I'll start with the most disgusting piece of transfer news I've heard in two years: Cesc Fabregas has agreed personal terms with Chelsea and his move has been completed yesterday.
Among other things footballers usually say upon joining the new club, Fabregas touched on why he didn't return to Arsenal:
“Yes, everyone knows that Arsenal had the first option to sign me. They decided not to take this option. It wasn’t meant to be. I wish them well in the future.”To say I had to repel an instinct to vomit after I've found out Cesc will wear blue next season is to say nothing at all. I've given my reasons why we don't need the Spaniard all that badly, but I sure as hell didn't want him to end up in Chelsea, under the guidance of a man with an ego the size of Mourinho's.
Look, I can understand Cesc's decision to join another club, as soon as he found out Barcelona won't require his services (I'll get to that a bit later) and we refused to take him back. But Chelsea? Especially after all the talk of how Cesc will never play for another British club?
This news has split Arsenal fans community right down the middle. Some said (quite reasonably) that we don't need Cesc and that £30 million can be better used elsewhere. Others cried: "Traitor!" and you can sort of get their point too.
Was no European club interested in purchasing the player of Cesc's stature? I cannot for a second imagine there wasn't. Bottom line, there's always PSG who is ready to pay hard cash for anything that moves. Thus, I think those who've been calling Fabregas names for the last 24 hours do have their point. The only other club Cesc could have joined for an even greater public outcry is Spurs.
Yet I still feel sorry for how it played out for our former captain. First off, Barca has shown him the door. The club Cesc has been supporting since childhood, to whose academy he went, which he so craved to return to three years ago said "We'll carry on without you". On top of all that, they released this statement (which was later removed from the official site):
"But despite glowing starts to each campaign, Cesc’s contributions to the cause gradually decreased as each season drew to a close. From being someone who joined in with the attack, supplying and scoring goals, the magic tended to fade later on in each season. He only scored one, six and one goals in the last 24 games of each season. For some reason, he was never as good in the second half of a season as in the first".On a most basic level, that's ingratitude at its finest. Down the years there were some pretty epic good-bye notes from both the players and the clubs they were leaving, but this one beats them all in my view. To express ingratitude on such a scale towards a player, who's always given 101% for the shirt tells you all you need to know about how Barcelona thinks and operates. This made me hate them stronger still, which in itself is extraordinary, cause I didn't know I could hate them more than I already did.
Back to Cesc and the second thing that has pushed him towards signing for Chelsea, however. And it's us. We refused to take him back, plain and simple. You think Arsenal fans are mad at Cesc? Ask him how he feels towards Arsenal FC right now. You'd be surprised, I think.
Unfortunately, all of this won't (probably) stop the Gunners from booing our former captain at the Emirates or at Stamford Bridge, but I still think they shouldn't do this.
All of it is sad, truth be told. I have never thought we'd find ourselves in a situation, in which we wouldn't welcome Cesc back. I would have paid money to see Song, Nasri, Clichy or Adebayor to come crawling back, begging us to take them, only for Wenger to show them the door. But for such a thing to happen to Fabregas...
It places further responsibility on Arsene to deliver this summer transfer-wise. And the first pieces have fallen in place already. Vela will return, Fabianski will leave and Sagna should follow suit. A lot has been said on the Frenchman's departure, so I'll keep my thoughts on the subject short.
Bac had seven great years with, played his heart out for the shirt and never threw tantrums on his salary or our trophy-drought (pretty much, he never threw tantrums at all, keeping the little boy inside him quiet). He's given us his best years and leaves for financial purposes only. He wants to make money while he still can and I have no problem with that. Unlike some half-wits that call themselves Arsenal fans. As far as I'm concerned such fans can take their loyalty and opinions and stick it where the sun doesn't shine.
As for Bac, you can read his farewell statement here. And here:
"To be fair, i don't even know where to start or even how to say it... but i just wanna thank the whole Arsenal fc... a family to me , a club who taught me so much in 7years, a club where i had the chance to progress day by day, a club who always gave me his trust whenever i was personally not at my best , a club who change the kid i was to the man i am today, a club where i had the pleasure to give 200 pr cent every game. I wanna thank the whole staff working at the club, the fans for accepting me so fast, making it smoove for myself and my family, my team mates witch i consider my true friends today and i had a great pleasure learning with them. Of course i wanna thank the coach MR WENGER... who believed in me..gave me his trust..and clearly changed my life. Now, it's time for me to move on and one more time THANK YOU" .
And I'll be back in a couple of days.
Until then
