Cesc Fabregas signed for Barcelona today but took time to praise Arsene Wenger and the football club which had been his home for the last eight years.
“Wenger is very special and is like a second father for me. I can never thank him for all he has given me. If I am here today it is largely thanks to him. I have a special relationship with Wenger and he didn’t want me to go for 29, nor 40 or 80 million. He always made that clear but common sense prevailed. I will never forget what he has done for me.
“I couldn’t even talk when I wanted to say how grateful I was for what he has done to me, so I had to send a message afterwards saying thanks for everything”.
And as he penned a 5 year deal at his boyhood club he paid tribute to Arsenal. “Today I am not at Arsenal but the club is always bigger than any player. Saying goodbye to my teammates was a tough day, very sad, but life goes on and I have a great challenge here.
“I came to Arsenal when I was 16. At 18 I played a Champions League final. At 21 I was already captain. It was beyond all my expecations, but I come here with a lot of humility”.
The summer was difficult for Arsenal fans and there was frustration at Cesc’s part in the deal but he revealed he was under orders from the club to stay quiet.
“I am sorry I couldn’t say anything for the last two and half months, Arsenal would not allow me to talk, I was disappointed and upset about that but it had to be like that. I still have, personally, a great relationship with them and I am disappointed to have maybe lost some of the fans.
“I am sorry I couldn’t say anything, I am sorry. I was very, very sad to be leaving. I spent a third of my life there – eight years. That is the biggest regret I will have in my career – not to be able to lift a trophy as Arsenal captain.”
This shirt does not suit him well
I will bawl my eyes out again.
looked better in red
I’m still struggling over the fact we got so little for a player of his calibre, especially as he had 4 years left on his contract.
Arsenal really do suck at haggling.
I think the club was between a rock and hard place and dragged it on to get as much out of the deal as possible. There was only ever one buyer and that will reduce our leverage in the deal.
I don’t think people quite realise how difficult haggling is when your product wants to be consumed by the entity trying to acquire it.
Imagine how easy fishing would be if they just jumped into the boat.
Understand how you feel but Wenger doesn’t spend that much anyway!!
With Fabregas gone, there is nobody in the squad with more than 200 starts for the club.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you had to go back to Woolwich Arsenal days to find the last time that was the case.
Eboue has 214!
Yeah, 214 appearances but only 159 starts.
This is exactly why signing a future talent like Carl Jenkinson is a great idea as he supports Arsenal passionately and I very much doubt, given the choice, that he’ll ever leave!
It’s very sad that Cesc’s gone. Not only a great player but a good person and someone who obviously respects and loves our club. We all knew it was coming but it’s still a tough thing to take. Now is the time for a new start, personally I hope we make some major signings to boost the fans a bit, but whatever happens we need to stick together (fans, players and staff) because that’s how we move forward.
Well said Sir. The club has a great future ahead of it regardless of who has left and I hope that most sensible fans realize this. We have 4 crucial games before the end of the month and all the support is required.
Hear hear.
Well said. We could be facing some interesting times this season but regardless we have to stand by the team.
Cesc was a fine footballer and fucking gentlemen.
A very sad day for us. Reminds me when Brady left BUT the season afterwards we finished higher without him!
He has gone from a club with a great looking kit, to a team with a shit looking kit.
The Bribe Foundation logo is horrid.
Isn’t that a Crystal Palace shirt?
Horrible, isn’t it?
Gutted really gutted, all I can say at least he tried. Now we all need to get behind these boys and push on!! The players or aw deserves such treatment, if we want to try and win let them know they have our support!!!!! Come on you gunners!!!!!!
Top fella, Cesc, can’t help but wish him the best… Except I hate Barcelona so much!
Let’s hope we get Barca in the Champions League final, and let hope he gives Van Persie a nice back heel through ball
I second this 😛
Nice one……Creative Dept.
whatever you do, please don’t get Xavi’s haircut
Think he’ll be getting Xavi’s cock if he’s not careful in the showers…
He’ll have to wait in line behind Puyol and Pique. I hear he is going to break up with Shakira.
Cesc a true great gooner legend status is yours we true arsenal fans wish you all the best apart from when we meet of course!
He’s a was a great gunner. i’d be surprised if anyone considered him a legend
If Rocky is considered a Legend, Cesc can be considered one(i saw many highlights which changed my mind and reminded me of his real class)……
thanks for the time, good luck off the pitch and fuck off while playing.
Utterly gutted to see him leave but you cannot call this guy anything other than pure class. He sure knows how to make the hairs on the back of the neck stand up…
Ewww…..Gross, hairy person!
Thanks for the memories el cap it’s a shame we never put the team you deserved around you. Still onwards and upwards come on you gunners!
Good luck Cesc. Hate to see you leave. True gentleman and a pure professional. Com’n you gunners post-Cesc’s era is gonna be better and we’re gonna win trophies! No matter what, we are the Arsenal.
“…but common sense prevailed…” it looks to me as though the only reason he left was not only because that was his childhood club, but because of the eight years of watching trophies slip through his fingers. He genuinely wanted to win with arsenal but season after season after undoubtedly giving his best, he watched as youth squads and overpayed mediocre players came short time and time again. How long before Persie, Vermaelen, and even Jack feels the same? It is about time that the board, and Arsene, make this club a competitive team again. The very fact that Arsene… Read more »
80 million would’ve been nice
“…but common sense prevailed…” it looks to me as though the only reason he left was not only because that was his childhood club, but because of the eight years of watching trophies slip through his fingers. He genuinely wanted to win with arsenal but season after season after undoubtedly giving his best, he watched as youth squads and overpayed mediocre players came short time and time again. How long before Persie, Vermaelen, and even Jack feels the same? It is about time that the board, and Arsene, make this club a competitive team again. The very fact that Arsene… Read more »
Cesc was pure class…But we have to push on and support the lads. We have quality left in the club. It doesn’t help that people have called themselves supporters but treat the remaining players so poorly. This is Arsenal, we are bigger than two lads. Til I Die!!!!
i would like to thank Cesc for giving me some great times and causing me to jump around with joy in the north bank. i won’t ever forget what he brought to Arsenal football club. Personally i feel he has gone a year too early, but fair enough, i understand completely his desire to go back home. I would like all Arsenal fans to really get behind the team from now on, because even though we still have some issues to address, it does the club no favours to be negative. I would also like to ask anyone this: if… Read more »
He wasn’t offered twice his wages at 24… I think more like 70- 80%. I really dont get this luvy duvy for Fab… As far as I’m concerned he is a great player who spurned our appreciation. We loved him with all our hearts and he treated us like dirt. I went mental when Nasri wanted to earn as much as him. If the club had asked all fans to pay an extra dollar to keep fab on a 300K a wk salary, we wouldn’t have thought twice bout it. In the spac of 5 years of his Arsenal Carrer… Read more »
He never spurned our appreciation.. just read the comments from the lad. If you don’t believe them then you’re a cold-hearted bastard. Cesc, thank you for your service to the club. You were and are a fantastic talent, the envy of clubs all round the world. It’s only so often that players of your calibre come along, and you’ve been a great servant of the club. I can understand why he would want to return; turn your ire towards Wenger for not adding any more quality, if that’s how you want to look at it. In the end, not many… Read more »
I’m so sad about this. I never thought I’d feel so gutted about a player leaving. First I’m sad that that he’s gone and I remember all he’s done in the red and white and then I remember he’s gone to those cunts and the thought of them smirking at how they fucked us over really BOILS MY PISS!! The only way I can get satisfaction is if we spank them in the champions league final. How are we supposed to do that with all these dodgy officials (and not being as good as them)? I hate these positions where… Read more »
Their supposed release clause really takes the biscuit – put there purely and simply as a swipe at us Gooners.
I will cheer for him once, as he is a fantastic player. But boy do I ever hate his stupid fucking abandoning guts. I hope his form dips and he warms their bench for a few seasons. At least until his contract at Arsenal has expired.
Feel that we should probably wish him well, but I now have zero interest in Cesc or anything he has to say. Unless it’s to announce that Xavi has given everyone at Barca AIDS, so they’ll be embarking on a long-term project to build a team around Cesc with the few youth players he didn’t manage to infect. Then I’d be quite interested, but not that interested all the same.
Not sure how you type that noise that Muttley used to do when Dick Dastardly severely pissed him off, but when I saw that buyout clause, had I known, I would’ve posted it.
wow .. from that pic you can see that there was quite a turnout to see him announced as a Barca player …
ha ha, nice one. I can count 37
There were 36,000 it seems according to official count!
Barca owned us again…we need some fn balls!
Just….. I dunno….. Bollocks. Good luck and thanks I guess. Please find another gem AW
hope you win trophies cesc, because we all know wenger is not serious about winning trophies
Those cunts wouldn’t pay 40m for him and then they slap a 200m buy out clause in his contract as soon as they sign him, they really shafted us beyond belief. Christ I hate barca
I second this!
Sometimes you just don’t win things for a few years, especially if you’ve built a new stadium and are in a period of cost cutting and trying to put the club on a stable footing for the future. I think we might need to accept that it will be a huge achievement should Arsenal win the league/FA cup this season, and that it’s unlikely to happen. Maybe we just need to lower our expectations a bit.
Arseblog can you please clear up the stories about the move. I’m under the impression that cesc agreed to waive a “loyalty bonus” worth 4 million but yet I’m hearing reports that cesc is paying 1 million each season out of his own money. Which one is it ??
Cesc captained Arsenal whilst I learned to love football and as i move from my childhood life and move closer to leaving my hometown the departure of Cesc is like the end of an era for me. It may have been a trophiless era and one with disappointment but it’s when I began to love football and more importantly Arsenal. Cesc leaving is like when your favorite Doctor Who dies, thank you Cesc and good luck in the future.
Class act until the end.
Sorry it didn’t work out better.
Still hope Real Madrid crush Barca though.
We got well and truly mugged off. Arsenal should’ve shown more balls and told him he wasn’t going anywhere until we get what your worth. If he didn’t like it, tough. Man U did it with Ronaldo. Instead we look like prize mugs, the Catalan C**ts couldn’t even pay the whole fee upfront, we’re getting instalments! The longer the day has gone by, the sicker I feel. As for his sentimental statements, I just feel like saying ‘bullocks’. I don’t feel he showed the club any respect, he was desperate to move even if it made Arsenal and Wenger look… Read more »
Yeah, yeah. Fuck off, yer badge kissing cunt yer
To be honest, I think Fabregas had this planned the whole time. Not getting recognized at Barca, go to Arsenal at 16, show Barca how good he truly is while getting first team action, then force a move back when they wanted him. However I don’t blame him, that’s what AW gets for this youth project – players with loyalties elsewhere. If AW would have built a competitive team around him (hell even if he’d decided to work on defense last year not this year!) then Cesc would have looked like an idiot for screwing us over to get home.… Read more »
I Actually just cried a bit!
Great player
Oh Cesc Fabregas, you’re not the love of my life. Oh Cesc Fabregas, don’t dare touch my wife… 🙁
Let’s be honest if we were winning things nobody would want to leave, boyhood team or not! Can you imagine an English Arsenal protoge spending 8 years at Barca and then this year saying I need to leave to go back and play for the Gunners.
What astute business sense with the £130m buy out clause. They wanted the home boy back for sentimental reasons what bollocks they know he is only 24 and will cash in from our stupidity one day.
I hope they do as we have a 50% sell on clause! Perhaps we will have the last laugh……. By the way I wish Cesc all the best awesome player who did great things for us.
The more i think about this the more crap i feel. Taken by Wenger at aged 15 and then AW spends 8 years giving him experience, the captaincy, and well turned him into one of the best mids in the world. and when AW needs him the most, when he has the prime of his career ahead of him, he turns his back on AW.
After going through Cesc’s new website he launched today, I couldn’t be happier that he’s gone. What a narcissistic piece of crap. “I’m sorry to those I disappointed when I left…” is it just me or did nobody care whatsoever when he left Barca?
As for AW, I’m done with him. To hear him say he must do what is in the best interests of the club and then sell our best player and maybe best passer in the game for less than he’s worth?! This is quite sickening to watch happen
If cesc’s class is worth 5 points then barca now have 5 class points
Gutted cesc’s is gone, he deserved better wenger put to much on him to win it for us if he’d been surrounded by class we’d of cleaned up but instead he had to cope with players like Denilson supporting him.
It makes me sick when i read shit like this on the bbc website though “Barcelona have written in a buy-out clause in the midfielder’s contract set at 200m euros” fucking cunts refusing to pay more than 35m for him then write in a 200m euro buy out clause the fucking robbing cunts!
So gutted like nearly everyone else. He was my favorite player
I’m conflicted, I want him to fulfill his dreams and win trophies but I fucking hate the team he now plays in and want them to rot in hell, winning nothing! Is there a happy medium??
Absolutely crushed and gutted. If only we had surrounded Cesc with adequate support when we had the chance, i.e. Xabi Alonso, he might still be our captain. Being penny-wise all these years, Cesc’s years, has left us a pound short. And with Nasri apparently fleeing, I feel the team is now a way-station tenuously balanced between levels consigning us to performing to the level of our competition. We can beat Barcelona or Man-Ure and simultaneously lose or struggle terribly against Braga or Leeds.
[…] euros and he did some keepy-ups before saying nice things about us and the manager. On Arsene: I will never forget what he has done for me. I couldn’t even talk when I wanted to say how […]