Good morning Arselovers, as expected Cesc Fabregas absolutely quashed all the talk about him moving with yet another statement reaffirming his commitment to Arsenal. He said:
I’m not sure how many times I need to talk directly about my commitment to Arsenal as I continue to say the same thing over and over again, but it appears that every time I have spoken to the Spanish media recently, my words have bounced back to England, leaving question marks about my future.
So, for anyone who is unclear or may have misunderstood what my position is, let me make myself absolutely crystal clear. I am wholeheartedly committed to Arsenal and my future lies with this great Club.
You can read the rest of it here.
It was interesting reading around some of the forums and blogs yesterday. That so many people fell for what was just obvious summer bollockery from the tabloids was a bit sad. Some of the things written about Cesc were ridiculous and I hope some people are a little bit sheepish today.
It really doesn’t take much to have a stop and think about where the stories are coming from and based on the character of the player, what we know about him, what he’s said in the past about his commitment to the club, to think there might just be some mischief making going on.
So all the same crap about ‘Cesc packs his bags for Madrid’ and comments like ‘Yeah, let’s sell him. We’re a better team without him anyway’ can be rightly filed away as just crap and the bleatings of people who are too lazy to think for themselves. It’s easier to let the tabloids do it.
Now, in saying that I can kind of understand why people give so much credence to these stories. We know that Cesc is going to go back to Spain at some point in his career, nobody is under any illusions about that, but just a few months after being made captain, after pledging his future to the club more than once in the last little while, is not when he’s going to go.
There might be something to be said about talking to the Spanish press as often, maybe he’ll be a bit more cautious about it, but as I said the original AS interview was not that bad. When it’s taken out of context by the English press then it becomes more sensational. Yes, the question about Madrid was completely loaded and provided the ammunition they needed but at the same time he’s got a right to speak to the press if he likes.
As well as that the quote about his teammates and the relationship being better in the Spanish camp did not appear in the original piece.
Funny this morning how I don’t see quite as many ‘Cesc staying’ headlines as I did ‘Cesc leaving’. I wonder why that might be?
Can we draw a big fat line under this one now? We can? Cool.
Still, if you need more evidence of the hit-snatching, bullshit headline world we live in check out sport.co.uk’s risible ‘Ljungberg blasts Wenger’ on the NewsNow feed. I’m not linking to it but it’s typical of the kind of crap that is sadly more the rule than the exception these days. As you might guess there’s not a bit of blasting once you read the story.
I got an email from their editor the other week about the Vermaelen stuff, he’s an Arsenal fan and to his credit there was something to the story, even if the assurances about when it would happen were wide of the mark. I was dubious of their credibility and when they’re still using the worst kind of tactic to drive traffic to their site then I will remain so.
Elsewhere Milan confirmed their interest in Emmanuel Adebayor. Their vice-president Adriano Galliani said:
We had a meeting with Wenger, but they didn’t offer him to us. Had they done that, we would have entered talks.
I do wonder how much truth there is in that. From what I’m told we’re more than prepared to let Adebayor go so we’ll just have to see what happens. Milan still have their eye on Wolfsburg’s Edin Dzeko so a lot depends on him.
The man tipped to replace him at Arsenal is Bordeaux’s Marouane Chamakh but the French club say no offer has been received from any club. Not that we’re interested in what other clubs do but there you go.
Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs could play a part in England U21s semi-final against Sweden today. Good luck to them.
And that’s about that. More lies, half-truths, fiction and falsification tomorrow.
