To be honest, Fabregas is probably the best player we could ever get to come to the club at this point in time if he suddenly wanted to leave Barca. I doubt he will leave, but I would happily take him back even we "miss out" on the 50% sell on. I don't think that clause is prohibitive to him moving back at all, it probably just solidifies Barcelona's commitment to him tbh as they won't ever have a motive to sell him to someone else as they'll lose a lot of money. Also, I guess it depends on what you mean by a "top, top striker" but most of them cost more than 30 million nowadays and wouldn't come to us. But like you said this whole topic is meaningless as it'll only ever be purely hypothetical as I still think Fab loves it there and will stay there for the rest of his career.
Arsenal must take Fabregas if he is available. He is a genius - and i would like him to leave Barcelona.
Guys...when Xavi retires in 2 or 3 seasons time, Fab will be right there to replace him. No way hed ever leave Barcelona except maybe when hes 35, so he can have one final season somewhere else.
If that was to happen, and I don't think it will, we would have a midfield that would be as good or even better than Barcelona. Put Jack in the middle and play Arteta as DM and the trophys would come rolling back, regardless of whoever else played. What a wonderful thought to carry me through the day! Thank you Piskie.
Are you serious? Better than Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta? Arteta is so good he hasn't got a single Spain cap and the other two are clearly worse than Barcelona's starters.
Arteta has been underestimated his whole career, but he started in the Barca youth team. Him and Xabi Alonso were considered equals, and if it wasn't for Arteta playing for clubs like Rangers and Everton, I think they still would be. As for Wilshere, Fabregas and Cazorla, I don't see much difference between them and Xavi/Iniesta. With Wilshere, Cazorla and Arteta we'll have the best midfield in the league.
I think a lot hinges on how Wilshere recovers from injury. If the other top sides played a midfield three I guess you'd have Toure, Garcia, Nasri/Silva Carrick, Scholes, Kagawa Lucas, Allen, Sahin Sandro, Parker, Dembele
City have a strong midfield and along with Arsenal will dominate midfield battles this season. Utd, Liverpool and Spurs don't compete in the middle of he park. Chelsea have a few interesting players though mainly going forward rather than actually the midfield.
I see a lot of people talking about how **** Utd's midfield and defence are, how do you explain the fact they'll finish above us in the table again?
Personally I cant understand any of the animosity towards Fabregas. WE ALL KNEW HE WAS GOING TO LEAVE YEARS BEFORE IT HAPPENED. He grew up in Barcelona, went through their youth academy, his whole family are Barca Season ticket holders. Of course he wanted to play for them. I dont believe Fabregas would have left us for ANY other club.
Surely if you have a 50% sell on clause and you buy him back for £30million, wouldnt Barca then have to give you back £15million of the money you just gave them, unless it states in the contract that the sell on clause only applies to every club except Arsenal.
Do Chelsea not count as a top side? I think if we were to offer to buy him back, we'd suggest removing the clause but be able to buy him for cheaper. So if people were offering £30 million for him, they'd only get £15 million where we could then offer £25 million and tell them to forget about the 50% sell on clause.
Lets face it, apart from Real Madrid players, most players would leave for Barca ina heartbeat. It is the best side in the world.
Because they have good wingers and forwards. Have you ever seen Utd play? It's just cross after cross after cross, they rarely dominate teams in the middle of the park.
How do you know that they are going to finish above us in the table? I assume with the same certainty that everyone knew that Chelsea would finish above us last season.
