United are being linked with a 20m pound transfer for the former Arsenal captain Is he not worth a punt, he has great technical ability, passing range is brilliant and has premier league experience
Rather not. Attacking, pass cutting, tricky-dicky midfielders we are not short of. Use the £20m up-front.
No way. I despise the little weasel. Didn't win jack **** at Arse and had to hitch a ride off Messi/Iniesta's back to get a few medals. Definitely not a winner, and struggling to hold down a place in the Barca team suggests he is not as good as the adoring media make out. He has also disparaged us in the press before and has problems with Lampard. He hates us, we hate him. End Of.
He has played further forward of late but he played a deeper role before at Arsenal and that type of play maker is what many Chelsea fans have been crying out for. I wouldn't say no on a purely footballing level, though he is a little weasel and cheat (see dive in our semi with Barca last year).
Certainly not for 20 million. Where do the papers get this stuff from?? Like Barca are going to lose around 15 million on a player that they were so desperate to get back especially given Xavi has only so long left. File under 'bollox'.
Im pretty sure we have a 50% sell on clause in his contract, so they would lose even more money, plus they still owe us some of the original fee, around 5 million I believe.
Dont Arsenal have first option on a buyback as well? Meaning Barca have to offer him to Arsenal first if they decide to sell him and can only speak to other clubs if Arsenal say no
Yes, so im led to believe, basically wenger wanted 50 million for cesc, but barca were not going to pay that so the only way they got him for that price was because we put a load of clauses in the contract, such as 50% sell on and buy back. At the lime it seemed pointless as no one expected him to ever leave barca after the fuss they both made to make it happen. Looks like wenger knew what he was doing. If he leaves we will either get him back or get 10+million in cash.
