Has the summer already started? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

By Walter Broeckx

Are we June already? Just checking my calendar and it still is only March. Okay, I admit we near April but still there is a big gap between now and the transfer period. Yet, Barcelona is talking again about Cesc. Not much news you could say. They are talking always about Cesc whenever they can.

But maybe this time the tone is slightly different. Because last season the new president of Barcelona was talking about Cesc coming over as a certainty. It was as if the deal was done. Nothing could stop Cesc coming home. Yes there was the small matter of Arsenal, Wenger and a contract that was signed. But who on earth could stop Cesc going to Barcelona if Barcelona wanted him to come?

Well he didn’t came. Wenger showed why he is who he is and told them to forget it. Sometimes being stubborn is a good thing. So our manager said No to Barcelona in all languages he knows and that are quit a bit in fact. In fact Barcelona president Rossel told that it was a rather firm answer they got from Arsenal telling them to shove it to a place where the sun don’t shine. It seems that they didn’t expect Arsenal to stand firm as we did.

And Rossel then went on to say that maybe they will try again this summer but they will make a lower offer than they did last year. They will not pay 50M euro he said for a player even if Guardiola asks them to do so, he said. He thinks this is a foolish price for Fabregas. Looking at the prices other clubs pay for players with less quality than Cesc I think it is rather low. He is worth a sight more than 50M euro if you ask me. Well Rossel didn’t ask me but I just wanted to let this know to him.

Barcelona president Rossel then also mentioned the fact that the relations between Arsenal and Barcelona are on a low. Not just the refusal to let Cesc go hurts them but also the arrival of Jon Miquel Toral, one of the biggest talents of the Barcelona youth set up to Arsenal at the age of 16 has made a deep scarf.

I must admit I have never seen this Toral play so I cannot say if he is any good at all. I think on the Young Guns blog you can find more information on this new boy then I can give you for the moment.  But if Arsène Wenger wants him, I trust Wenger. If Barcelona is furious that he leaves I think Toral will be a boy who knows how to kick against a ball a bit better than most of us can.

So I think this boy can be a good addition for our squad. And being half English (his mother is English) the story goes that Toral himself wanted to go to England to play in the PL. One could say his DNA dragged him back to England.  And obvious even for a star in the Barcelona youth the ideal destination to develop further and to get more chances of playing first team football is not automatically Barcelona. No, Toral opted to let Wenger work on him to make him better. And the way we know things Wenger is the ideal person to bring such 16-year old player in the team and develop them and make them better.

If we just look at our current squad and see the likes of Cesc, Walcott, Ramsey, Wilshere, Bendtner, Gibbs, Szczesny, Djourou, all have been brought in at around 16 or earlier and have had their chances to develop further and become better players. And some of them are not just good players but are great players. So if this Toral can walk the same path, it will be another fine move from our manager and the board. And to think I have left the young and upcoming talents out of my list who are on loan for the moment.

And if the arrival of Toral has brought the relation between Arsenal and Barcelona to an all time low, I don’t give a toss about it. In fact lets keep it like that for a while. Because if a friend asks you a favour (sell me Cesc for a reasonable price) you could think well he is a good friend so I will do him a favour. But if someone with whom you have a cold relationship asks you the same, you just tell him to go back home and forget it.

So Rossel saying that they will maybe make a lower bid if Guardiola asks them to means to me that they seem to have given up on Cesc for the moment. That’s fine for me. After all why would a team that has plenty of players like Wilshere in their reserves need a player like Cesc? They don’t need Cesc, they just have to go to their reserves and take out the player that they have developed themselves.

Lets just hope for a summer with no daily Cesc saga like last summer.