Floating said:Anzac said:AW's failed experiment = no thanx.
:| Fabregas as an individual was a massive success, a genuinely world class midfielder at the age of 22 or 23 - it was the rest of the team that couldn't bring us over the line. He's certainly one of the greatest talents of his generation, and made a tremendous impact in the toughest position in the toughest league in the world. Sure he wasn't the greatest captain, as his head had been truly turned by his home club, but to call him "Wenger's failed experiment" just sounds incredibly bitter and unfair.
The youth project wasn't an "experiment" - it was a necessity to lower our spending while still being able to compete at the top level. It wasn't that Wenger said "Hmm, this could be interesting, let's see how this works out." It was more "We just spent 250m on a new stadium, and need to temporarily re-think our footballing model in order to compete."
Nothing against the player,
everything against what he came to represent & how the team & a number of players were f*cked over to accomodate him & AW's attempts to retain him, when the 'easier' strategy would have been to simply bite the bullet & do what was required post the WC re wages etc.
IMO AW's moving him to AMC without signing the quality required to play the 2 CM roles at the time ('09??), almost guaranteed that whilst Fabregas would continue to develop & shine, that we'd NOT be genuinely capable of winning ANYTHING. Fabregas' gain was to the detriment of the team as a whole, and we're still feeling the pain re player issues with the likes of Vela, Bendtner, AA etc.
Fabgregas was AW's Jewel in the Crown but for me the price has not been worth it.
And last summer was an utter disgrace re the transfer saga.
IF he DID refuse to play for us & forced AW's hand re a transfer,
then I don't want him back for that reason alone.
Further to this if so then I give it 2-3 years & he'll become every bit the arrogant egotistical prick & full of himself as much as those other
Catalan b*stards he now plays with.
As for the Youth 'experiment' v 'necessity' = fundamentally disagree in that we CHOSE not to exercise our other options - no one & nothing held a gun to our heads other than The Board. Like him or not Usmanov offered a means to clear debt, strengthen the squad, generate further revenues AND stay within our self funding model 3-4 years ago now.