The fact is we have been limited to 2 choices, keep an unhappy player or take Barca's money. Clearly if the player was going to play at his maximum then you will want more money, however Cesc is putting us in a position where he can force our hand on the price we will accept from Barca.

You cannot say the price we want is the market price.

Otherwise we might as well say we will sell him for £100m only.

What we're willing to sell for and what they're willing to buy for must be agreed upon.

It looks like it has now so £35m or whatever it is is the price.

Tony, just drop it already. You are as wrong as one can possibly be on this issue.

Yeah, I don't see where you're coming from at all Tony. Doesn't make any sense.

The other thing is.

Cesc has only wanted to go to Barca if he was to get out of Arsenal. We all knew that.

So we can't say he has depressed his value when really he would never have been open to moving anywhere else other than Barca.

Humble Rex wrote:

Tony, just drop it already. You are as wrong as one can possibly be on this issue.

Not really.

How much is he really worth and why?

On Arse.com now. It´s official.

asajoseph wrote:

Fuck this then.

Fuck what exactly?

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger said: "We have been clear that we didn't want Cesc to leave and that remains the case. However, we understand Cesc's desire to move to his home town club and have now accepted an offer from Barcelona. We thank Cesc for his contribution at Arsenal and wish him future success."

Pretty terse by Arsene's standards.

Bloody hell. It's no surprise, but what a shame.

Arsenal announces today that they have reached an agreement in principle with Barcelona for Cesc Fabregas to move to Spain.

It signals the end of the midfielder's eight-year spell at Arsenal. Fabregas joined the Club from Barcelona as a 16-year-old in September 2003 and made 303 appearances, scoring 57 goals in all competitions.

He holds the records for the youngest Arsenal first team player (16 years and 177 days v Rotherham United (h), 28 October 2003) and the youngest Arsenal first team goalscorer (16 years and 212 days v Wolves (h), 2 December, 2003).

Named as Arsenal Captain in November 2008, Fabregas also became a regular in the Spain national team, making 58 appearances to date.

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger said: "We have been clear that we didn't want Cesc to leave and that remains the case. However, we understand Cesc's desire to move to his home town club and have now accepted an offer from Barcelona. We thank Cesc for his contribution at Arsenal and wish him future success."

The transfer is subject to the completion of formal legal agreements and registration processes, together with Fabregas agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.

Hope they caved and not us. I would like to think that what has been holding this up is how much of what we have been demanding they are to pay up front.

😆 would love it if he failed the medical!

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger said: "We have been clear that we didn't want Cesc to leave and that remains the case. However, we understand Cesc's desire to move to his home town club and have now accepted an offer from Barcelona. We thank Cesc for his contribution at Arsenal and wish him future success."

Come across as a little bitter. Fairly obvious that Cesc has forced it this summer.

Cheers Cesc, you were class at old trafford once and again in the san siro. Adios indeed.

The end then, sad.
It's all over SSN now.

From Wenger's Q&A with John Cross on July 12th

Q: How important is it you emerge from the window with a stronger and bigger squad?

Arsene Wenger: I believe for us it is important that the message we give out - for example you see about Fabregas leaving, Nasri leaving - if you give that message out you cannot pretend you are a big club.

Because a big club first of all holds onto its big players and gives a message out to all the other big clubs that they just cannot come in and take away from you.
We worked very hard with these players for years to develop them and now it's a time for us to keep them together.
And it's not just about the window because before it closes you have huge games like Man United, Liverpool, Newcastle and the two Champions League games.
For us it is important that the team settles psychologically as quickly as possible because we have a tough start.

We've gone from that to him announcing yesterday, the first day of the season that we are in "no man's land" as regards both players and now today the official announcement about Cesc.

😆 happy day for you Capi?

Humble Rex wrote:

😆 happy day for you Capi?

Nah, not that bothered.