Sad that we've lost a great player, make no mistake, one of the very best I've seen play for Arsenal. Right up there with Bergkamp and Henry for me. However, I accepted the fact he wants to go a while back, and, frankly, I couldn't care less abut him now. Once you leave Arsenal you're a non-entity to me. I wish him neither good luck or bad luck, he's just another footballer now. Felt the same way about Henry until very recently at the Emirates Cup, and even that quickly passed.

Onwards and upwards, I choose to concentrate on the players who are here.

qs! wrote:

RC8 wrote:

He made it as easy as he could for us to get a large sum of money

Completely disagree with that point.

"He made it as easy as he could for us to get a large sum of money while securing a move to the club he's always been a fan of"

They could have gotten him for free if he'd come out and claimed he was a 'slave' and whatnot. We were not in a strong position to negotiate much like Ligue 1 clubs aren't when we take their players for next to nothing thanks to our French connection.

Barcelona don't need him, and probably wouldn't be getting him right now if not for the fact he used to play for them and is a proud catalan.

Gotten him for free? What you on about?

Until the last 3 months he behaved very well. My only gripe was that he was not doing more to to tell Xavi and his friends to shut up, and who knows if those arrogant assholes can be reasoned with anyway.
Look at guys like Adebayor or even Nasri with his United comments to see how players can make life hard for you.

In relative terms, for the price he is going for he might as well be free. It's an insult.

He's been completely unreasonable in demanding a move to a club that cant afford his full asking price. Then he's behaved appallingly for the last 3 months. Maintaining a 'dignified' silence, as captain when the club has been under attack is simply not good enough. The Forumula 1 incident, The Emirates walkout, being a complete absentee throughout pre-season...never thought I'd see Cesc stoop so low to be honest.

You have no idea what Cesc will be sold for. My guess is the cunts finally have ponied up the dosh.

Caligula wrote:

Look at guys like Adebayor or even Nasri with his United comments to see how players can make life hard for you.

At least that pair are/were prepared to leave us for a mutually benficial club and offer, which has been the whole problem with this Cesc bollox.

If he'd said that wanted to go back to Spain for one of the big 2 he'd have got his move last summer, we'd have got a proper fee for him and he'd still be viewed with the upmost respect by all Arsenal fans.

Humble Rex wrote:

You have no idea what Cesc will be sold for. My guess is the cunts finally have ponied up the dosh.

£40 million you mean? That's still at least £10 million short of what he's worth on the open market.

Arsenal have never said what their figure is, it's all just speculation. If we've finally wilted, I reckon it's because they've finally made us a decent offer.

You guys are just being mad now. He wanted to go to Barca and nowhere else. There was no way for us to credibly inflate his price because of that. People who thought we would get 40 or 50m straight up from Barca are living in a dream world. Our only hope would have been dealing with LaPorta, not Rossell and his more business-minded team

Cali, don't we all think that the club at present is run too much like a business and not enough as a football club? From a business point of view it is ALWAYS a poor decision selling a player of Cesc's worth for less than you demand if he has 4 years left on his contract.

Now, I don't know how much we have demanded for Cesc, but neither does anybody else. If Cesc goes I feel pretty certain that we at least are getting what we have demanded.

The thing about worth is it's simply an opinion. Especially when there's only one of that exact product on the market.

In Barca's opinion, the only team in the open market, he's worth 30 million quid. Personally, I feel he's not worth more than 40 million quid.

Look how many of you are banging on about how he's not won anything here, he's a cunt, he's not even THAT great, our players will be greater bla bla bla.

It's not Barca's fault that Madrid haven't come in for a bid.

"Barcelona...the only team in the open market"

That's an oxymoron, mate. And it's Cesc's fault that Madrid havn't come in with a bid.

No way we are selling for less than what we are asking for. Personally I believe the discussions of late have been about how much the cunts are paying up front.

All this 'only dealing with one buyer so you have to accept a cut price' is nonsense. Ronaldo would only go to Real Madrid and United waited until they got an offer they couldn't refuse. And Barca paid crazy money for Ibrahimovic even though no one else was really in for him.

Tim wrote:

"Barcelona...the only team in the open market"

That's an oxymoron, mate. And it's Cesc's fault that Madrid havn't come in with a bid.

An open market is when anyone can come in and bid as I understand it.

Have Arsenal confirmed that he can only go to Barca? No, so as far as I am concerned, Stenhousmuir can come in with a bid.

Cesc has told Wenger that that's where he wants to go only. But ultimately it's Arsenal's decision to sell.

Nela wrote:

All this 'only dealing with one buyer so you have to accept a cut price' is nonsense. Ronaldo would only go to Real Madrid and United waited until they got an offer they couldn't refuse. And Barca paid crazy money for Ibrahimovic even though no one else was really in for him.

It's not a cut price.

It's just a price.

It is not a supermarket where all ribena cartons are £1.50 or whatever.

There's cesc, with no original fee attached. Then a team comes along and names its price. Then we say yes or no.

The club has handled the whole situation horribly.