Spanish publication AS report this morning that Barcelona vice-president Josep María Bartomeu was in London yesterday to negotiate the acquisition of Alex Song.
Having given up on the possibility of signing Javi Martinez from Athletic Bilbao, the Catalan giants are believed to have tabled an offer in the region of £15 million for the Cameroon international with the possibility of throwing Cristian Tello or Ibrahim Afellay into the mix to sweeten the deal.
Under contract at the Emirates for three more years, Arsene Wenger is under no pressure to let 24-year-old Song leave. That being said, having signed him as a teenager for just £400,000 from Bastia, the boss may be tempted to take the cash on offer and redirect it towards a replacement in the last couple of weeks of the transfer window.
Real Madrid’s Turkish international Nuri Sahin and Rennes star Yann M’Vila have both been heavily linked, although past history suggests we shouldn’t write off the possibility of signing of an unknown Franco-German teenager with below average quality knee cartilage.
Not great timing with Van Persie situation but if he wants out get the maximum fee and replace.
Song always struck me as one of the “disinterested” type. As long as we replace him with another CDM of good quality (m’vila/capoue/biglia), i’d be ok with him gone. I reckon we’d actually be stronger with him not misplacing hollywood passes all the time.
You are a fool! Song is the most reliable player in the team.we have a team made of glass from goal to attack. he plays the way his boss wants him to.
m’vila/capoue/biglia ? Who are these guy? They ever play in EPL? Or they just look good on Youtube?
@Adi, the way some of you just go about saying, yes, you can sell Song and take the money. Is 15 million pounds Arsenal Problem? Are we suppose to strengthen or weaken our team. You just go about ranting, we can replace him with M’Villa bla, bla bla..Is it that simplistic. Song was by far, our best midfieder last season,and i thought, we were to improveon our team this season. The way, some of you gunners talk is just so simplistic and a whole lot of you seem to support mediocrity. Let me remind you that Man City, Man United… Read more »
I thought Arteta was better and more consistent (i.e. less likely to lose possession stupidly) last season. Song IS important to Arsenal, though, and I won’t be happy unless we get a replacement who’s just as good. (If not better.)
the only plus about selling song is that dein won’t have any more players at arsenal
I agree that he can be easily replaced with the same quality ie mvilla etc and we can make a nice profit on hum, BUT we need continuity to be successful! One of the reasons we dont win trophies is because there us a mass exodus every summer! The invincible had more or less the same squad for 4/5 years and look what they achieved!
Exactly! It’s interesting though to see how quick the fans can change their opinion on a player. It feels like fans have changed a lot recently with money becoming ever more important in football (and that’s not to pass criticism on the fans). It’s even more interesting that Song who, to me, is “the” archetypical AW player (along with Diaby and Sagna) who was bought young and unknown, developed etc. in order to become a reliable Arsenal faithful (DNA anyone?!) now seems tempted to leave. Maybe here’s another lesson for us and Arsenal insofar as that loyalty is becoming an… Read more »
I reckon it is a mere precaution sometimes as fans don’t want to disappointed by their idolized players (again). Loyalty (or its absence) is certainly a problem, but I think this is clearly recognized by the management (e.g. kos, verm) and we will see a lot more long-term contracts with higher wages in the coming years (e.g. not allowing to go players into final _two_ years of contract).
You know how that crack in a wall can mysteriously help keep a house up ?. It may be dangerous as it allows for rain to come in every once in a while but still holds up the house?.
That is our song!.
Is that a thing? I would say that cracks in walls are not good for structural stability but what do I know, I’m not an engineer.
How about :
I have a low beam in my bedroom that holds the roof up. I call it every name under the sun every time I hit my head on it but by God I’d miss it if it wasn’t there.
(True story about the beam, if brain cells were people, it’d be banned by the Geneva convention)
I’m tired of all these transfers. It seems that once we’re about to solve a problem anther one popps out. I’d sell him if he really wants to go, but not less than £20m. I’m tired of all these transfers. It seems that once we’re about to solve a problem anther one popps out. I’d sell him if he really wants to go, but not less than £20m. We may also generate few millions from the sales of NikkiB, Squids and Park. Let’s say £12m. £20m + £20m +£12m = £52m. Sign Nuri Sahin on loan and buy that Bilguim… Read more »
That “Bilguim” bloke is utter shit.
Your name is Dreamiest and you live in your own world. I am sure you celebrate us wining the profit trophy every year. Or, you are Stan the Yank and coming as Dreamiest!!!!!.
It’s one less player that could potentially bugger off to the African Cup of Nations in Africa for a Cup competition.
The African Cup of Nations is a Cup competition in Africa? Who’d have thunk it?
I’m not sure so many people see having recognised Internationals in the squad as a bad thing. So they disappear every now and then, they’re probably going to be better players than the ones who aren’t picked…
Arsenal don’t need to replace African players, they just need decent cover for when they’re away – something they never have!
If he goes, he goes.
Most of the time I like Song, but I’ve just got this little niggly feeling somewhere that he’s actually a bit of a cunt.
I could be wrong, but he’s joining a team that’s jam packed with them.
i do agree that if he goes he goes, but to be honest i was hoping for once the club will make a stand and say we are not every club feeder team, i mean we are the only top club whose player can be cherry picked like we doing a buy one get one free,
I know exactly what you mean.
You have to be wary of anyone who thinks this is a good look…
http://islingtonnow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/song.jpg
I think it has a certain charm
That’s settled then. He can go for nowt.
What has Song ever done to make you feel that way?
Will people say it about Vermaelen, Walcott, Ox and co. when they leave as well?
Seriously guys… you don’t see the big picture, apart from Adebayor and Toure the players left because we have become a selling club, and they saw better chances of winning thing at other clubs.
That’s such un educated, short sighted, 5 minute fan toss. If that were the case then why have we not sold Kos when rumour had it Barca where sniffing around. Fab where because he threatend strike action but everyone that we sold represented excellent value and where no longer of use to us. A football club has to constantly adapt or it will become stale, that’s before you start to throw into the equation the point of wages!! The Song sale has the stench of DD Jr all over it and to be honest I think that part of the… Read more »
booo!! players leave because they are cunts . simples.
When you have 3 starters leave for trophies then maybe the problem is them because that’s a big chunk of the team.
and what reason do Song and RvP have to consider leaving ,what ? 3 top players not enough ?
There’s an element of truth in what progman07 is saying and we all know it.
Song has 3 years left on his contract, so we don’t have to sell, the club has all the power.
But if the club decides to cash in then the player is a cunt!!!
I really dont get it.
I just checked and every club has sold players. however not every club has bought players. its a fact that players leave get over it. next people will be expecting mcdonalds not to sell their best burger. arsenal is football club that has a squad of players when they buy they sell. just like mcdonalds buy in bags of minced beef and turn them into burgers to sell and on occassions mcdonalds win awards for the quality of the food they produce.
This comment has just made me laugh out loud in the office, great sense of humour there mate 😉
In all seriousness though, let him go and rvp (£30-35m for both)… lets get sahin in on loan with a deal to a permanent move if he performs well, lets get llorente £28m and Mirallas £6m and i think we are then ready to challenge.
PS… hahahahahaha…. such a great comment!!
30-35m for both? are you mad?
rvp is allegedly 22m and song we be probably about the same. and mirallas would be a luxery signing especially if we bought llorente like you want, that would give us four strikers in a one striker set up, if we lose song, maybe we should buy another defensive midfielder to take his place, that might be a good idea. rant over.
But…..but SERGIO BUSQUETS is a SCUMMY CUNT.
(I had to shout, sorry).
How can you get so my thumbs up for that. saying you suspect he is a cunt is a bit un-called for he has been one of our most consistent performers and came back impressively from ridicule and taunts. i dislike Barcelona as much as the next guy but i can understand that players want to go there , the climate, the team whatever.. also Song will hardly make more money there. i want whats best for Arsenal , If we can replace him with a player of similar or better quality with the money on offer then sell him… Read more »
I dunno. You’ll have to ask the people who gave the thumbs up, but there’s just something about him that seems a bit cunty. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but we all know it’s there.
Oh, hang on… I know… It’s taking on Darren Dein as his agent. That guy has done more damage to Arsenal than anyone on this planet, so employing him is basically an admission that you’re a cast-iron, ocean-going, 24-carat cunt.
while I do want only players who want to play for us, my only worry is finding a suitable replacement who can gel with the team in a few weeks. Wenger has generally avoided integrating more than 2-3 players into the first team at any one time, and we already have three…
£15m is a pittance for a midfielder that has played nearly 200 games (with nearly 50 in the CL) who is homegrown (people are forgetting how important this is) and who was our top assister last season. Arsenal got rogered by Barca on the fee for Cesc last year can’t let it happen again.
I think those things are all taken care of
True, plus he’s 3 years left on his contract so get at least 20m of the cunts
You can take our Fabregas… You can take our Henry… But you can never take our Song!!
…throw in that Messi chap and we’ll consider it.
Whatever happens, the quicker we sort this stuff out the better. Don’t want anything remotely like the start to last season.
I assume he’ll be competing with biscuits for a midfield slot, wonder how much play time he’ll get first season
Don’t forget mascherano . In reality they want Song as a replacement for Keita who was nothing more than a back up player. This smells like the petit to barca transfer.
Not a great move for songs career IMO
felt i was the only one who noticed, another black man to replace another black man on the bench (am black) song will be stupid if he thinks he would get more playing time than keita
Agreed Song is better than Biscuits and Mascherano as was Keita and Yaya but the catalan reasoning means the catalan will start ahead of any African . They ousted Yaya disregardless of his quality to bring in a spanish speaking mascherano cunt instead .. I dont to like to bring up race , but I spent enough time on Barca forums when i was young to realise its a major major issue for them. I guess Song will have to find out the hard way.
Lettra, as much as I like Song and hate Biscuits, Biscuits is clearly the better player – at least for the system Barca play. Don’t make it about race when it’s not. I think they like Song’s potential as a CB with great passing range. Personally I think if Song leaves, we wish him well. Not many players get a chance to play for aeguably the best team of all time, so it’s hard to begrudge him that. Calling him a cunt is just cuntish. Remember, Podolski and Giroud and Cazorla left their clubs to join us, presumably for more… Read more »
Or perhaps the want to turn him back into a CB, Puyol is ancient and they were definitely light there last season. Nobody’s taking Bisquits’ starting place, I read the Arsenal column piece on him this morning and I have a newfound appreciation for the divey cunt.
Atleast i wont be seeing any Arsenal player hugging adeybayor again.
See? He’s definitely a bit of a cunt.
can we send his head back in a bag in the style of some mongol warrior prince?
that would be nice
Hahahahah…bettter we place that head on a spear and place it in front of the emirates as a warning to the other clubs…
Better to put a horse’s head in the bed of the president of Barca. Then maybe he’ll leave us alone.
£15 million + David Villa will do it for me. David Villa can add depth in place of the imminent departure of RVP. £15 million can be used to finance the purchase of Yann M’Vila, or left at bank if Nuri Sahin does come in on loan, to fill up the void left by Song.
Adds depth in the medical for sure
I don’t know what dream world you live in but clearly you’ve been playing too much Football Manager. David Villa is Barcelona’s only real striker, for whom they paid £34.2m only two summers ago. He’s also been injured for the last 8 months of the 11/12 season so you can’t honestly think that Barca would be willing to part with him already? Not to mention his value far eclipses that of Song anyway so £15m PLUS David Villa in part-exchange probably has an overall value of about £35m. We don’t need any of their players in part-exchange tbh, I’d take… Read more »
Urrm we don’t want to sell Song-Billong and nor does he want to join Cuntelona. Now piss off and annoy some other team. And isn’t anyone else positively encouragingly excited by our midfield this season? It looks yummy!
Joe Allen, signed from the Swansea midfield goes for 15million, Song who was excellent last year to go for 12? In the current climate with all the other deals going on he shouldn’t leave for anything less than 20mil and do we really need another winger with Ox, Theo, Gervhino, Poldi, Carzola, Rosicky, Arshavin & Ryo on the books.
We could of course take Ibrahim Afellay and if RVP still doubting our ambition he’s basically saying his mate is sh1t!
the amount of thigh pr0n about to double in la liga!
15m£ hmm.
Do you think they`ll tell the difference if we ship them Frimpong??
Only that Frimpong is Gunner through and through and even happy about paying fines to be able to public belittle little bitch Spuds. I love that man.
if we gave them frimpong he would break all of their players in half at training and they would give him back to us for free.
I think if he goes it does give AW the chance to buy a proper defensive midfielder, which Song is not. As much as I dislike him de Jong of Citeh is an option and then they could come back in for vP with us getting money and a player. And it stops vP from going to OT.
Are you saying that you would rather RvP goes to Citeh??
Compared to Utd? yes.
I’m putting it out there: he’ll struggle at Barca. Personally I quite like him as a player, for his rugged style and occasional eye for a splitting pass or curled goal from deep midfield. But at Barca, I think his overall clumsy style and heavy touch will be frowned upon, as will his growing propensity to go for a hollywood pass when more simple options are available. He can move the ball around no doubt, but I think Tiki Taka will be too rapid for him. As for the Gunners, time for Arsene to stick in the Coq to stiffen… Read more »
He is definitely not going to fit in well at Barca, in terms of his playing style.
I would hate to see him go but I have to go with the general feeling if he goes then do it now and get someone as good if not better. I also hope we get someone to fill in on the right. I also think we should force Walcott’s hand then hopefully we can be rid of Darren dickhead dean. RVP to Man U well I welcome ManU ‘s money (although they cant afford it) but I feel he will fail as the team at Arsenal are built around him. Either way I get the feeling that Wenger is… Read more »
I disagree about Song – the fucking arrogance of those Catalans coming to “negotiate” the sale of one of our established players. By all means, if a 50M bid is on the table, but cut-price with makeweight players we neither need nor want? No, we already have more players than we need of that quality, in fact we are trying hard to get them off the books, not acquire more. So no. wrt Robin, personally I hope he goes and soon. Preferably to an overseas club, but we can certainly no longer build our strategy and attack around someone with… Read more »
I can hear the away fans already – “You haven’t got a song you haven’t got a song!!! – To be honest not to fussed if he goes i think we could get a better DM to replace and we also might (massive might) have Diaby playing a bit more this season….I also have a feeling the position is not really required as much any more!!
I agree. As I said earlier I am not sure that Song is a true DM and with Arteta, Cazorla and Wilshire (licking lips) to play the killer pass then where does he fit in? I so want Diaby to be fit, but we will have to wait and see.
Well, Arteta + Cazorla definitely leaves only one spot in the midfield. I’m assuming they’ll end up pairing up THAT well.
Hopefully Wilshere comes back at some point this season, but we have enough midfield cover to make it work, with Diaby and Rosicky in the mix.
£20 million for song I say take it!. coquelin and frimmers can handle the job just fine. Plus more to buy either javi garcia or capoue and just enough left for gazidis’ ibiza holiday and wengers new glass lenses.
It’s clear if barca come calling then song would forget the first thing about arsenal.
But it’s never too late song, give hleb a call….do it!.
are we supporting the same arsenal, don’t think so to buy who and who again lol if we sell song the only thing coming thur our door is either a loan signing or a teenager to do the job in 10yrs times
I just can’t see this happening, it’s such a bad move for everybody involved. Song won’t play, he’s a replacement for Keita who never played last season, we are without a dm less than a week from the start of the season, and I really fuckin like song.
Wenga outzz
Wagner who?
Shawcross, what you sprayin’ bruv. You gone nutty
Why should we sell Song only to get another similar player?
Well you make a load of money, spend some on a similar player, offer them less wages and then go from there with some left over that you didn’t have before.
As you go backwards.
Personally I’d like song to stay. He had a good season last year in a struggling midfield. I’m worried AW is relying too heavily on Diaby though. As much as I’m hoping he gets a good run of games I can’t see him staying injury free for too long.
I actually thought our defense was more suspect than our midfield last year. Arteta, Rosicky and Song were all solid last season. Plagued by injuries and Welshmen, though.
15m + Afellay? I like Song but I’d drive him to the airport for that deal (assuming his head is indeed turned to the point whereby he rushes off up the pitch to try and play a lofted pass to his own bank account, if not I’m happy to keep Songenbauer). Add a little more money in to get M’vila or some other Frenchican as a replacement whilst the Coq and Frimpong develop and we’ve got another solid AM who can play out wide, consistency is important but if Song is required less as an attacker then getting in someone… Read more »
barcelona don’t value afellay at 10m, i heard it was like 7m or maybe even less,, how about afellay+20m and then maybe we would consider considering their offer.
If Song is that bad, why does Barca want him?
Not sure how you got that from my statement, he’s good enough for us and he’s good enough for Barca but if he doesn’t want to stay and we can replace him with someone who’d have more value to the team (note how I didn’t say ‘better player’) then it isn’t a bad deal.
lets be honest its just days to the start of the league and the club is thinking about selling our best DM, i dont care if they get M’vill or sahin or even get both (bet my life they wont get any) the players we have have not had enough time to blend and now they want to sell another, we play city,liverpool, united and chelsea first 2 month of the season, what time does he have to blend into the team, are they looking for a repeat of last season, OMG when do we tell other clubs to go… Read more »
Take a deep breath and look at Arteta’s performances from last season, look at Diaby and the Ox in pre-season and remember the tenacity of le Coq. Our midfield will not fall apart without him, he’s a useful player but remember all the clumsy tackles and lax passing, he doesn’t do the job he should do as well as he could and the job he does isn’t as irreplaceable as it seems, we’re covered if he leaves and is replaced (something that looks more likely to happen this summer, of all summers).
we are covered by who as much as i like coq i think he is going to be used more at right back this season at least till sagna is back, diaby i hope but then again is way too forward thinking which makes song even better, diaby is not a DM but a box to box midfield player, who do they want to get that would slot into our team against sunderland? not even that am more worried about them turning us into a feeder club which at this point is not far from the truth
Arteta/Diaby/Ox, hell even Cazorla can tackle and has played there before, Song has never been the orthodox Makelele-type so I’m not bothered by our team not containing a pure DM as we never *really* have had one. Jenkinson will be at RB and if not him then Yennaris, I’m pretty certain so Coq can play a few games whilst our new DM (I know it’s a limited term but for the sake of not having to define a new one, I’ll use it) gets up to speed, Song’s really not a specialist who’s absence is going to kill our midfield,… Read more »
but that is the problem by that time we would have been out of the title race, for a team that is supposed to look so strong we wont be, not only we will be playing with an inexperienced RB but dm as well by that time we will be out of the title race
“Hi, we’re the Arsenal board. Come come pick one of our best players and offer us minimal fee, we’ll accept it without even a fight!”
Pathetic.
Has that happened or do the board actually milk every buying club for as much as possible (with the exception being Cesc to Barcelona). Over the years, Wenger has pretty much got maximum return for departing players and not many leave for less than they’re worth.
Alexander hleb
Alexander song
I see a trend here. Next we should sign another “alexander” and prop him up real good for barcelona. Then find another and do it all over again.
Acquire them for £2 million and re-sale them for £20 million. Good business!.
Get to it wenger.
We could also sign a few random folks called Emanuel, Marc and Thierry as well just to really confuse them!
We should rename the squid to Alexander Squillaci too while we’re at it!
Come on arsenal stand firm on both rvp and song . Love to see bacon face shit his pants with the realisation he will have to look elsewhere fast.
Does it have to be now? Really? It pisses me off how Barcelona waits until 4 days from season start to negotiate for a player who still has 3 years left in his contract. Fuck right off. If I were Arsene I’d leave them waiting for 2 hours in the reception, only to have an assistant tell them unfortunately I’m too busy. And hand out a note: “Go fuck yourselves with a machete and come back next year, July 1st. Regards.” As for RvP, can we perform a brain transplant between him and Park Chuyoung before selling him to Scum… Read more »
Here’s how i see it. i dont mind any of them leaving but there must be something seriously wrong at the club. Why, when we have finally assembled a team that looks like title contenders, would two of our most dependable players want out?
And do not say money, if they play the same way they did last season they will still have offers next summer.
Dude much more money + the chance to bum Messi basically.
Well, I don’t think either of those two players really expected us to make so many good signings this summer. (Especially RVP.) So now that RVP made his big dramatic crybaby declaration, he looks like a fool, but will probably feel he’s saving face by not re-signing. Also, he’ll never be regarded with the same hero worship by Arsenal fans as he was this past season…
Frankly speaking, I dont want to see Song leave. the thing that hindered our title challenge most for all these years is not the lack of quality but a lack of stability.the team is constantly in transition with each year with the core players being chopped and changed. if last year we made mistake,then losing Song on top of RvP and probably Theo would not only be a mistake but also prove to every that we are a feeder club with ,in Robin’s word no ambition. Song may not be the most prolific DM in the world but he is… Read more »
Fucking outrageous if this is true. Arrogant Catalan cunts. Tell Barca to fuck off. Song is an established part of our set up, a homegrown player, and is NOT for sale. We have plenty of players we want to move along, but Alex Song is not one of them. Also, we have no use or need for their makeweight players – we, Arsenal Football Club, choose who we sign and sell, not Barca. Arrogant, arrogant cunts. By all means look at those players we want to move on, but no-one else. I say tell them to fuck off where Song… Read more »
What doesn’t add up is on one hand wenger is saying the rumours are rubbish there’s nothing in the story yet it’s widely reported their VP is flying in to London to negotiate. Someones telling fibs
Song has 3 years to go. We can not sell him unless we get an insane offer. Insane offer for Song = £45 million+
I honestly dont think we’ll sell Song, what’s the point?? Frimpong is still injured and both himself and Coq are both inexperienced, we finally seem to be building a strong squad, so this would be a step in the wrong direction plus hes still under contract until 2015. Personally i cant see it happening, we’ve even been reluctant to sell RVP, who’s clearly stated that he more or less wants to leave. I think we as fans need to realise that things have changed at our club, we are no longer push overs in the transfer market. We can give… Read more »
Bad news
Songs potential replacement Karl Henry has signed a new deal at Wolves. Breaking on SSN
Jizz Poxey is delighted
If RVP leaves, then we dont need Alex’s hollywood chips anymore 😉 Sell RVP & SOng (cause if they dont want to win tropies with Arsenal – Fuck them!!) Replace with: M’Villa (15) Sahin (loan) Prolific striker for rotation/backup (Llorente/Mirallas?/…….) And maybe a right back like Debuchy…(aaah – only in my arsenal dreams) Jeezis – then we cant compete on all fronts with DEPHT ! Even if we dont win this year – the squad will get strong and unified over the season, and next season they will be feared ! Come on Gunners ! Otherwise – just slap some… Read more »
Gutted. If he goes ill be gutted. Gutted tgat he’ll be wasted at that classless club called Barcelona. However I dont neccesarily think we need to buy to replace. We have good enough players as it is in Coq, Mikel, Diaby. It just depends if Wenger and the coaches want a more defensive type of player which Song (sort of) was. I’d rather not have us fork out on another midfielder, but if its a defensive one that has consistency like Yann who sits, tackles then moves it on. I can deal with that. Cant wait for this Saturday. 3-0… Read more »
It’s a very big ask of Le Coq to step up this soon and the loss of song takes some height out of the team, albeit only 2″. The Arteta-Song pivot was key to getting us to 3rd and it was that understanding between the two that fed RVP the ball. There are only two reasons to let him go and for me neither is that strong a) Money b) 2 many cooks in the kitchen i.e. too many playmakers. Most think that we need another DM to solve out overreliance on Song, I am tempted to agree, selling him… Read more »
I doubt Arsene really wants to sell Song but he isn’t stupid and can see the signs. Song has sold his house and has DD Jnr as his agent, not exactly showing commitment to the cause. At the moment there are 2 excellent replacements for a player whose lack of positional discipline has and will cost us time and again, in Sahin and M’vila, added to that we have 2 good players coming through the ranks in Le Coq and Frimpong. If this summer means clearing the decks of players who have won nothing but are full of self importance… Read more »
Bet we don’t replace him if he goes, I was wondering how we would accommodate all these CMs. Wouldn’t surprise me to see arteta playing holding, he is perfectly capable and probably a bit smarter than song too. I like song and fully appreciate the roles he has played for us over the years but whether we replace or not I don’t think ill be losing any sleep over this one.
Agreed. Arteta is super versatile. I can see him playing any one of the midfield roles we might need him to play. (Even more of an attacking role… he hasn’t been called upon to play that role at Arsenal yet, but we can all see what sort of long-range screamers he’s capable of knocking in…)
And darren dein is a cunt! Protest at the emirates on saturday! Who’s with me?? Now, if i can only get a visa and tickets..
Yaaawn!, Song is an arsenal player and that’s that. Barca can bugger off.
I’m surprised no one here likes pancakes yet.
Okay, I like pancakes.
One Word:
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!
he’s been one of our most reliable and healthy players, and is getting better every year.
if we are prepared to let him go, for any price, then its because we have a suitable replacement and hopefully improvement lined up already
it seems a little strange that we seem to be letting him go without a fuss, but i trust the club on this one
it is a shame though because he is getting better every year
in terms of affection, yeah, he doesnt seem to ‘connect’ as well as others can with the crowd
always looking down and not punching the air, celebrating etc
so its harder for him to grow on me, personally, in the way szsz does, for example
It is that trait – the head down, “just doing my job”, no nonsense – that has endeared him to me.
Good thing he’s a football player and not cheerleader then, innit.
I love Song. He has connected with a lot of people too it seems. Maybe you personally just don’t like him. So as fory connecting with the fans you are speaking for yourself.
If Song does leave then the timing is not great but its just the way it is for all teams- would be much better if the transfer deadline was moved back a few weeks. I don t see this as the same situation as RVP/Nasri/Fabregas exit- it seems Arsenal are happy to sell Song so if that is the case then that is just the way it is. Perhaps Wenger sees this being another case of a player running down his contract and wants to clear the decks and build a team he can keep together for a few years.… Read more »
what exactly is his contract length? some reports say 3 years and some say 2 years! also what does it matter how much he cost all those years ago? as a player, and in terms of contract length he is worth what he is worth. and that is quite a lot to us in terms of his ability and wages. the fact that we got him as a bargain is a bonus to us, doesnt mean that he is worth any less or can be bargained down in price. if you buy a derelect old building and spend all the… Read more »
Good point well made. I hear the same people using similar rationales about van Persie-‘ keep him for the final year because we get 25 million extra from sky next summer which covers the loss’ – that just means we 25m instead of 45m.
If players don’t want to play for the club then let them go, of all the players we’ve lost in the past 10 years, I would say Cesc is the only one that hurts as he is world class. The rest just hit some great form and took advantage of it.
I think we have to make a stand and tell Barca to go fuck themselves. I do think if he were to go he’ll become another Helb. While he’s not the best midfielder we have he’s been a constant in our team for a few seasons as his 200 appearances show. I think with Cesc and Nasri going last year RVP almost gone we need to keep some of our more experienced players. Plus we have plenty of deadwood that needs shifting before Song. He’s not a natural DM but does the job he’s asked (most of the time), and… Read more »
Wenger should insist from now on that Arsenal never buy anyone represented by DD Jr. Also stipulate that if the player once signed changes their agent to DD Jr, the club are allowed to make them play in only their underpants in every training session in winter.
Replace him with this player or that. Those who think that are missing the point. It’s yet another of our players who can be poached at the drop of a hat, another player who wants to leave and has experience in the premier league, another player we can’t hold onto. And those who say well we have made a huge profit on him, will you say the same about jack in a year or two? Oh we got 20 mil for him so he cost us nothing. Or the scez or any of our other talent that cost us little.… Read more »
I think the problem is he is another client of Dein Jr and he will be whispering in his ear about extra money, more sunshine, greener grass etc. Whether it happens this year or next, it it is very likely to happen. Then we can make sure that in future we don’t buy players that have Dein as their agent…
Brilliant plan but simply not always possible.
If players want more money and teams with more money are willing to pay it, we can’t hang onto them.
We SHOULD hang onto anyone who is useful to us and wants to stay so Song staying is preferable imo, as long as he wants to be here. If he goes though, he isn’t as irreplaceable as he seems to be, even if his replacement doesn’t settle so well, there’s Arteta/Coq/Ox/Diaby/Cazorla who can play back there and Wilshere on his way back.
Replacing is okay. Let’s say we are to sell song then I reckon coquelin has to be promoted into the DM role. Came through the reserves and developed well enough to replace a departing squad player, I think that’s ultimately what the reserves are for.
(Not in any way saying thay song is gunner leave, i’d be wrecked to see him leave).
To any player that has had their head turned, believes the grass is greener etc and fancies moving on, thank you and goodbye. I for one can’t be arsed to get angry or resentful anymore with these players. The integrity of players on the whole is a sad reflection/by product of the ever increasing influence of cash in the game – we just have to deal with it. What I will never lose sight of is the team I love. We have legends and players that we are proud of and there will be more. I will continue to sing… Read more »