I am disappointed in his lack of ambition to succeed at Arsenal, who are also the club that offered him regular first team football at such a young age and nurtured him and educated him a lot over the last 8 years. Not to mention one that bumped up his wages a few times too and handed him the captaincy. That only adds to his responsibility and commitment levels at the club, which stregthens

I can’t believe I’ve spent most of the summer worrying who will join Arsenal this season. As now I’m worried about who is going to leave the club.

Cesc Fabregas appears to be on his way to Barcelona and Nasri could be off to Man City, a Premier League rival.

I look at the Fabregas thing in two lights really. One being the ‘if I was in his position and was at Barcelona winning nothing and Arsenal, European and English champions and winning something every year, came in for me I’d be licking my lips at joining my boyhood club’ light.

The other being the ‘Fabregas has shown a lack of ambition and why did he leave his boyhood club in the first place?’ light. Because let’s not forget that we got him from Barcelona. We didn’t handcuff him, tie him up and force him to join Arsenal. He wanted to come. If he loved Barcelona as much as he claims to, why did he leave in the first place, and so early in his career?

I frown upon him for jumping ship at a time when the team appears not too far away from glory, if a couple of signings come in, and one that he is captain of. Doesn’t this factor of added responsibility come into his mind at all when considering jumping ship? I don’t blame him for wanting to win trophies, but even he said himself that he is only in his mid- twenties and has plenty of time yet, so there’s no need to rush off. He used Puyol as a good example, he didn’t win anything until he was 26 and look at his trophy collection now. So I do blame Fabregas for impatience and not showing Arsenal the ‘love’ he claims to feel for the club. If he did love Arsenal, he wouldn’t be so keen to leave. He has affection for the club, probably a large amount of it, but he doesn’t love it.

I do think he’s shown a lack of ambition too. You may read that sentence and think ‘wow TL Gooner’s lost it!’ but hear me out. He has been at Arsenal for 8 years and won 1 FA Cup, 6 years ago. He’s going to look back on his career at Arsenal partly as ‘mission failed’ on the basis he only won 1 FA Cup in 8 years. For me it shows a lack of courage and ambition to not stay until he’s won a trophy here (it’s not as if we’re a million miles away is it?), particularly with him being captain. He has never really seemed to appreciate what it means to be Arsenal captain, not turning up to games or even watching them when he’s been unavailable for example.

So I am disappointed in his lack of ambition to succeed at Arsenal, who are also the club that offered him regular first team football at such a young age and nurtured him and educated him a lot over the last 8 years. Not to mention one that bumped up his wages a few times too and handed him the captaincy. That only adds to his responsibility and commitment levels at the club, which stregthens the argument even more that he is doing the wrong thing leaving. If, of course, he does leave. Don’t forget; to assume makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.

Also, he probably isn’t even going to be getting in the team at Barcelona if he goes there. I can’t see who they’re going to drop to get him in as a first choicer. Which only makes his desire to leave even more baffling to me.

So, he or Nasri for that matter aren’t gone yet, but assuming by the time you’re reading this article Fabregas, at least, has gone I think he is doing the wrong thing. I think he has been very respectful, loyal and affectionate to Arsenal over the last 8 years, but he is damaging that now by wanting to leave at a time when things already seem bleak at the club and has done it literally just before the season starts (or maybe even just after it which would be just as bad) rather than getting it out of the way with back in May or June. I know that’s not totally in his control but I think a lot of this transfer is and always has been in his hands to a large extent.

But we’re a big club, with at least £60 million potentially to spend if Fabregas and Nasri leave and we will move on as we always have done and like Lee Dixion says, the cannon on the shirt is a lot more important than any one individual who plays for the team. He would be a big loss but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. We would still have a good team + £60 million plus the money we already have for transfers. It would be quite exciting in a way.

Mean Lean’s Response

Thanks TL Gooner, he is still at Arsenal just about it seems.

This is a tough one really, but to be honest, I don’t feel annoyed with Cesc Fabregas. He has been a total professional during his time at Arsenal and the lure of going back ‘home’ was always going to be a little too strong for even the persuasive Arsene Wenger.

Whether we were winning league titles every year, I still think he would have jumped ship at some point. You put the point across very well in your piece. If I was playing for Barcelona and Arsenal came calling, playing (I hate to say it) the best football in the world with many of my good friends there, then I would be begging for a move to my beloved Gunners.

Many players would have been slagging off our club in the media or refused to turn up for training etc etc but Cesc has always respected Arsenal. His Spanish team mates at Barcelona have been the ones to have behaved disgustingly over the last few years.

I mentioned this earlier on Twitter but as good as a player as Cesc is, and cor blimey on his day he is very good. One of the best players in his position. We haven’t won any silverware. Is that Cesc’s fault directly? No. He has consistently been one of our better players but silverware does not depend on having Cesc in your team. Manchester United, Inter Milan, Barcelona and the rest of the teams who regularly pick up silverware do not have Cesc in their squads.

Maybe losing a top top player like Cesc and then strengthening the side in other areas to give us other options may actually make us stronger in the long run.

My first thought was back when West Ham sold Julian Dicks to Liverpool, he was their best player at the time but Billy Bonds (I think at the time) reinvested that money across the pitch and made them a stronger outfit overall.

We are not West Ham but the same applies. What must happen if either or both Cesc and Nasri are sold, is the money going back on bringing in quality replacements. We have already heard our staff saying that Wenger has already identified targets so let us see where we are.

I was very upset when Thierry Henry was sold and wondered where we would go and then we ended up improving as a team. Even if Cesc and Nasri leave the club on the same day we should keep our heads until at least the transfer window is closed before we pass judgement.

We could end the season as a better team than last season. Who knows.