Cabaye to Arsenal...(what could've been)

[Jesus Was A Geordie]

Alright Gooners, congrats on the win tonight. Bit of a tedious game when all said and done but I'm glad you won it and sent out a message against negative football (Marseille were shocking in the 2nd half).

AAAAAANYWAY...

Was idly wasting my time looking for pictures of Cabaye's missus (we've got a little WAG thread over on our board) and came across this article from back in 2009:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1722/fre...ked-by-arsenal

What interested me was the comments section of the article:

One fan says

watch french football this guy is very gd but he won't sign 4 arsenal soz guyz lille will want a lot for him which wenger won't be prepared to pay and wenger says diaby deserves his chance in midfield and he wouldn't want to stiffle the chance of other midfielders i think this move is unlikely to happen

So Cabaye too expensive for Arsenal and others deserve a chance? I think few can argue he was an absolute steal at 4.5m, so what is it that put Arsene off do you think? Its not like you didn't want midfielders since then and he is still relatively young (25 in comparison to say Arteta, 29 and Benayoun, 31) and proving to be effective at this level and in this league...

Not gloating in a 'haha we got him' way as the Gervinho saga shows your club has far more pulling power than we do, but obviously somewhere along the line, Wenger must've given up but I can't for the life of me work out why...Any ideas from you lot?

 

[PINKIE]

I thought that link was going to be a picture of his missus

 

[Samurai]

1) Broken link

2) To be honest, we don't really need him. Benayoun and Arteta have been pretty good for us this season. And also, 2 years is a long time in football. A few weeks isn't. If at the end of the season he turns out to be a god for newcastle, we can sign him anyway

 

[Jesus Was A Geordie]

I thought that link was going to be a picture of his missus

Unfortunately not...She's proving to be very elusive!

 

[Sanj]

Does not even make it in the top 30 of players that we have missed out on.

 

[Jesus Was A Geordie]

1) Broken link

2) To be honest, we don't really need him. Benayoun and Arteta have been pretty good for us this season. And also, 2 years is a long time in football. A few weeks isn't. If at the end of the season he turns out to be a god for newcastle, we can sign him anyway

Fair enough, although regarding the highlighted section - in those 2 years he has gone onto represent the full National team and win the French League and Cup double...

As for buying him, get your chequebook out, he's going to cost you a fair few Million more than we paid for him (we only got him at the price that we did due to a release clause in his contract - I hope to every imaginable God that Newcastle haven't been stupid enough to allow him one in his current contract!)

 

[PINKIE]

Does not even make it in the top 30 of players that we have missed out on.

Where does his missus come in the Wag league?

 

[Sanj]

Where does his missus come in the Wag league?

Can't rank her as of yet because there is no pictures of this wag.

 

[PINKIE]

What's her name Geordie? - You can't write a thread about his missus and not provide a pic

 

[Sanj]

Actually thinking about all the names, Cabaye does make the top 30. So I correct myself on that.

 

[Amnesiac]

Actually thinking about all the names, Cabaye does make the top 30. So I correct myself on that.

I assume Ben Arfa is on that list?

 

[Sanj]

I assume Ben Arfa is on that list?

Yes.

Ronaldo
Drogba
Cech
Ibra
Alonso
Essien
Phil Jones
Chris Smalling
Yaya Toure
Juan Mata
Santi Carzola
Carrick
Vincent Kompany
Hazard
Ribery
Yoann Gourcuff
M’Villa
Gotze
Pepe Reina
De Jong
Inler
Zapata
Jadson
Benzema
Cabaye
Ben Arfa
Riccardo Montolivo
Sebastian Giovinco
SWP
Di Maria

 

[Jesus Was A Geordie]

Her name is Fiona Cabaye...

And if we're talking about players we COULD'VE signed I think we could trump you, if rumours are to be believed Newcastle's men in the know turned down a little known French midfielder, namely one Zinedine Zidane!

(also, we had the option of signing one of two Portugese starlets, Hugo Viana or Christiano Ronaldo...needless to say we went for the wrong option!)

 

[PINKIE]

Her name is Fiona Cabaye...

I googled her name.....

You must log in or register to see images

Not sure what you Geordie boys are into, but down south we like our girls with a bit less hair

 

[Jesus Was A Geordie]

I googled her name.....

You must log in or register to see images

Not sure what you Geordie boys are into, but down south we like our girls with a bit less hair

...She's French, what can you do?

 

[Topgun]

The player we missed out on and we will really regret was Mata. We had a 17 Mill fee agreed, Wenger stalled they upped the price to 23 Wenger wouldn't pay it but Chelski would. He is awesome and just what we needed, Damn it!!!

 

[Jesus Was A Geordie]

The player we missed out on and we will really regret was Mata. We had a 17 Mill fee agreed, Wenger stalled they upped the price to 23 Wenger wouldn't pay it but Chelski would. He is awesome and just what we needed, Damn it!!!

I didn't know this, £6m is hardly pocket change, but he is so dangerous it was surely worth it?

Far too early to write off your season and anything can happen in football, but with Citeh, Chelski and Manure seemingly strong enough to 'guarantee' themselves a top 4 spot. The shootout between yourselves, Liverpool and Spurs will hinge on players of his quality (or lack thereof).

While I'm here...What do you guys think of Gervinho, obviously we were after him as well and for the £13m? (or so I read) we were willing to pay for him, is he worth it? He has obvious pace but is it being used effectively and how is his end product so far?

 

[Sanj]

I didn't know this, £6m is hardly pocket change, but he is so dangerous it was surely worth it?

Far too early to write off your season and anything can happen in football, but with Citeh, Chelski and Manure seemingly strong enough to 'guarantee' themselves a top 4 spot. The shootout between yourselves, Liverpool and Spurs will hinge on players of his quality (or lack thereof).

While I'm here...What do you guys think of Gervinho, obviously we were after him as well and for the £13m? (or so I read) we were willing to pay for him, is he worth it? He has obvious pace but is it being used effectively and how is his end product so far?

He can beat people with a lot of ease but more often then not does not find his man with the final ball. This is his first season in England so he will given time but he really does need to improve with his final pass.

 

[PINKIE]

...She's French, what can you do?

Some of those French birds have never met a Brazilian....

 

[Jesus Was A Geordie]

He can beat people with a lot of ease but more often then not does not find his man with the final ball. This is his first season in England so he will given time but he really does need to improve with his final pass.

Yeah, from an outsider looking in, I'd pretty much agree with all of that. If I'm honest, with the small squad that we have, we don't have the luxury of time and so I'm quite glad we missed out on him in the end. Obertan is a poor mans version of him, but at only £2/3m he is far less of a risk!