I don't like Chelsea, and I would not like Cesc to go there. I like Cesc the Arsenal player a lot and if he goes to Chelsea I will have so much mixed feelings

But if the money is good, why not. Cesc never really fit in our game, so I think he will be better off and we will be better off. It was just not meant to be.

eelir wrote:It was just not meant to be.

That's probably the kindest way of looking at it. Me being not so kind tends to think if only that hadn't happened in how many ways we could have been benefitted.

We could have a good Xavi replacement in Thiago for starters. I never wanted him to join us when he joined us, but i believed he will jell in. I was really wrong. He is not a CM at all and we have no place for AM or fake 9 with Messi in this team.

Am I the only one that would rather get a younger guy than Mathieu? We've been after this guy for years and hes just getting older.

And I seriously, seriously doubt Cesc accepts a move to Chelsea. cesc is hardcore Gunner.

Only rumor I am reading that I believe is that Mascherano is renewing

At the rate Zubi drags his feet with transfers he will still be talking to Bravos agents when he realizes the transfer ban is back on and we will be screwed for an entire year with the same ageing squad (Mathieu will be like 33 by the time the transfer ban is taken off..which is really why i don't want him. If we cant sign players for an entire year after his summer, then why sign old players? We need players for the long haul)

eelir wrote:We could have a good Xavi replacement in Thiago for starters. I never wanted him to join us when he joined us, but i believed he will jell in. I was really wrong. He is not a CM at all and we have no place for AM or fake 9 with Messi in this team.

100% spot on. I also didn't want him to join but somehow felt he would try to recover the player he was when he started his career as a deep lying midfielder. dani, mole and others said clearly at that time that wouldn't happen and they were absolutely right.

I dont mind Mathieu, but he cant be the ONLY one. Thats really the crux of it.

I dont care if we sign a young guy or an old guy, there is benefit to each..but they cant be the only one.

If you haven't already seen this it's worth noting carefully.

Guillem Ballague says Cesc is being pushed out by Barcelona. He has clearly been told to find a new club and has insisted on taking his own time to do so. Price has been fixed at E35m. As soon as we get that money we will bid for Koke with it.

Also Arsenal have said they don't want Cesc back. This doesn't surprise me because the day they signed Ozil it was clear that the door was closed on Cesc.

So if Arsenal clearly don't want him I'd say he has every right to join any club in EPL without being thought of as a traitor or something like that by anyone.

Rakitic's father: "His brother, who is his agent, has offers by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico. But we won't make any decisions until after the WC. But the offers are not any better than what he currently has at Sevilla, where he is like a God."

http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/barca/rakitic-tiene-una-oferta-del-barca-3288816

The Franchise wrote:I dont mind Mathieu, but he cant be the ONLY one. Thats really the crux of it.

I dont care if we sign a young guy or an old guy, there is benefit to each..but they cant be the only one.

Agree 100%

Problem is it looks like Mathieu is gonna be the guy and Mascherano will renew

So thats gonna be it. Plus if they replace Alves with Cuardrado...I mean wtf

Obvious at this point I have like ZERO faith in Zubi and the board lol

Rakitic for 25m or Koke for 40 (or heaven forbid 60m buyout)?

TBH windkick, none of us can have ANY faith whatsoever in Zubi as you already know. Its not news to you that it has been wrong decisions after non decision after wrong decision for about 4 years.

For anyone else, you would think that after saying "we must find Puyol's successor", signing a 32 year old and keeping a poorly performing DM pretending to be a defender would be unthinkable. For us, not only is it very much possible, its almost probable.

The less said about Cuadrado for Alves, the better.

Cadena Ser and Mundo are reporting the Cesc has agreed terms with Chelsea.

Dont tease me. Wont believe it (nor celebrate) till I see his face in a Chelsea shirt.

Yeah I'm going to wait till I see it too, but its a sign lol

The signing of Bravo as a Barca player will be made official within 48 hours [tv3]

Just can't see Cesc agreeing to join Chelsea. Would be like one of our old players joining Real Madrid

Atleti's president saying Koke will stay at Atleti next season for sure.

"Con total seguridad, Koke jugará con nosotros la temporada que viene." (Enrique Cerezo, presidente de @Atleti, en @AM630ESPNRADIO)

Selling Cesc to Chelsea would be retarded, unless it's crazy money (€ 50M+). He will strenghten them so much. In Mourinho's counterattacking layout his general scrappiness won't even matter. He can ping long balls for fun on the break and give them 20 goals and 20 assists from midfield. Matic, Cesc, Oscar with Hazard and a proper striker upfront under Mourinho is CL favourite material.

If they don't get caliber like Koke it's pointless to sell him and strenghten European rivals.

Reports that in the next coming days we will announce the signing of Claudo Bravo from Real Sociedad. Deal to be 8M plus they get Bojan on loan.

I mean WTF are we still loaning Bojan out?! Just let Sociedad have him at this point. Does Zubi plan on loaning him out every single season to a new club until he's 30? Let him settle in somewhere already

in before we sell Cesc + 40M for Cuadrado

No rumours about Verratti ? The only one out there who can replace Xavi imo.

Valkyrja wrote:No rumours about Verratti ? The only one out there who can replace Xavi imo.

Among the names I have thought of and/or heard mentioned are Gundogan, Pogba, Pjanic, Rakitic and Koke. Somehow this name slipped the minds of some of us. Nice suggestion. I have always rated him high.

Meh, first of all we arent in Chelsea's league, not worried about making them stronger at all.

Second, with our without Cesc they would give us major problems in any CL game. Its just law.

Thirdly, Cesc has been a flop in most big games so I aint worried about him individually.

More importantly, if he did sign, what happens to Oscar? I am not one of those who actually believe in him when played in that deeper position. Not seeing it. His defence strength doesnt like in his actual defensive attributes, but his ability to tactically do a job, nullifying the deep lying playmaker of the team. Playing in deep midfield is a different job.

As for Bravo

Why are we signing a back up for this amount of money? Just use Masip for christ sake...

And what's the point of signing Bravo anyway? If MATS messes up a couple times, we are going to drop him and ruin his confidence?

The Franchise wrote:Second, with our without Cesc they would give us major problems in any CL game. Its just law.

Thinking about it, that gives me some sort of comfort.

The Franchise wrote:

As for Bravo

Why are we signing a back up for this amount of money? Just use Masip for christ sake...

And what's the point of signing Bravo anyway? If MATS messes up a couple times, we are going to drop him and ruin his confidence?

This seems to be on Lucho who apparently prefers 3 keepers (1 with experience) whereas Zubi suggested Masip to be 2nd behind Mats.

If Luis Enrique wants a keeper with experience, I guess its reasonable. But there isnt some free/cheap guy out there? Find that hard to believe.

8m and bojan loan isn't too bad honestly and bravo isn't some scrub..
i think it is a pretty decent buy as we need a keeper good enough to start for us, and knows the league well.
Bravo for now will probably be our starter but pushed out to be our next pinto.

The Franchise wrote:Meh, first of all we arent in Chelsea's league, not worried about making them stronger at all.

Second, with our without Cesc they would give us major problems in any CL game. Its just law.

Thirdly, Cesc has been a flop in most big games so I aint worried about him individually.

More importantly, if he did sign, what happens to Oscar? I am not one of those who actually believe in him when played in that deeper position. Not seeing it. His defence strength doesnt like in his actual defensive attributes, but his ability to tactically do a job, nullifying the deep lying playmaker of the team. Playing in deep midfield is a different job.

Summed it up so logically and wonderfully that there's hardly anything left to say.