I have no idea what to think of the whole Fabregas situation.
On the negative side, the points I'm unhappy with are:
- Selling your best player is very likely to hurt your already minimal title chances.
- Possible mass exodus by anyone who views Arsenal as unambitious.
- Getting less than market value for Cesc looks bad.
- How do you replace a player who created the most scoring chances last season of ANYONE playing in one of the top leagues? (Opta stats)
On the other hand the following rebuttals make me feel good about the deal and about cutting the cord with Cesc:
- Juventus in the early 00's (2002?) were forced to sell Zidane, and used the money to rebuild their squad adding Thurham, Buffon and Nedved. They went on to win the title that year, ending a 3 year drought.
- Arsenal did a similar squad re-build when we sold Nicholas Anelka to Real Madrid and got Henry among others with those funds. If we actually buy 1 or 2 non injury prone mids, and a centreback (preferably two), we could be further ahead, as there is still lots of creativity going forward in this side. However there are no guarantees we would buy perfectly and adequately replace Cesc.
- Clearly Cesc is worth more than the reported 35 million + waiving of his "loyalty" bonus, especially in today's market. However with only one buyer, since he will refuse to go anywhere else, our hands are tied on getting a fair deal for him. Given the circumstances, this is the best we could hope for sadly. The player and his eventual new club have been working together it would seem and there's not much you can do about it.
- While getting less than market is not excused by anything (as you should always attempt to maximize your assets regardless of how little you paid), I can't help but feel better after remembering that we took him from Barca's academy for a minimal development fee (rumoured to be 2M after a tribunal stepped in) and are now selling him back at a massive fee. We could do worse than stealing Barca's youngsters for peanuts, getting 8 years of top notch service out of them, and then selling them back for 35 million. We should do this all the time as a means of raising 33 million every few years.
- Cesc is a top talent no doubt, but with Arsenal's attack first system I have no doubt other players could still create a lot of chances if given a shot. Perhaps not as much, but our defensive frailities are still the major problem in my eyes, not our forward prowess.
- Cesc was not someone who could lead you to honours. He again is a top talent and we are lesser off if we don't replace him, but looking at his appearance records he always seems to get hurt near the crunch time of seasons, and as such we only get 20-25 / 38 games from our best player. Your best players need to not be injured so much, a recurring problem with Arsenal. Perhaps a healthier replacement would actually benefit us, even if they aren't quite as good.
I am not saying I am happy with it, but I am not sure it is total doom if we sell him (and Nasri). I am taking a wait and see approach in regards to this transfer.
The team itself is screwed though, should we not address our more pressing needs of a centre back.
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