Former Arsenal winger Perry Groves believes the North London club should sell Cesc Fabregas this summer and use the money to acquire some ‘natural leaders’, according to talkSPORT.
Arsenal’s chances of ending their 5 year trophy drought is quickly fading after their dire 1-1 draw against Liverpool at the Emirates on Sunday, which has left them 6 points behind Manchester United with 6 games to go.
But Groves believes the time has finally come for Arsene Wenger to sell his prize asset, captain Cesc Fabregas, in order to fund a mass spending spree this summer. The ex-Gunner told the talkSPORT ‘Drive Time’ show yesterday:
‘If Barcelona come in for Cesc Fabregas at the end of the season, if you get 40 or 50 milion for him, I’d actually let him go. Then spend that 40, 50 million on two players you need because Nasri can play in the centre of three, he’s outstanding there for France, Jack Wilshere has emerged and Aaron Ramsey’s coming in.’
‘I think Cesc Fabregas is mentally there but there’s a little bit of him that still wants to go to Barcelona and if that’s the case then say, ‘thanks Cesc, you’ve been a terrific player for us’ and you can use that money like Liverpool did with Torres and spend it on the side.’
Groves also pinpointed Arsenal’s failure this season purely on the lack of leadership within the squad, and insisted that it could have been a different story had Wenger invested in a couple of tough characters, with Gary Cahill and Scott Parker on top of the Englishman’s list:
‘I thought Arsene’s job in the transfer window in January was to go and buy a very strong British centre-half and maybe a combative midfielder. If you put Gary Cahill and Scott Parker in that side Arsenal would have won the title this season.’
‘At the beginning of the season I said it and a lot of other ex-Arsenal players said it, that there were no natural leaders in the squad, nobody who would take responsibility when things are going badly.’
‘You need different characters in your teams. They are all very good, technically gifted players, very mobile, but that doesn’t win you the Premier League.’
I am in total agreement with ‘Grovesy’ on this one. Although he is a great player, and has been for a number of years for the Gunners, I truly believe the time has finally come for Cesc Fabregas to leave Arsenal (sorry guys but I do).
This will clearly not go down well with a majority of the Arsenal faithful who are reading this, but I believe Wenger should sell the creative midfielder for at least £45 million this summer and spend the money wisely on strong, yet talented characters as Groves stated.
Whether these players are Scott Parker and Gary Cahill is up for debate, but at the end of the day, we need leadership to enhance our squad mentality, and ultimately, deal with scenarios which have cost us dearly this season.
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I know not many will agree with me but I actually agree with Grovesy here. I love the way Fabregas plays, he is technically gifted and has a footballing brain, but if we look at him this season, he looks like a player who regrets not going to Barcelona last season. It will be sad to see him leave because I do want him to stay but I personally think he looks like a player who doesn’t want to play for Arsenal and if that’s the case then he has to go.
The money we get in the summer transfer window and the money we get for him could really help us improve all areas of the pitch, we could get a solid centre back, two midfielders and a striker.
I also agree with what Grovesy said about Cahill and Parker, if we had them this season, we would have definately won the league. They are solid players and more importantly because there English they know about the game and the commitment levels. Anyway only time will tell whether Cesc stays or goes.