By Guest Writer Patrick Langridge.
It seems like every summer Arsenal seem to go through the same transfer merry-go-round like no other top European side. ‘Will ‘Player X’ leave and join a better team to win more trophies?’ You can insert Viera, Henry, Hleb, Flamini, Adebayor and Toure in where necessary. While the aforementioned players’ departures were disappointing and sad, there has always been a sense that Arsene knows best. Have all those players been past their best? Maybe. Have they all gone on to do bigger and better things? Certainly not.
Henry had spent a long time in North London and his dream move to Barca was inevitable – most fans were surprised we kept him as along as we did, Viera’s post Arsenal career has been plagued by injury and bad form, Hleb is now back in Germany (nuff said?), Flamini’s great potential has been warming Milan’s bench, and if I’m being kind then Adebayor and Toure have both been inconsistent in their first season away from Arsenal. Generally you can see that Le Boss has a decent record when it comes to letting players go, but he must not let Cesc Fabregas become part of that list.
If you believe what the papers are saying, then Cesc flew into London on Tuesday to tell Wenger that he wants to join Barcelona. The Spainish sport papers are know for their mischief making, not to mention the ridiculous presidential system whereby some bloke with loads of money says, ‘elect me and I’ll buy Villa and Cesc’ – see Florentino Perez last summer at Real Madrid. But this time it seems different, it’s the first time that Cesc has gone public with his desire to leave and rejoin his boyhood club. We knew this day would come, but we hoped it would be in another 4/5 years, not now, no, please not now Cesc. He is contracted to the club until 2015 I believe, and Wenger has to be strong and tell him he’s not going anywhere.
Arsenal are in a strong financial position with no need to sell, there are decent funds available to strengthen the squad this summer, and Cesc is integral to the future of this football club. Le Boss will probably have to offer a pay rise, he’ll have to outline his own future (Wenger’s contract has 1 year left to run), and he’ll have to say ‘we’re gonna buy the Chamakhattack, Akinfeev, De Rossi and Mexes, and we’re gonna win the league next season.’ If he really does want to leave then no, he won’t be very pleased about being made to stay, but no-one put a gun to his head to sign that contract, he chose to commit to this club and be paid handsomely for it.
Managers don’t like to make a habit of keeping unhappy players around, but Wenger has be strong this time, he has to, dare I say it, do a bit of a Fergie. As much as I hate them, you never hear this kind of thing happening at Utd. Ronaldo went last year for £80million, but that was Fergies call. He’ll be disappointed but I’m convinced that by September 1st when the transfer window is shut, he’s a professional who will get his head down, play his genius football and the prospect of losing the heartbeat of our club will safe, for another year at least.
Do Arsenal fans think Arsene Wenger should refuse to sell Fabregas? Please leave your comments below…
See more Arsenal transfer news here
