Champions League winners Barcelona are in no mood to rest. Already possessing one of the best teams in the world, the Spanish giants are ready to raise the bar even higher up by diving into the transfer market for some of the world’s best talents in spite of their financial troubles.
I wouldn’t be singing their praises if it wasn’t for their relentless chase of Arsenal skipper – our skipper – Cesc Fabregas.
Pep Guardiola has been reportedly handed a £40 million transfer kitty and has been granted permission by the club to sell players to raise further funds. Pep has three targets in mind this summer – Cesc Fabregas, Alex Sanchez and Giuseppe Rossi. With £90m required to sign all three, the Barca manager will have to raise almost £50 million from player sales. With Bojan already out (we hear a move to Roma is most likely), David Villa looks set to follow.
Cesc Fabregas is one of the most creative players around, and if he does leave, then we will be losing the focal point of our team’s every attacking move. I don’t see him at Arsenal next summer (I hope I’m wrong) and so it is important for the Gunners to get the best out of his sale. But the problem is that Barcelona are not ready to meet Arsenal’s £45 million valuation of their captain. So for both parties to come to a consensus, a swap deal between Cesc and Villa looks a viable option.
There have been no developments on this front officially, but a look at the pros and cons of this option wouldn’t be too far out of context.
Pros
If Barca sign Rossi, he is sure to occupy the right side of the attack with Messi possibly sitting as the striker whilst either Pedro or Sanchez fighting for the left of a three pronged attack. So Villa’s position as an automatic choice is in doubt. With Fabregas in the fold, Barcelona will be having the natural successor to Xavi in their ranks. Guardiola will have the option of choosing three from Busquests, Xavi, Iniesta and Fabregas to occupy the midfield
So, if Fabregas and Villa move in opposite directions, Arsenal’s attack will receive a massive boost. Arsenal play a similar style to the Catalans and Villa might fit in well. The 29-year-old can play in his favoured left wing position with van Persie as the striker and either Walcott or Gervinho on the right wing. This will also allow Nasri (if he stays) to move into his natural position behind the striker with Wilshere and Song alongside him. Arsenal’s attack will have a bit more zest with Villa amongst the ranks, and could form a lethal partnership with van Persie, providing the Dutchman remains fit of course.
Cons
The first stumbling block would be David Villa’s wages. He is believed to earn a little more than Cesc Fabregas, who is Arsenal’s highest paid player at present, and Wenger is known to be reluctant in offering such high wages to any player. Another issue is Villa’s age. He will be 30 in December, and though he is still a world class player, you have to say his best days are behind him. The biggest problem would be Villa’s state of mind itself. No one will leave a successful team like Barca willingly, especially after the Spaniard had such an influential debut season. If he had to leave this summer, then it might be for either Chelsea or Man City, where he could link up with fellow Spaniards Torres and David Silva respectively.
Though I would love to see Villa in the Arsenal colours as much as I want Fabregas to stay, I think any thoughts of a swap deal should not be entertained. If we hold strong in our £45 million valuation of Cesc, Barcelona might pull out of the race, meaning we will still have our captain next year, who in my opinion is the best midfielder in the English game. Importantly, if Arsene Wenger signs a few good players, Fabregas (and Nasri) would believe that they can win trophies at Arsenal, and if next year is a successful one, Fabregas will be happy to remain as a captain of a winning team. But, if we a get an acceptable offer and he leaves, then I am sure there are younger and better options for the Gunners to consider than David Villa.
This deal looks highly unlikely as both teams haven’t entertained such a deal, not yet anyway. But, if it were too miraculously ensue, would you agree with me that it wouldn’t benefit us much? Or will such a deal help end Arsenal’s trophy drought?
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“focal point of our team’s every attacking move”
Maybe this is why we have failed lately, we need more options now.
I think Cesc should go, and Nasri kept.
Rebuild the team with multiple options, that can be changed during a match, as most teams have sussed out how to deal with our single minded attack strategy.
Being the focal point doesn’t mean Fab does everything. Look at all the big teams. Messi for Barca, CR7 for RM, Rooney for ManU. The team is built around these players.The game flows through these so called playmakers. It doesn’t transalate to them carrying the team on their shoulders.
FABREGAS IS NOT AS GOOD A PLAYMAKER AS NASRI. HE SHOULD MOVE ON AND LEAVE THAT SPACE FOR NASRI
wat vry swt swap, dat’s if AW allow d deal 2 hold
I think this deal would be not bad for arsenal, villa is a world class player and would fit in well with arsenal. However, I feel that fab is worth more than villa because of his age and recent form. I think a deal involving affelay and keita would be good because keita is an experienced player who would serve as good backup for our midfilders and affelay is a good winger with pace and could let nasri move into the centre and take febregas’ role and would probably leave us with money left over for a world class striker
Absolute rubbish idea..AW will NEVER spend big on a 30 year old, I don’t care who it is! Besides, he wants to keep Cesc and it is clear that these sentiments are mutual. Most likely we’ll cut a cut price attacker (Gervinho?), combined with a youth loanee coming back (Ryo,Bartley,Lamsbury?)and maybe a new CB (Cahill/Samba?) to partner the Verminator. Wenger will keep Nasri and with all the new talent coming up, will have a stronger bench that last season. He will spend around 20-25M Euro max and hope that injuries and fatigue don’t cause another meltdown in the run-in.
Villa will NOT move to Arsenal.It’s a good idea but I can’t see him taking a massive cut in wages in order to move to a worse club.