Fabregas Transfer Talk + Arshavin Talks Transfers

I don’t like reading transfer speculation at a time when the whole team should be focused on each game that is akin to a cup final. As I don’t like it I normally ignore the dross, but I’ve to sneak a peak. Amongst the regular load of tosh a couple of articles were quite vexing.

First was the rumour linking El Capitan with Inter spiced up with Balotelli and quite some money thrown in. Now, if you know any Indians you’d know that we love our spices. But using them is an art form and you can’t randomly throw a few together as was done with that rumour or you just end up with an unpalatable concoction. As far as the transfer goes, I’m not really concerned. The annoying bit is the last line from the agent,

Have we received proposals from Italy? Yes, but not only from there.

The agent has openly stated that they have received proposals. Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t they need approval from Arsenal before they can receive proposals? If not, wouldn’t this be a clear case of tapping up? Are agents allowed to speak with other clubs without the permission of the club that owns the registration?

To an extent this is considered normal, after all Barca have been at it for a couple of seasons now. Still it’s more through the media and indirect channels. I doubt if they have contacted Fabregas’ agent.

I’d be really worried if Arsenal have indeed given Fabregas the permission to speak with other clubs and I’d be completely pissed if our captain is being tapped. Let’s hope somebody clears this up.

In the next piece of annoying business Arshavin is reportedly talking down our title chances due to the lack of signings. I guess everyone must have read the comments by now but here they are just for reference,

I am still of the opinion that to win trophies Arsenal needs more players.

There is the simple fact that last summer we sold two players and bought only one. So there is an obvious deficit of at least one. Then we lost Van Persie, Gibbs and Ramsey for a long time. So for me it is natural we need new players.

Without the variety of players we have less diversity in attack. That allows our opponents to read our combinations more easily. Finally, it results in less ball possession for us and our defence comes under more pressure.

The Premier League is very interesting, at least as long as we continue fighting to win it. But without new experienced players, real stars, it will be difficult to achieve success.

Ideally we need three or four such experienced players and then among our youths there should be guys who are not only good at playing football but have real character.

Apparently, The Sun got these from an interview of Arshavin with Russian TV. Two things are conspicuous by their absence. One is the date of the original interview and the other is the actual question that put to our sharp shooting Russian.

I cannot believe Arshavin would have said these words in the last few days. He speaks his mind and I love him for that but he’s smart enough to know the impact his words can have. Of course, the mention of Ramsey means it has to be after the Stoke game. That is the reason I feel the original question is very important. The hack might have asked him about the long term and not about this season in particular. That would explain and to an extent justify these words. I think we all, including Le Boss, agree that we will need more players in the summer. Perhaps even established and experienced ones.

Just goes to show once you eliminate the context it’s too easy to create a controversy. Is this another vile attempt by the media to create further pressure on the ‘foreign’ team challenging for a title they never thought possible? Well, if the Shawcrosses and Atkinsons of this world couldn’t do it, I doubt if the hacks at Sun can break the spirit of this side.