Arsenal MUST Keep Fabregas
Losing Henry meant the end of an era. We saw what happened last year for Arsenal without him. They had trouble scoring, but still managed to keep a Champion’s League spot.
When he was sold this summer to Barcelona, the blow was lightened by the fact that we had already survived a season without him. Many pundits were saying that Arsenal were going to fall apart and that Henry leaving meant the end of success.
This is not the case, however, and there have been less articles saying this since the dust settled. Obviously, losing Arsene Wenger would be the hardest thing ever for Arsenal to take. Then we could assume that Arsenal are in crisis.
I believe that Wenger is going to sign a new contract, so I’m not necessarily worried about that. He has waited until the end to sign new contracts on all previous occasions in the past. In terms of players, the biggest loss for the Arsenal would be Spanish midfielder Francesc Fabregas.
With Schuster signing on as coach of Real Madrid, he has opened the rumor floodgates of Arsenal players leaving yet again. Apparently on his shopping list was Arjen Robben from Chelsea, Kaka from AC Milan, and Fabregas. It seems now that AC Milan have issued a “hands off” warning on Kaka. According to Marca, Schuster is now focusing on Fabregas. Apparently he believes that since Thierry is gone, Fabregas won’t stay because he feels the team will be unsuccessful. The only way the team would be unsuccessful is actually if Fabregas did leave.
Arsene has essentially built the team around Cesc since he emerged as a very worthy replacement for Patrick Viera. Almost every attack is started through the young midfielder. His amazing vision of the field and uncanny ability to piss every opposing coach and player off is something that money can’t buy. He is irreplaceable. Sure Arsenal has very talented backup in Diaby and Denilson, but no one compares to Cesc.
With Cesc being in the center of the field, he plays a much more active role in the team than Henry did in recent years. Thierry had a few games where he just completely disappeared, but Arsenal were still able to pull through for the victory. When Cesc is having a rare off-day, Arsenal seems to lose a large part of their creativity. Luckily, Cesc has the stamina to play what seems to be 100s of games in a row without taking a day off. This actually shows a large weakness in the way Arsenal play. What would happen if Fabregas were to get hurt at the beginning of next season? Or worse, what would happen if Fabregas requested a transfer to Spain?
It is well known that Fabregas wants to play back in Barcelona some day. And who can blame him for wanting to play for his boyhood favorite team. But if Arsenal were to lose Fabregas this transfer season, we would be in BIG trouble.
I don’t think Cesc will leave this season. I don’t think Arsenal will go into a crisis. I actually think next season will be a very successful one for them, even though everyone seems to think they won’t even get fourth. Why? I don’t know. But, you never know what could happen in football. I could blink and before I knew it Cesc could be feeding those sharp passes to Ruud van Nistelrooy. Here’s hoping that that doesn’t happen.
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Discussion - 7 Responses
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We wont lose Fabregas as long as Wenger is our coach.
I think hell stay at arsenal too but if he doesnt we will be in the shit..
I think Fabregas will leave to Barca in 6 years..I hope
Good article.
I agree that, at present, fabregas would be a bigger loss than henry, if he were to leave.
I wouldnt read too much into Real’s claims. Its in their ‘;blood’ to declare interest in all the good players, year in year out. Last year was the same. In the end, they didnt sign any of those specific players
If Fab does want to play for Barca one day, I doubt again that he’ll leave for Real
I think that Cesc is a wonderful player and believe that he’ll continue to play for Arsenal for many years to come.
However, I completely disagree with this idea that the team would collapse if he were to leave or be injured for a lengthy period of time.
First of all, the squad already has within it other players who could provide the type of creativity that the team would need to set up goals…step forward Rosicky; Hleb; Denilson. These players could simply move into central midfield positions and provide the type of creativity necessary to help set up goals.
Second, if Cesc were to disappear - for whatever reason - the team would simply adapt and cope without him, as Arsenal have learnt to do when other major players have left the club over the years.
Third, Cesc is both a solution to Patrick Vieira leaving, but also a new problem for the team too, as his inclusion leaves the team short of physical presence in midfield that oppostion teams attempt to take advantage of.
So whilst I would be disappointed if Cesc were to leave,
part of me would really welcome the opportunity for Arsene to return to the days of having two 6 foot plus, complete midfield players in the centre of the park…players who can defend & attack well with equal measure, and who won’t be bullied or intimidated by anyone.
So while I’d like Cesc to stay at the club for the time being, if he were to leave, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It’d simply create an opportunity for the team to
return to having two midifield enforcers & creators, as was the case in the hey day of Vieira & Petit.
I do agree with magneto on the size issue. There was a time when arsenal were called the big bullies, what with the physical presences of viera, keown, adams, campbell. The arsenal side of today is a more fleet footed fluent one, which sad to say sometimes misses the physical aspect. But diaby seems to be one of those’bullies’ and the same goes for eboue. But cesc is heart of the team and it will be bad if he leaves(but he wont be going to madrid, it will be to barca), but denilson is an identical clone, albeit a younger one and rosicky for his tiny size, plays like a bull. Losing Cesc will be a problem, but they can cover it, only it will take some more time. Dont think some of the bigger players have that much patience(Listen to gallas’ latest rant)………….
A number things to point out:
-cesc is a huge barca fan, he must surely hate madrid
- he has 7 years left on his contract
- real are not the team they used to be( if it was who had the best goal diff they would have been behind barca by about 25 goals last season)
- Real think they can get whoever they want- not true(Henry, c ronaldo, Vieira, wenger, kaka)
- the players that real have are either too old or not good enough.(baptista anyone?)
- arsenal play better football
- arsenal’s youth have more potential
- arsenal have a better manager
- they consistently get rid of managers
- THEY PLAY GUTI (one of the most overated players ever)
Well, Cesc is unquestionably a classy player and a worthy weapon in Arsenal’s arsenal. Nevertheless, I don’t agree on the point that he is a replacement of Patrick. No, that’s not true i think. At least for the moment. Moreover, when you talk about “attack initialized through him”, you certainly downplayed the power of Arsenal’s right wing where, besides usual winger, Eboué always tend to lean forward. Add Touré to this list and you get a very good attacking partnership. This is, however, unfortunate that Arsenal was unable to convert even 50 percent of the chances into goals last season, which is due to the absence of Henry and van Persie plus the presence of useless Baptista. But this is obvious and true that Arsenal must keep Cesc in order to advance next season. Especially in the backdrop of bye bye Henry.
Once Arsenal finish in the top 4, they should be alright, but they have to win something. The FA Cup would be fine. Real can go to hell, thinking they can have whoever they want.