Why Speculating About Cesc Fabregas Is Not Good For Your Heart
ByI must have missed the last few days while stuck in the reservation and away from the hyperbole of the ’silly’ season. Not that I care much about the amount of faecal matter that gets stirred in the name of inventing breaking news, but I wonder if I made a mistake of even bothering to switch on the sports news this morning.
The thing is this, the way rumours about Cesc Fabregas leaving Arsenal for Barcelona are being peddled, you would actually get the impression that it’s a full gone conclusion and that the removal trucks are waiting outside the Spaniard’s pad in leafy Hertfordshire ready to take whatever is going to Catalonia.
Arsenal Captain, Cesc Fabregas
The narrative is so predictable. Cesc answers a planted question in a charity event in Spain by saying if he ever left Arsenal, it would be for Barca. Cue the punks at Marca who provide their own version of the story for it is written that any editor who doesn’t peddle a Cesc story will be fired on the spot.
The usual suspects here from the Daily Wail to Sky Sports News pick up the story as fact and even suggest that Fabregas’s representatives flew into London to talk to Arsenal.
Which by the way baffles me a little because Fabregas’s agent, who happens to be David Dein’s son actually lives in London so begs the question as to why he would fly from City Airport to Heathrow just to liven up the story.
What I also find amusing is that media houses send a whole crew to the Emirates stadium at 6 o’clock in the morning to stand outside and report their hogg wash. For one, no one is at the stadium and you wonder what the deal is. Are they going to get more credibility by standing outside the stadium and using it as a prop or doesn’t it make more sense to just sit in the studio and peddle their story?
I’ve never really figured out why journalists insist on standing outside buildings even at 11.00 pm talking about a story that happened in that building over 8 hours prior to that.
In the building behind me today, we believe that a meeting took place and Cesc Fabregas’s agents who flew in from Spain have held talks with Arsenal. No one is here to comment, but we speculate that the talks are on-going.
This story is not likely to go away soon though, and for the very simple reason that there’s nothing to fill the air waves and news columns. I tell you, 24 hour news cycles are a bastard.
Arsenal fans around the world will be biting their nails on account of the media shit stirring going on in the name of credible news. At Stone Cold Arsenal Towers though, our view is that we should just relax and enjoy the summer for this is not a reason to blow a gasket for.
We have spent time on the phone this morning with our inside source at Highbury House. And this is not some friend of an uncle’s neighbour’s former school mates half brother who works as a janitor at Arsenal. It is actually our contact’s job to know and deal with these things.
Our contact has made us understand that Arsenal’s position is simple and clear.
- Arsenal does not indulge in media speculation and will not enter a slinging match between the Spanish and English media and tabloids. The club is too classy for that.
- Cesc Fabregas is on a long term contract and an employee of Arsenal FC and that’s not going to change because newspapers have columns to fill.
- Arsenal are not interested in selling their best and most influential player in his prime. Speaking of which, transfermarkt.co.uk, a leading authority on player valuations places Cesc Fabregas as the 5th most valuable player in the world after Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Xavi Hernandez and Andreas Iniesta.
- Barcelona will have to break the bank if ever there was a decision made to sell Cesc.
The impression I get is that no one really knows whether as reported, Cesc has asked for a transfer. For one, that will be professional suicide on his part, not only because it will antagonize the relationship he has with the manager and other Arsenal players; by asking for a transfer he will forfeit some serious benefits and short change himself.
The long and short of it is that it’s just another summer when Arsenal players become target practice. Arsenal are not interested in selling (though I would read that as “we won’t sell unless Barca are silly enough to unleash an eye-watering offer that is too good to turn down”).
Cesc will leave Arsenal at some point in his career, and the only known and verifiable fact is that his departure will be on Arsenal’s terms. The club is bigger than any one individual and it will not be rail-roaded into a transfer by the media or an impending Barcelona presidential election.
Until then, let’s enjoy the summer and go easy on self inducing heart attacks.
Tue 13th September 2011; 19:45, Dortmund
Top stuff mate , It’s hard to talk to other fans that are so convinced by all this shit stirring. They seem incapable of calming down and looking at the situation logically. It makes no sense whatsoever that Cesc would leave now……and nearly all of the speculation does not add up to anything.
Great article… So far this morning I’ve read that Cesc is going to Barca, so is Torres (stolen from under the noses of Chelski for seventy million), so is Rooney… oh, and by the way, Barcelona are strapped for cash; presumably they’ll have to sell Messi to pay for all this?
No that wasn’t another rumour, but I guess a comment like this is all it takes.
As for going to the ‘Best Ever Team in the World’ as some other acne-studded idiot put it; wasn’t that Brazil in 1970?
You talk such good sense. The papers have 4 back pages to fill with no games taking place and the World Cup still a few weeks away. Nobody other than the two clubs and Cesc know the true situation. One thing for sure is that you can never trust anything the comes out of the Spanish media, who’s contributions should be filed under ‘Fiction’.
Hi mate, I often read your blog as it calms me a little when I find myself flying off the handle on other sites.
I have to say you cannot keep defending the club all the time. This sort of thing goes on every season now. At least since Anelka left. Since then our top stars are linked every summer and usually at least one of them goes.
I think Arsenal like this, they crave it. It put money in the bank and they know the Arsenal fans will still pay top dollar to go see a poorer team the next season.
It actually hurts as a fan to see this. Every year the same thing. Shouldn’t it be us linked with signing stars rather than worrying about if we are going to lose another top player?
You can’t say it’s all media spin because look at the long list of players who have left.
Gutted if Cesc leaves.
JR
Good enough.. but even Sol is talking about the Cesc saga..
http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/23425.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
Ah, some perspective at last. I hope your contact is right Darius. The fact is though Arsenal.com has a history of publishing rebuttals, one I remember being from Cesc himself. So something here is different from the previous times these links have come about.
Joppa.
I’m not defending anyone, I’m just providing an opinion of the issue, which by the way, is shared by our Arsenal contact.
Players going and coming into Arsenal is a reality that has happened since time immemorial. It’s not going to stop now because of 24 hour news cycles.
In fact, as far back as 1891, Arsenal players were being tapped up and lured by the promise of big money and big fortunes and prospects. Only that back then, it was Derby County (makes you laugh now though) doing it.
119 years on and we’re still being bitch slapped by transfer rumours and shenanigans – which is why I say, relax.
Arsenal are not going to let go easy if at all it ever gets to that. And if they did, it will be a better deal for us than it is for Barca.
More importantly here – none of these so called speculators whether in Spain or England have a cotton pickign idea of what is actually happening. It’s a story that will sell newspapers and induce heart attacks and it clearly is working on you – that’s the simple reason it’s being peddled. No one knows what the deal is between Cesc and Arsenal and until AFC release their employee, relax and chill out.
@MikeB, you forgot to mention that the top story in the premier Catalan newspaper Marca, has the lead story that David Villa is immenently moving from Valencia to Barcelona. So if you add Torres, Rooney, Cesc, Villa and Robinho, they’re going to have to literally rob the bank.
Cesc owes us nothing and good luck to him if he goes. His departure though will make not one jot of a difference to this progressive Arsenal side (1 place and 3 points higher than the previous season), with Wilshere, Ramsey and Nasri ready to vie for the position. 30 million minimum will give us the defensive cover we need, Vermaelen will take the armband and Chamakh will lead the line. There are no negatives here, just idiots writing negative articles and blog entries. Expect another big season. Up the Arsenal.
Captain Flak.
I like the idea of Vermaelen with the captain’s arm band.
Excellent article Darius.
You are absolutely spot on in highlighting the need that broadcasters have to fill the 24-hour news cycle. Unfortunately, they tend to fill it with even more of their own, breathless, nonsense. Just because they can.
This is a serious problem, as what they come up with just to fill the airtime tends to take on a life, & agenda, of it’s own, and subsequently dominates what people talk about and the parameters within which they do so.
As far as I am concerned, less is more, and prefer quality over quantity.
I think the key things to be born in mind about Arsenal and Fabregas are as follows.
He is a very good player who may get even better in time. And both Arsenal & Fabregas have benefited from their professional relationship. But, as has been pointed out above and elsewhere in the Blogosphere, it’s no state secret that at some point Fabregas was going to return to play in Spain, probably for Barca.
When that time comes – and who knows when that will be – Arsenal will thank Fabregas for his services, wish him good luck for the future, then move on. That’s the Arsenal way.
The Arsenal team have demonstrated on many occasions over the last two or three years that they are not a one man team, that they can play Wengerball without Fabregas, and that they can win without him too.
So if and when the time comes for Fabregas to depart, the Arsenal team will adapt their game to whatever degree is appropriate – as they’ve done when other important players have left in the past – and keep on keeping on.
It’s very clear to me that the most important Player at Arsenal is Arsene Wenger, and if and when Fabregas does depart, you can be sure that Arsene will purchase another footballer who can provide the team with alternative sources of creativity & goals.
But Fabregas hasn’t gone yet, and he’s still very much an Arsenal player unless and until Arsenal tell us otherwise.
good piece darius..up the arsenal…cesc or no cesc under wenger we will get the best side of this deal..& we will be even better next season than this season
I am not saying we are a one man team but Cesc leaving will be a huge blow not just to the team but to Arsenal’s ambition. I have questioned this ambition over the last few years but have to conceed the lack of strengthening/buys has been down to the burden of the new stadium.
I would like to see the emphasis on Arsenal strengthening the team NOT weakening it.
I wouldn’t mind RVP as a new captain. No doubt Almunia will be given it. I say that sarcastically but the fact is I am not far off the mark.
What a great summer we have to look forward to.
ps. I hope that little weasel Balague Ballbag gets a good kick in. Smug twat.
I have now heard this transfer rumour from three different sources. It seems Arsenal are in for Sevilla’s Diego Capel. He is a traditional Pires-like left winger which Arsenal lack at the moment, quick and technically gifted. He has recently fallen out of grace for sevilla losing his place in their squad, and could be available for a reasonable amount of money.
Have to admit I was wavering abit. I thought there may be a bit of truth to this one.
Starting to calm myself about it all now. Cheers Darius.
I would like to mention that Barcelona seem to be able to act however they want.
Had this been the other way around then UEFA, FIFA would have words.
LOL ELS/Earl…
Breathe out and count to 10.
If you separate the wheat from the chaff, then you’ll quickly establish that all that is out there is pure speculation and shit stirring for the sake of creating sensational news that sells paper and advertising space.
What is fact is that Barcelona haven’t made a bid for Cesc, and Arsenal are not interested in selling. There’s a hell of a lot of shit in between.
If and when Arsenal choose to sell, it will be on Arsenal’s terms. Cesc is nowhere near a Boseman to insist that he wants to leave without commiting professional suicide. And besides, if Cesc was on the market, Manchester City will pay a hell of a lot more for Cesc than Barcelona. Don’t put it past Arsenal to farm him up the M1 for a better deal.
Darius,
The gap between the fact that Barca haven’t even made an enquiry to Arsenal about Fabregas’s availability – yet alone made a formal bid – and the fact that Arsenal are not interested in selling him could probably form a new mathematical equation!
But then again, maybe Barca have discovered a “wormhole” between the Nou Camp & the Emirates Stadium that nobody else is aware of, hehehehe.
i live in south africa, here most news sports agencies are british,ITV, Sky and Setanta. all we ever get and this on a annual basis is “Arsenal in Crisis” so much so that we expect it.
of course it odesnot help that out TV ” pundits are anti-gunners, Gary Bailey and Terry Paine MBE! for years the bastards have prayed on arsenal being relegated, out of the top 4, lose cesc or wenger! its depressing.
i persoanlly have gotten used to it, when Cesc leaves its all for the best, but i know for certain Arsenal and Wenger in particulat doesnt sell a player unless he trully once him gone.
LOL Magneto….tell me about it.
Bullshit = The derivative of vanity x arrogance ÷ a truckload of manure perennially irrigated by tabloid nonsense.
SkysportsNotNews and the gutter press are pumping this unfounded rubbish that Cesc has put in a transfer request, Fact number One is that Wenger isnt even in the country so how Cesc had this so called tearful meeting is beyond me, Fact Number Two is that Arsenal categorically state that there is no contact between Arsenal and Barcelona. Fact Number Three is that Barcelona (amazingly) have stated that they will make no approach and respect Arsenal’s wishes. So in summary no transfer request no deal being discussed and therefore no fucking story. Don’t Arsenal have lawyers to deal with this shit?
Go Darius! Go Darius!! Go Darius!!! Tell it like it is.
Thanks Darius.
I am at peace now (not that the hacks had changed my perspective). But the no response from Arsenal.com had me worried (just a little bit).
fuck the cyncism! luck brother darius said, it would be professioanl suicide for cesc to request a trasnsfer. just ade, hleb, flamini, overmas…
besides the young man, is too classy for that type of thing, i think.
Darn it! Why only now did you come up with this article. I already called in sick because of the transfer saga. Anyway great post. Thanks for reminding me that it’s just another summer rumor.
It does not help when you see such things
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_URazAPfz1c
magneto,
very well said
I try hard to get rid of my trash conscientiously however it is usually dispiriting when I discover just what many countries are doing to our world!
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