By Fab4.
All Arsenal fans are dreading the day that captain Cesc Fabregas leaves the Emirates. We all know he will return back to Spain at some stage in his career, it’s just a case of when not if. Barcelona is the obvious destination for Fabregas and the Catalans have once again been linked with a big money move this summer, with Yaya Toure being touted as a possible sweetener in any deal.
Today’s latest transfer rumour is that Arsene Wenger will look to sign Everton’s Mikel Arteta should Fabregas leave this summer. Now there are not many Arsenal fans who appreciate Fabregas more than me, but if he does leave we could a lot worse than getting Arteta as a replacement. The Spaniard is highly under-rated in my opinion and it’s amazing how he’s continually over-looked by his country, or perhaps it’s just an example of how strong Spain are that they can’t find a place for him in their squad. Arteta has premiership experience, great vision, scorers goals and is good on set-pieces. He’s 28-years old which may be a problem for some and he’s just over-coming a serious knee injury so there could be doubts about his long-term fitness and the last thing Arsenal need is another injury prone player. But if he passed strict medical checks and the deal was right, Arteta would be a great replacement for Fabregas should he leave.
It’s no secret that Arsenal could also do with a big strong defensive midfielder, and Yaya Toure has been a long term target for Wenger so again, if Fabregas had to leave, it would be good to get Toure in as part of any deal. If we could get £35m plus Toure from Barca for Fabregas, then use £12m-£14m to buy Arteta we would be left with over £20m in change to strengthen the squad further.
Losing your best player is never seen as making progress, but sometimes sacrificing a player is in the best interest of the squad. Fabregas’s sale should make Arsenal over £50m in today’s market. With that kind of money we could easily get four players that would make us stronger than we are now with Cesc.
Out: Fabregas (£55m)
In: Toure (£15), Arteta (£13m), Hart (£10m), Hangeland (11m)
Arsenal’s squad would certainly be stronger with those changes. This isn’t even taking in to account the £30m transfer budget Wenger apparently already has this summer, so we could even look at bringing in a marque player as well. I’m not for one minute saying this is what Arsene should be doing, i want Fabregas to stay at Arsenal for as long as possible, but if he does leave then getting Toure and Arteta in as well as having cash left over would be a decent deal for Arsenal.
*** UPDATE*** Since publishing this article i have recieved a few comments questioning my thinking. So just to clarify a few points:
- I want Fabregas to stay at Arsenal for as long as possible, he is our best player and the heartbeat of the team.
- However, Fabregas WILL leave Arsenal at some stage in his career whether Arsenal fans like it or not.
- When he does we should use the funds from the sale to strengthen the SQUAD.
- We have a valuable asset in Cesc, and when he leaves if we use the funds correctly i feel our SQUAD will be stronger than it is now.
- This is a hypothetical situation, i am suggesting players we could buy if Fabregas left this summer.
- Silvestre, Senderos, possibly Gallas and Campbell will be off the wage bill, covering the wages of the new players.
What do Arsenal fans think Wenger should do ‘if’ Fabregas left this summer? Please leave your comments below…
