"They're Fighting Over Me! Weeeeee!"
I said Arsenal would reject Barca’s offer by lunchtime, and they issue a full statement before I’ve even finished my relaxed breakfast.
Said the statement on their club website:
“Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is under contract with the Club until the summer of 2015. He is a highly valued member of the team and part of our future plans. We have followed recent speculation linking Cesc with a move away from the Club but as there has never been any official approach for him, only two informal exchanges, in which we made it abundantly clear that we have no interest in transferring Cesc, we have refrained from publicly passing comment.
However, yesterday evening we received an offer from Barcelona for Cesc and in response, we immediately and resolutely told them once again that we have no intention of selling our captain. To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word.”
Rough Translation: “BRING IT.” This story is gonna go on all summer long. Ugh.
[Update: The bid, in case anyone was wondering: £29m. Maybe if they double it and add another 0 on the back end...]
I actually thought the guardian was running a pre-penned, bogus story because in their original story on the offer, they quote Joan Oliver, the club’s director general, as saying, “We had made [a number of] approaches to Arsenal but yesterday, 1 July, the date of the offical opening of the transfer window, a formal, written, concrete offer was made…”
I realize Europe is ahead of America time wise, but a whole month!?!
Really, Barca? 29m? For Cesc? You just paid 34m for David Villa! Someone make a Spanish businessman/oxymoron yuk.
@ef: They are just starting the haggling process… we want something around 50mil, they offer 29mil… it settles around 40-43mil.
Arsene will need to go out and secure signings for defense and goalkeepers if he hopes to keep Fab. Now. I know he likes to wait until the last minute to get the lowest price, but if our response to Barca was genuine, then we need to splash some cash and get more talent in here early in silly season, not late. The talk of transfer will stop for a month during the WC but will be back on hot and heavy after July.
@hocks: No, I get the point of starting low, but that initial offer is very – almost laughably – low. And I disagree with the figure at which you believe Arsene (because it is his decision) will settle. If Fab leaves for anything less than 50, without a player swap, then it’s bad business. Considering Xavi is 30, and if Fab has another great year like this one, Arsene could ask upwards of 60m for him next summer and Barca would be somewhat in a bind.
But I agree with your second point; we will see new faces at Arsenal before July.
The longer this plays out (or doesn’t play out) the more I like Cesc to be at the Emirates next season. Barca is going to have to come in with an offer north of €60M.
I agree that barca is going to need upwards of 60 million euros to get this deal done. The feeling I got from cesc’s interview about his conversation with Wenger was pretty much that in his ideal world he would be playing for barca next season but that AW convinced him how important he was to Arsenal and that if he could not get the right price, Cesc would understand and go along playing just as he normally would.
The bottom line is that Barca have shot themselves twice in the foot already. By splashing 34 million at Villa already, you’ve shown you have the funds for a gigantic bid and that for a player of high quality you will pay it. Additionally, the last line of the arsenal rejection is one of the strongest I have ever heard in negotiations. Laporta already said he would respect the wishes of Arsenal, so Arsenal on any rejection have the preverbial moral high ground should barca say we are trying to keep Cesc captive.
Hill-Wood and Wenger are more than happy to go Jerry Maguire on Barca and demand close to 60 million euros. And in a climate where villa is worth 34 and Ronaldo 80, Cesc at 50 is about proper.
Also, good to be back commenting on UF. Looking forward to doing it more during the WC.