The Great Big Cesc Scandal

So after two whole months of publicly tapping up Cesc Fabregas, those pricks at Barcelona have finally faced up to the fact that they can't afford him decided that they'd prefer to make a serious bid for him next season. Their new president Sandro Rosell claims:

Arsenal feels very hurt by Barca. They don't want to listen to offers or sell and they are not putting the player on the market. There was a strong dispute a few months ago and they have not forgotten it.

He will arrive, even if it is not now, it will be next year. We will see. One thing that is certain is that we will not go mad trying to sign him.

No shareholder would pay €60 or €70 million for him. We will not go all out for him. We would only pay his value in the transfer market.

You know what, Sandro...

First of all, no Arsenal fan feels "hurt" by this. I think the best words to describe how this whole affair has made us feel is "fucked off". Hurt suggests that their actions weren't necessarily disrespectful to our club but we are the ones who took it the wrong way. Even in their attempt to try to look amicable they can't help being disparaging. And we should do business with them?

Obviously after the way they tried to bully us into selling our player and also with the way they publicly tapped him up as well, we would strengthen our resolve not to sell him. What the hell would you expect?! We're in a situation where we don't need the money and they don't even have that much money to begin with. Who has the upper hand then? They're the ones trying to buy him and then want to call the shots. That's absolutely ridiculous. Of course we'd tell them where to shove that £40M they tried to offer us.

He claims they're going to be back for him next year and who knows, maybe they will get him depending on how our season goes and if Cesc either feels frustrated that he can't win cups with Arsenal or if we've won the Premiership and perhaps the Champions League and he feels he's done all he can at the club and it's time to move on. I'm sure when the time comes for him to go we'll be able to adequately replace him. My only concern is that Barcelona will be back with their dirty attitude next season and we're gonna be forced to go through this whole debacle again because they'll want to try to force us to accept a fee much less than Cesc's worth.

Some more quotes coming out of that article have highlighted Cesc saying he wants to go back to Barca. Hold on now, before you get your Fruit of the Looms in a knot you should read what it says:

I have not spoken to anybody in the last few days and I want to ignore anything regarding my future for now. I want to enjoy my holidays and I don't want to talk about Barcelona at this moment.

I make no apologies for the comments I have made in the past. I have expressed my interest in returning and I stand by that, as that is my personal wish.

This is nothing that should come as a surprise to anyone. Cesc had made it no secret that he intends to return to Barca someday. With that said, there are some who are treating this as though he just came up out of the blue with these statements. He never said anything about definitely wanting to go back this season. He wants to return to play there to honour his grandfather. He wants to do it when he feels he's given all he can to us. That might still be a few years from now. What's wrong with that? His granddad took him to Barca games from the moment he started walking. He's already spent six seasons with us and the day's gonna come when he'd like a new challenge. It just so happens that he's eying a challenge back where he started and to do something for his grandfather before his time comes. There's nothing ungrateful about what he said. What's ungrateful is how fans are now turning on him. Cesc has never ever uttered a bad word about or been disrespectful to Arsenal FC or its fans yet he's somehow gone from hero to zero with some of our stupid impulsive fans.

Arsenal fans are so fickle that it's downright annoying. One minute they're praising you, naming babies after you, worshiping the ground you walk on, then the next they're badmouthing you, calling you all manners of evil and building a cross for your crucifixion.

During the season when he was scoring week in, week out he could do absolutely no wrong. As far as Arsenal fans were concerned he was the second coming of Christ. lately things have taken a 180 degree turn in terms of fan opinion of the Spaniard. With all that's happened for him this summer he should feel as though he's on top of the world and so should his fans but if he was to take all the vitriol being directed at him to heart how could he be?

Some of the things being said about him have just been absolutely appalling. I've even seen a few idiots calling for him to be stripped of the captaincy. The captaincy?! Are they serious? If Cesc was more of a captain last season, he would've bled from the ears. This is all because of that one very ambiguous video which surfaced a few days ago where people claim Pique (purposefully) spat at some old guy and Fabregas

Remember in the Barca match at home last season how Cesc slapped that penalty WITH A BROKEN LEG to keep us in the tie with a chance at the Nou Camp? He wasn't much of a captain then?

Or how about at Stoke in February when Ramsey had his leg twisted into a pretzel by that wet fart Ryan Shawcross? Who was it that shouted at each and every player on the pitch, whom I might add were very visibly shaken by the horrific injury, to not lose focus and rallied the team from scraping a 1-1 draw to win the match 3-1...scoring a goal himself? Isn't that the mark of a true captain?

Who ran the length of the Spurs half in the North London Derby at home last season to score a very iconic individual goal against our most hated rivals?

Remember when Cesc forced himself to be fit enough to make the bench for the Villa game and get on the pitch and score two goals when the game looked like it was headed for a scoreless stalemate? You're telling me that's not the mark of a true leader - knowing that he'd put his body on the line like that for the sake of the club's title chase and for the sake of the fans? How many players in the modern game would do that? Adebayor? Robinho? Berbatov?

Wasn't Cesc the skipper who captained our team to a close title race this season? Wasn't he the one who captained the team while playing through injury with a broken leg?

Who dedicated his World Cup win to Arsenal Football Club and its fans? Anyone who claims Cesc shouldn't be the Arsenal captain is just downright ungrateful.

What these people don't realise is that this is exactly the trickery Barcelona planned to get their grubby hands on Fabregas. All these incidents happening in the media that are turning the fans on Cesc will just prove to be a push factor to take him back to Barcelona. This is exactly what they want! Don't fall for it!

Anyway that's enough blogging for now. Leave your comments in the comments section and let me know what you think. Dust!

Where Do Cesc And Robin Go From Here? (Part 2)

Robin van Persie has yet to have his moment in the sun. The only trophy he's won in his career since his move to Arsenal was an FA Cup in 2005. Many regard him as a player who shows brilliance whenever he gets his chance. The problem is that he doesn't get enough of a chance to show us what he can do over the course of a season. In his 6 years at Arsenal FC, he's never played a full season and it's all due to him picking up some serious injury somewhere along the line. He's always been on the brink of doing what he needs to do to prove to the world that he is a world class striker but misfortune always holds him back from accomplishing this. One thing he should be given credit for is that he knows this and he's frank enough to admit that he's not quite where he should be yet and he knows what's needed in order for him to accomplish this:

I can feel that the manager (Wenger) has faith in me, but I must remain lucid. I am clearly not in the same league as Leo (Messi). Moreover, I am injured too often. I'm dreaming about a season with 30 goals and 20 assists. Wenger knows that I can do it, but my body will have to hold on.

If he had won the World Cup, he would've added the grandest title of all to his resume and that would've helped him to establish himself in world football as a winner and someone who's performed on the biggest stage of them all and been successful. Sadly it wasn't to be and the anguish of coming so close but being still so far away from it was plain to see on his face after the match.

Most Arsenal fans (who aren't Dutch) probably first got excited that Cesc is now a World Cup winner but I on the other hand initially thought "poor Robin, he really deserved this and it's a shame he's gonna have to wait at least another 4 years". I wasn't the only one though. Cesc also admitted that he felt some remorse seeing a desolate figure in van Persie after the final on Sunday. He says:

The first thing I did was go to Robin. I had to go there instead of celebrating with my friends because he deserved it as well. He was injured for a long time and if it wasn't us that he was playing against I would be on his side. Even though I was really happy, I was sad for him.I really hope he has his chance again in two or four years. He is a great guy and a great leader.

Club football aside, Robin's best chance at a trophy is in 2 years time at the European Championship in Poland. You'd think the core of the Dutch team will remain the same and he'll still be their preferred starting target man. It represents his best chance at international glory because I think it would be a stretch to think Holland will win the 2014 World Cup. Apart from that, his role in the team might not be a certainty at that time. He'll be 30 years old in 2014 and he'll face competition from younger strikers coming through the Dutch set up so that makes it much more difficult for him to not only get into the 2014 squad, (if they qualify for Brazil, which is a whole other matter) but to start consistently enough to influence any success they could have there. In order to prove himself as still able to compete at this level for Holland, he'll need to be consistently good for Arsenal over the next 4 years.

Consistency is not something you have to worry about when it comes to Robin van Persie, provided he stays away from injuries. He's one of the most driven players in our team. You could even say he's fixated on winning a major trophy, as it's been 8 years since his UEFA Cup win with Feyenoord and 5 since his FA Cup win with Arsenal. His quotes in an interview with The Guardian last year backs that up:

My ambitions are very, very high and, I think, realistic. I want to be at a level where, as a club, we are winning things, not just every four or five years, but one or two trophies each year. That's what I think this club has in its pocket. I have won the Uefa Cup with Feyenoord and the FA Cup with ­Arsenal. I saw what it did to people in our big family – the fans and the whole club – and it makes life a lot easier. Some people might think my view is extreme, but that is what I want, and I want to do it here. I am not a guy who gives up. ­Otherwise I wouldn't be here.

It's quotes like those why I'm sure he'll be itching to get back on the pitch as soon as possible for Arsenal and right the wrongs of him not achieving major football success in many years. Finishing as a runner up in the World Cup will only spur him on to push harder for success with Arsenal in the forth coming season. While it's sad that he didn't taste victory on Sunday, for Arsenal it's gonna prove to be a good thing as we have a player who'll be hell bent on proving a point to himself and his critics next season.

Where Do Cesc And Robin Go From Here? (Part 1)

Whether you're a fan of Spain or Holland, if you're an Arsenal fan you'd be happy to know that no matter who won the World Cup yesterday Arsenal would start next season with a world champion among our ranks. That player has turned out to be Cesc Fabregas.

First of all, congratulations are in order for the young Catalan whose pass in extra time provided the assist for Andres Iniesta to find the all important goal for Spain to claim their first ever world title. It now means that Fabregas has a World Cup medal to go along with his European Championship medal he won 2 years ago.

While I'm very happy for Cesc, I have to say I'm sad for van Persie. In my opinion, he needed this World Cup title more than Cesc because of what it could've done for his reputation. Whether Cesc had won the World Cup, he'd be known as Arsenal's world class central midfielder. Fabregas is always spoken of in high regard by many pundits, managers and players. Throughout the years he's always been regarded as exceptionally talented at such a young age.

At 23 years old Cesc has now won the World Cup as well as the European Championship and this is coupled with the fact that he's highly sought after by Barcelona. He's so sought after that we've slapped a £50 million price tag on him. This is why as I said before, he's in the category of 'world class'.

Many naysayers may say he's not truly a World Cup winner due to how much time he spent on the bench for Spain but they can go to hell. If not for Cesc's pass to Iniesta the game might've ended goalless and gone unto penalties and who knows what would've happened there?

On the international stage, he's won both major titles available to him and the only way he could add to that is to repeat the feat of being European and World Champion for a second time by featuring as a starter in the Spanish team the next time around, if Spain manages to repeat this success.

At the club level, however, Cesc has a lot left to achieve. He still needs to win a league title and a Champions League title and then he can think about being in the running for a FIFA Ballon d'Or.

Hopefully what the World Cup has taught Fabregas is that his time spent on the bench is just a foreshadowing of what would happen should he leave Arsenal for Barcelona. Cesc, although not given enough playing time at the World Cup, had given better performances in his short time on the pitch than both Xavi and Iniesta and each time he's been subbed on he's either looked likely to score or likely to create a goal.What I'm saying is that even though his performances have been better than both Xavi and Iniesta's, he's not been made to start due to the seniority both those players hold in the team. If he was to go to Barcelona, it would serve as a clear indication that the same would happen there. Even our chairman Peter Hill-Wood believes this:

If you want my opinion, I’m not sure he would even get in their team. Do they need him? I’m not sure that they do.

Cesc has a good head on his shoulders and while it's pretty clear he wants to return to Barcelona someday, it would be best for him to stay at Arsenal for another 2 or 3 seasons and achieve what he can here as our captain and try to win the Premiership and maybe even the Champions League with us. This would help to establish him as one of the truly great players of the decade. When Xavi and Iniesta have both aged and the Barcelona management are ready to move them on, Cesc will be ready for a triumphant return to Barcelona where he'll be sure to be a starter in that team as he'll still be in the prime of his career while Xavi and Iniesta will be heading downhill.

Our New Number 6

by Rachid

Well it was really no secret but Arsenal have officially announced the signing of 24 year old central defender Laurent Koscielny from French side Lorient. According to the officials at Arsenal, the fee is said to be undisclosed. While this is something they do every time we sign a player to take pressure off him should he not live up to expectations, it is believed that the fee agreed is somewhere between £8.5 and £10 million. Koscielny will wear the number 6 shirt for us.

Since Arsene Wenger's in South Africa at the moment there weren't any statements made by him today about the signing but Koscielny had some words himself to say about the deal:

I'm very excited to be joining Arsenal. They are one of the biggest teams in Europe with many great players. I'm really looking forward to playing in the English Premier League and the Champions League with my new club. Also, in Arsène Wenger, Arsenal has one of the best managers in the world and I can't wait to work with him and do my best for the Arsenal supporters.

So what do we know about him really? We don't know how long his contract runs for but we do know it's a 'long term' deal. Like I said about him signing for an 'undisclosed fee', this is kept private to take pressure off the player.

Before coming to Arsenal, he made 40 scoreless appearances for En Avant Guingamp from 2004-2007. He then moved on to Tours where he scored 4 goals in 34 appearances from 2007-2009. He then moved away to spend a season at Lorient, scoring 3 goals in 40 appearances.

This is a typical Wenger signing as it's a player that no one really heard of until he was linked to us. Many are saying that he could very well be another Thomas Vermaelen in that he was a relative unknown before signing for us and had a significant impact on our performances right away. I can understand why people are saying that but many don't know that Vermaelen was actually Ajax' captain before we signed him and he was already a Belgium international. He was a relatively experienced player that we signed. This is not the case with Koscielny. He is an uncapped player who's only had 1 season of regular first team football. His other appearances for clubs before Lorient were made coming in off the bench as a youth player.

It's anybody's guess just how well Koscielny will do at Arsenal but he's been given the number 6 shirt and that shirt's been worn by Arsenal legends such as Terry Neill, David Court and Tony Adams. If Wenger had plans for him to take Senderos' place in the team as a backup then he probably would've been given a number in the teens. For him to get this number suggests that Arsene Wenger rates him highly and sees him as a potential starter.

I wish him the best of luck and a very long and successful Arsenal career.

Before I end, here's a little highlight reel of his career to date.



Are you excited about this signing? Let me know in the comments. Cya next time.

Don't Be A Sheep

by Rachid

Cesc Fabregas had more to say on the silly rumours linking him with Barcelona. According to the Arsenal skipper:

I haven't said that I will definitely leave Arsenal. Everything is possible. Now I have my head and my focus on the World Cup. I am very proud to be captain of Arsenal and I love the club and have respect for them. It gave me such pride to be made captain.

Quite frankly I don't see why we're still on this. Yeah it's clear Cesc is considering going to Barcelona but it just won't happen. The last time he spoke on this issue he said he'll leave it in Wenger's hands and what that means is that Wenger will decide his future, not Cesc.

When Barcelona offered us a measly £25M for him we told them it's not enough and we will not be making counteroffers with them nor entertaining further negotiations. In other words, we said 'That's that, we're not selling him and that's final'. You'd think that the board saying this to them would kill those rumours, but no, they still persist.

Is it that the media just want us to lose our players that badly that they'd help Barcelona continue their bullying and tapping up tactics? I certainly think so. What's even worse is the group of mindless Arsenal fans who are willing to believe anything at all they hear or read or see on tv. They're the ones who allow these rumours to continue as they're the ones who keep falling for them and reacting to them as if they were true about him leaving. Why must Arsenal fans be like this though? Why are Arsenal fans so pessimistic? More importantly, why is it that whenever stories like these circulate and officials inside the club make comments to kill them, many fans prefer not to believe these quotes but take everything spewed out by media houses such as Sky Sports and BBC Sport as gospel? Don't they see that it's their mindless following that is allowing the media to perpetuate this kind of bullshit?

Moving on...

There's word Lorient's Laurent Koscielny has agreed personal terms with Arsenal and both clubs have agreed on a transfer fee but the deal's yet to become official as all that's left to be done is for Arsene Wenger to dot the Is and cross the Ts. Apparently it's hard for him to do that though, when he's in South Africa without his Blackberry. What it means, however, is that we can rest assured that we have a defender coming in.

Word on the street is that we upped our £6M bid on Everton's Phil Jagielka by £4M and David Moyes has urged his board not to give in to our request. What I've heard is that this has caused us to turn our attention elsewhere - to Werder Bremen in fact, where Steve Rowley has been scouting Per Mertesacker. It is believed we're looking to offer Bremen the £10M we were gonna offer Everton for Jagielka for his services.

We're also being linked to Rangers' Madjid Bougherra and Benfica's Rafik Halliche. Both of these defenders are Algerian and if these rumours are true then it suggests that Wenger's had a firm eye on the proceedings in Group C at the World Cup.

Something that really irks me is that people are stupidly looking at the fact that we've let Senderos, Silvestre, Gallas and possibly even Sol Campbell go and we haven't made any defensive signings as yet, to suggest that we're not going to be making any signings at all. What the fuck?! Seriously? Are people that fucking inane? If we really weren't planning on signing replacements then it would mean we'd enter the new season with Vermaelen and Djourou as our only two senior defenders in the team. It doesn't take rocket science to see that that certainly can't work, especially for a team with title ambitions. Of course we're going to be signing more players. How many times does Arsene Wenger need to say it for people to believe it? He doesn't even have to say it. It's actually a given that we will, really.

People need to chill the fuck out and relax. This is the summer and a World Cup summer at that. There are many players who have their focus on the World Cup right now and those that already participated and got eliminated are off enjoying their well earned summer vacations. It's hard to do business with players right at this moment.

Not only are players off relaxing but so too is Arsene Wenger. He's in South Africa doing media work for French TV but as peculiar as it sounds, this is how Wenger is used to spending his time off from the club. The man is off enjoying himself, relaxing and recharging for next season and it's quite fine if he's not ready to make his signings yet because there's a time and place for everything and right now he's not at work for us.

Are people really dumb enough to think that they realise that the team needs strengthening but Arsene Wenger doesn't? How dimwitted do you really have to be to actually believe that? Seriously!

I think while there are the sheep who are stupid enough to follow every maniacal ranting spewed against Arsene Wenger, there are those who look to chastise him for every single reason they can find. Whether it's because we haven't won a trophy since fuck knows when or because they got soaked walking home in the pouring rain. I don't get why Arsenal fans have to be so negative all the time and create panic around the club when there really needs to be none at all. I just urge all of you reading this not to be as mindless as those who give those jerks creating drama around the club a soap box to stand on and speak. Think for yourself and question authority.

Anyway, this is the end of my rant for now. Leave your thoughts below. Dust!

Just A Rant On The New Home Kit

by Rachid

Above is a picture released yesterday of some of our players modeling our new kit. Looks as boring as I expected it to, to be honest. It looks like a training kit at best. Why the socks have no design but the Nike Swish is beyond me and what's even more bizarre to me is the reaction from many regarding it as 'fantastic', 'marvelous' and 'a dream'. What I've noticed also is that the only people who seem to love this kit are the English fans but every international fan of the club that I've spoken to that's seen it has said it looks boring, bland and unfinished.

What's there to like about this kit? Yes we've gotten back the traditional white sleeves but the red trim on it leaves a whole lot to be desired. It looks so feminine and Tomas Rosicky, who already looks like a lesbian, will look even more girly now. I'm not pleased because minus the broken collar and the gold streaks down the sides, this kit is no different from our kit in our first season at The Emirates, as shown below:

Even this kit was better because the trim on it was nicer and of course the gold streaks added a nice touch. If they felt that this needed those features back then, why do they suddenly feel that it needs nothing at all added to it this season?

Many of those who like this kit like it for the reason that it's bringing us back to our roots. I can understand that but it annoys me that every season we unveil a new kit we claim to be commemorating something. My problem with this is that when you spend every season commemorating something, it takes away from the value of the tribute. It's kinda like when you see couples foolishly celebrating every month they've been together. What's the magic in it if it doesn't happen every once in a while?

Why do we always have to be commemorating? It seems like just an excuse when whomsoever's designing the kit can't come up with anything aesthetically pleasing. We keep releasing boring kits season after season now and how can you expect a kit that was worn way back in 1971 to look relevant in 2010? That's just totally fucking ridiculous! I don't see any reason why we couldn't have paid homage to the team of 1971 with a kit that looks like theirs but also has some more modern touches and designs on it.

I think it's rude of Arsenal FC to expect us to pay £40 for this very bland, boring and done design. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Cya next time, Gooners.

Have A Look At What Might Be Our Fugly New Home Kit

by Rachid

Annoyed, disappointed, underwhelmed. Just a few words that come to mind when I look at this ugly new kit that's supposedly ours as of tomorrow that I found on EPL Talk. God I hate it! The sleeves have such an ugly trim and the design on the torso is so bland and boring. Why did we take this long to release this kit? The design (or lack there of) of it looks like a template at best. I think the bold trim on the sleeves also makes it look a bit too feminine for a bunch of men to be wearing. Here are a couple more shots of it, if your eyes can bear the pain.

It's not confirmed that these are authentic but they definitely don't look photoshopped to me. Anyway, leave a comment and let me know if you find it as horrid as I do.

Until next time, dust.