Earlier today Arsene Wenger hosted a press conference at the club’s London Colney training ground in the run-up to our first game of the season away at Newcastle and addressed a number of the stories regarding the supposed imminent departure of both Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona and Samir Nasri to Manchester City – these are excerpts from the press conference regarding these two players.
On whether Fabregas and Nasri will travel to Newcastle:
“Fabregas is not in the squad and Nasri certainly not, I will decide that today. He [Nasri] went for the national team, he was sick, and he has not completely recovered yet.”
On whether he expects either player to leave:
“I expect nobody to leave the club,” [so you believe both players will stay at the club?] “That’s a good conclusion from my statement.”
On the news that negotiations with Barcelona are finishing:
“I believe the best for us one day before the championship starts is not to focus on the possible transfers – I can not say it will never happen and I can not say it will happen. At the moment there is no news to give you and if we have any news to give you I promise we will do it.
“What we want today is to focus on the players who play tomorrow and not on the players who do not play. The players who can help the club to achieve performances are more important than the players who don’t.”
On the progress made in the transfer window:
“We have a big squad and you know, we do not decide exactly [how you spend]. The demand to bring in some players are very high – I am not the only one working on that, we are a complete team, examining absolutely everything on the international transfer market and the fact that big clubs come and try to get our players is because they look as well, and they do not find, so it’s not as easy as people think it is.”
On the behaviour of Cesc and Samir:
“My personal feelings are not important. What is important is the club and how well we do. I have not been disappointed with Cesc’s attitude and not my Samir Nasri’s attitude. They are professionals; I take nothing personally.”
On the transfer speculation:
“The transfer speculation is disruptive but that is not an excuse – we have to deal with that: that’s part of our job. People come in and out, what’s important is that people are focused on achieving things for this club.”
On whether or not he is resigned to losing both players:
“We will decide and I will decide what is best for the club. The first quality of a player is to have talent and the second is want to play with you. It’s very difficult to demand full commitment – we are here for this club and to give absolutely everything to achieve things but that is only possible if you want to do it.”
On the message it sends if we lose both players:
“I did enough to bring them here and develop them. Overall the message we want to give is to have a fully committed team on the pitch and [even if] the players who are not on the pitch can not show commitment, what’s important is that the players who play for this club give 100%. We have more quality, we have enough quality to deal with any situation that we decide.”
On whether Arsenal are a big club if they leave:
“That’s a short-cut that is difficult to accept. Manchester United let Ronaldo go, you think they are not a big club?”
Submitted by clockendview – just another Arsenal blog
