Barcelona and Walcott rejected 4 June, 2010

So finally some sort of official confirmation of the Cesc deal came out the other day and it was what you would expect really – Arsenal rejecting Barcelona’s offer which was reported to be around the £30m mark. We are never going to accept a figure as low as that for one of the best players in the world, with or without a player coming our way too. If Fabregas is to go, we wont let him go cheaply, I suspect we will hold out for at least £50m, but then personally I wouldn’t even want to sell him for that.

Our response via Arsenal.com was strongly worded and told Barcelona exactly where they can shove it. I’m sure you have read it but this final sentence deserves a bit more air time:

“To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word.”

Arsenal are pointing Barcelona out for the sneaky, tapping-up, shit-stirring bastards they are – but this wont stop them. They seem to think they have some divine right to take Cesc back because he was a part of their youth system but that bollocks. It’s like us saying to West Ham, “Oh we need a defender, give us Mathew Upson back because he’s pretty much ours anyway. We’ll give you a couple million just for your troubles.” It’s not how it works, if they want Cesc they’ll have to put in a proper bid just like any other side would that wanted him. We won’t enter discussions to agree on a price for our captain but we can’t stop Barcelona making more bids, so all we can do is just let them and keep rejecting them. Maybe eventually they’ll offer us something too good to turn down but until then he will remain firmly an Arsenal player.

However out of all of this it is clear that Cesc has expressed some degree of desire to leave Arsenal, which is quite frankly upsetting. As soon as I hear that someone doesn’t want to be at the club anymore I think, ‘fuck ‘em then, we don’t want them either’ but this is Cesc Fabregas we’re talking about. I refuse to believe he has lost his love for Arsenal I just think that the Barcelona cries have become too much and he’s asking to go at the wrong point in his career. In my opinion as a fan he’s still got two or three years here and then he can still go to Spain in his prime and everyone’s happy, no? Well we’ll have to see, this one’s gonna drag out all summer long and it’s going to be as boring as hell.

Theo Walcott has been left out of the England squad for the World Cup as I’m sure you know by now but I think it still needs comment. It’s the first time in a long time (or possibly ever, I can’t be arsed to look it up) that not a single Arsenal player is representing England at the competition and I don’t like it. I am a proud Englishman and I will support the country every time as hard as I find it but it always makes it that bit better if there’s at least one Arsenal player involved. Now I’m going to have to somehow support that pack of Tottenham and Chelsea players all summer and it’s going to suck.

Theo’s had terrible luck with injury this season and it’s destroyed his World Cup chances. Capello made it very clear that he would be taking players to South Africa that have been playing regularly and are in form going into the competition and you can’t really say that Walcott fits into either of those categories. It’s a real shame for Theo and a disappointment to all English Gooners. However he’s a young boy and he’s got two or possibly even three more chances at going to the World Cup so it’s not the end of the world. This exclusion will make him hungrier next time around and hopefully make him realize he has to achieve more at Arsenal.

The less players going to South Africa the less injuries we’ll pick up too (hopefully). The official squads have all been confirmed now and 11 Arsenal players will be at the World Cup. However that does include Gallas, Senderos and of course Fabregas who are not all certain to be with us next season.

In other news Ramsey has signed a new long-term contract. I think I speak for us all when I say I look forward to his return next season and I hope he makes a strong and successful recovery.

Ok that’s it then. Sorry for another absent period on the blog, just been enjoying the sun a bit too much. Thanks for reading.