Unnamed Source - Fabregas to Leave Arsenal

According to the BBC, an unnamed person at Arsenal has said that they will have to sell Fab if Barca come back with a better bid (soz in work can't get link at moment).

Considering this is an unnamed source (or sauce if you will), and an unnamed source close to Arsenal says Wenger is God (I'm the unnamed source in this case, I always keep Arsenal close), doesn't make it true. Especially as it flies in the face of what Kroenke and particulalry Wenger has stated.

This just seems to be a very poor piece of reporting on the BBC's part...

"Barcelona's latest bid is reported to be around £27m, well short of Arsenal's valuation of more than £40m." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13928823.stm

Barcelona are being very arrogant in all of this.

Their attitude is that they are in the driving seat and will offer what they think he is worth rather than discussing with Arsenal and meeting somewhere between the two valuations.

Just because they don't have alot of money at the moment they don't have to meet other clubs valuations? No, that isn't how it works -- he has 4 years on his contract and Arsenal aren't desperate for the cash. Play the game or don't buy him...simple, no?

And it's more likely to be Don't buy him.
Which won't make much difference to Barce as they have a pretty amazing midfield as it is. But this is mostly newspaper hot air, and the fact that all these 'leaked' quotes make Barce appear to have more power than they have and makes their fans happy - even if it makes them appear classless to the rest of Europe.

Cheers for the link Derby Blue

I think they know that Fabregas wants to leave Arsenal, so they think if they put in a fairly good bid, Fabregas will ask to leave and Arsenal will probably sell him rather than keeping an under par and unhappy player on their books.

Interesting to see that Fabs mug isn't being used to promote the new Arsenal kit (what have they done to the badge for F*&!s sake), but then most of the players are young, Walcott, Gibbs, Wiltshire (who seems to be the poster boy), and only 1 pic of RVP and Song.

Papers are making out like this means he's def off, and while it's not a good sign, it could be coz they don't want to promote any player with a ? mark over their heads, Arshavin, Bendtner, Fab, Clichy or Nasri - and lets face it you'd expect Nasri, Clichy and Fab to be there...

Well as club captain, you'd expect Fabregas to be the focal point of these sorts of things. But I can see why they haven't included him -- how stupid would it look if he then left?

I don't think it's necessarily resignation to the fact...but it isn't far off.

Is it Vermaelen, Gibbs, Wilshire, Ramsey and Szczesny in this video promoting the kit? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpI0ri7mF6I&feature=player_embedded

It could be that the reason these players are being used is that Arsenal feel these are the young players who will soon be the core players around which they will be building their future squads. Sure as the club captain Fabregas should be involved however this is a guy who their are hundreds of rumours about him leaving including stories that if they offer £40million he's going if this is true it looks fairly stupid to use a player who could be soon leaving the club to promote the club.

Sell him.....and get £34m for him.

Arsenal have Wilshire and Ramsey coming through nicely....plus any further signings.

PLus if the stories are true and your about to sign Samba and Cahill, that'll sort your defence out.

They have put a new bid 35 million and that will probably seal the transfer.

Mark - I think that would make sense, though some fans may question why every time Arsenal get a squad together that can get close to winning the league key players leave.
Cesc, Nasri and Clichy if you believe all the reports.
Of course £75m or whatever they go for is important but these have all learnt the Arsenal way in the years they've been with the club, whoever Wenger buys will be massively inflated because clubs know he'll be desperate, and they'll need time, so 11/12 would appear to be yet another building year.
Personally I don't have an issue with it, but I know they'll be plenty of Arsenal fans who will....

The way Barcelona are carrying on reminds me of the way Liverpool dealt with the Gareth Barry situation and we all know how that ended . Will Arsenal hold out for the reported 44 million they want probably not but id want 35 million plus a player Jeffren , Thiago maybe .

KINGKENNY7HEAVEN wrote:The way Barcelona are carrying on reminds me of the way Liverpool dealt with the Gareth Barry situation and we all know how that ended . Will Arsenal hold out for the reported 44 million they want probably not but id want 35 million plus a player Jeffren , Thiago maybe .

If I'm not mistaken I believe Bojan is supposedly looking to leave Barcelona in the search for first team football, but I'm not sure how true that is. You will in the future have the same issue you currently have with Fabregas if you take a player from Barcelona as part of the deal, eventually they will get fed up of coming close but not winning anything and then they'll want to go back to Barcelona.

More importantly, any player Barca are prepared to release as part of the deal means they don't consider to be one of their top 4 defenders/midfielders/forwards.
Whilst this means they'll probably strengthen the Arsenal team it doesn't bode well for any assualt on Europe, and given Man Utd have been humiliated twice in 3 seasons by Barca just how far will Englands best be falling behind the powerhouse that is Barca ?

It's a good point Grizzly, but I suppose it depends how determined Barcelona are to get Fabregas the more determined they are the more likely they'll give you a better player. It's probably not just down to how good they are in the current squad they'll be looking at how soon their younger players can make the step up.

Didn't Arsenal beat Barcelona this season? It's not as if Barcelona are miles ahead at some point they will have to start to replace some of their key players but that's probably not for a few years.

Derby - Barca are light years ahead.
Arsenal beat them (I was fortunate enough to be there) when we were in our best run of form (just before the wheels fell off !) and had most of our players fit, we played very very well on the night but Barca were still the better team and controlled the game for long periods.
We scored 2 late goals when they were tiring IMO.

I think the Cesc signing is more a statement. They don't need him, they already have better, but it shows the world the 'pull' the club has on it's players past and present.
It's a well oiled business - no-one ever says they're unhappy there, players only ever have good things to say about the club, being able to prize Cesc away from the club that made him would send out a huge message, and if no-one else in world football cares about the statement you can bet your life Real Madrid will be looking on in envy....

If you play the right tactics you can stop Barcelona from scoring, but then I suppose that shows they are quite far ahead of most teams in that you have to change your tactics too have a chance of winning.

Some players do wish to leave Barcelona, and I believe Bojan is one who currently does, the problem is if they sign Fabregas eventually he will get bored of being the back up to Xavi and Iniesta and then he'll want to leave again.

well barcelona's chance of getting him cheaply has gone , it appears spanish rivals real madrid are willing to offer 45m to get cesc.


madrid are playing the lovely game of pretend interest and raise the price could well be legit as mourinho was interested in him at chelsea.

fernando wrote:well barcelona's chance of getting him cheaply has gone , it appears spanish rivals real madrid are willing to offer 45m to get cesc.

But if Fabregas isn't willing to sign for Real Madrid the offer doesn't really have any effect on Barcelona.

yeah it does, cos if arsenal can get more money at madrid they aren't going to agree a deal with barca for less money.

Erm, but if the player won't sign for Madrid which I highly doubt Fabregas would do you actually get no money from Madrid, all Barcelona have to do is reach Arsenal's valuation of Fabregas (supposedly £40million) not the money Madrid are offering.

if madrid offer 45m then barca have to match it cos arsenal won't settle for less it would just be stupid .

if someone bid for your player and your club accepted a offer worth less money it would make no sense.

fernando wrote: if madrid offer 45m then barca have to match it cos arsenal won't settle for less it would just be stupid .

if someone bid for your player and your club accepted a offer worth less money it would make no sense.

But how much money do you actually get from agreeing the fee of £45million with Real Madrid? In reality you get £0.00 because he won't sign for them and Barcelona know that and Arsenal know that.

Derbyblue wrote:

fernando wrote: if madrid offer 45m then barca have to match it cos arsenal won't settle for less it would just be stupid .

if someone bid for your player and your club accepted a offer worth less money it would make no sense.

But how much money do you actually get from agreeing the fee of £45million with Real Madrid? In reality you get £0.00 because he won't sign for them and Barcelona know that and Arsenal know that.

true but we can atleast go to barcelona if you don't match it we're going to keep him for the rest of his contract weather cesc likes it or not.

fernando wrote:

Derbyblue wrote:

fernando wrote: if madrid offer 45m then barca have to match it cos arsenal won't settle for less it would just be stupid .

if someone bid for your player and your club accepted a offer worth less money it would make no sense.

But how much money do you actually get from agreeing the fee of £45million with Real Madrid? In reality you get £0.00 because he won't sign for them and Barcelona know that and Arsenal know that.

true but we can atleast go to barcelona if you don't match it we're going to keep him for the rest of his contract weather cesc likes it or not.

Yeah you can try that, but I doubt Barcelona will match the £45million offer, if they did while signing Fabregas is a statement to Madrid that they have pulling power with their ex-players without needing to waste money, if they raise their offer to the value of Madrid's it's showing Madrid they can boss the market. Realistically I think Barcelona will ignore the fact that Madrid have made a big and continue to negotiate in the way that only Barcelona do, offer loads less than the club wants until after years of the rumours and negotations they get fed up and sell him to Barcelona. I think the problem Arsenal have is that I believe there are two clubs Fabregas will play for: Arsenal and Barcelona.

I would think the deal has been done and All but signed, however arsenal are holding off till they sign Players to show they still match the ambition of nasri and van persie despite selling fabregas.

Real have offered silly money because they

A) know that fabregas will not join them
B) shows the fans they will spend big whenthe right player comes along, it's been a relitively quiet transfer window for real so far.
C) as has been said show barca that they have the money to control the Market.

I also think fabregas will play a lot more matche than people think as at present xavi and iniesta play so many matches as there is really no one similar enough to cover for them in the first team.

Are we certain Cesc wouldn't sign for Madrid?

Were we certain that Sol Campbell wouldn't sign for Arsenal, Robbie Fowler wouldn't sign for Liverpool, Luis Figo wouldn't sign for Real...

Football is a business, and the players are the most ruthless... I wouldn't be surprised if he took the money.

If he doesn't, fair play to him for chasing his dream move -- we can all relate to that. But I for one wouldn't criticise if he went to Real. A huge club, offering huge money and a real chance of silverware each and every season -- what's to criticise?!

In reality I think Real could have gone for any number of midfielders. They want to make the point that they are rolling in it while Barca are 'struggling'.

Nay Bother wrote:I would think the deal has been done and All but signed, however arsenal are holding off till they sign Players to show they still match the ambition of nasri and van persie despite selling fabregas.

I'd be surprised if this is true given that he returns to training today.
In my mind it wouldn't make sense to force a player to return to training if you know he would be gone within a few days, he is the club captain and there to lead and motivate the team, that becomes impossible if you know you won't be there.
I'm not saying that he won't go of course....

I presume the deal is done and probably will become confirmed in the next few day's.