested previously

what if we give them xhaka, mustafi, mkh, and ozil? do they have anyone else that we could use?

Full circle to page 1 of the thread.

Clrnc wrote:

Hahaha great banter of a bid

If you hadn't followed transfer news and the dumbass valuations from Palace would you really say 40m is a banter bid? Zaha had his big move couple years back, failed and got back to a level where another big club would take a punt. That type of transfer would fall under shrewd business for some 15-20m outside of England, a record of 10 EPL goals however means he should be made our record signing (and the most expensive within England too I think?) - all that with a dodgy injury record to boot

Dont even hold it against Palace they do what's in their interest, I hold it against Don's WhatsApp muppets hooked on Jim White with his hideous fucking Deadline Day neckties

It's in Palace's interest to do a player swap, less they have to give to Utd.

I would definitely not consider this a bargain at 40m. Just because Palace says he is worth something doesn't make him worth that much to others.

£40 Mn for Zaha considered a banter bid. What a world. I don't mind us really going after a player, even playing a little dirty, enough of being too nice as a club. Just doesn't feel right that it's for Wilfried Zaha.