By Tony Attwood
Cesc Fábregas has decided to stay at Arsenal. What’s more he has given his exact reasons.
“My main reason for staying is that I like to be paid,” he said. “I am not mercenary, but if I sign a contract that says I will be paid each month, I like to be paid each month. As we know, Barcelona players were not paid at the end of June, and that is a major concern, not just for me, but for everyone at the club.
“Secondly, I like to work in a stable atmosphere, and certainly that is not the case in Barcelona. Everyone now knows that the club is broke, and is liable to slip into administration shortly. This is not the way to prepare to play football. It is bad enough that Spain’s economy is ten time worse than Britain’s, but Barcelona’s finances are a million times worse than Arsenal. Only a madman would transfer from Arsenal to Barcelona. Or at least a madman or someone who doesn’t mind if he is paid or not.
“A significant problem here is that the club have repeatedly said that they have €50m (£42m) available to spend on buying me from Arsenal – but we have all been asking, if they have this money, why didn’t they use it to pay the players? In fact when we have asked that question the answer came back – we did use it, but we needed another €150m on top of that.”
“And overall I think it is the absolute lying that turns players like me off Barcelona. They had an article on their web site the other day saying, ‘The club has approximately €50m net to spend on new players each season. In the case of this season buying David Villa [€40m] combined with the sales of Yaya Touré and Dmytro Chygrynskiy balance themselves out. This means the club still has €50m to spend.”
“But when they said that, the fact the club had just made a huge loss was hidden, and they were also telling us they had made a profit. How can you have all this money to spend if the club makes a loss year after year?
“It looks as if we will be selling Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rafael Márquez, and that raises the question – do I want to be working in a selling club? The answer is no. If I stay at Arsenal, I know they will value my contribution. If I go to Barcelona, who knows where they will quickly sell me on to, the moment they need some cash? I don’t want to play for Athletico Madrid.
“I think the whole club changed when Professor José María Gay, at the University of Barcelona made his statement and showed just how the wages at the club had got out of control. What is important is that he made his comments long before it was revealed that Barcelona could not pay its players’ wages, and even then he said there were hints there could be a risk of default during the current close season.
“The club scoffed, said it wasn’t true, and threatened to sue. Then the next thing we find is that the club is in such a mess no one is being paid. Do I want to go and work in that sort of shambles? No!
“That was when I made my mind up, but when the story broke that instead of making a huge profit as the club had said, they had in fact lost €77m last year, and were losing far more this year, I thought, ‘I can’t believe a word they say. They say, ‘come here and you’ll play every week, and we’ll pay you all this money,’ but how can I believe any of it? Everything Barca says is a lie.
“I also had a chat with Thierry Henry and Alex Hleb and they both warned me not to come here. Alex had a terrible time – he hardly got a game, and now has had to go back to his previous club on a fraction of his Arsenal salary. Thierry told me to have a look both at Alex and Mat Flamini. Flamini had one great year at Arsenal, went away, and now is reduced to playing a few minutes at the end of games as a substitute. I don’t want that.
“Barca have a habit of doing this sort of thing. You know Dmytro Chygrynskiy? He came in from Shakhtar Donetsk and then within a year they have to sell him back at half price because they are in such a mess and they dress that up as part of normal trading. It is total panic.
“The problem, as I understand it, is there is no further source of money. That’s why the banks won’t lend anything. We can’t get more people in, we can’t get more for the TV rights, we can’t do any more marketing. The club has nowhere to go but down.
“Barca made an offer for me, and my grandfather asked me to look at it, so I did. But these people are liars and cheats, and the club is on the edge of bankruptcy. Why would any footballer ever want to go there?”
We are most grateful to Mr Fábregas for taking time to put the record straight.
Clarification: Untold always feels that articles should be written in a style and with a level of accuracy that is used by others when handling a specific topic. In this case our research is at exactly the same level as that of virtually every newspaper and blog covering this topic.
Where did he say this? I dont get this, did he say this or are u making it up, and trying to think you are smart or what?.
good one
nice !!!
haha – good one! If only!
Martie, yeah heaven for bid anyone be “smart”.
so true!
Hilarious. Well done, sir!
Martie, I can only suggest you read the header above the article and then the clarification.
Tony’s has don nothing else than what most of the newspapers and blogs have been doing all summer long about Cesc.
Great one Tony, I really loved and liked it.
A little payback I would say. 😉 A little bit of detoxification from what I had to suffer during the last week.
Hahaha, really funny…….NOT!.
Is it true Fab said this or was this manufactured by you?
Ok. if it is Fab but if not, kill it off.
Very funny, now let the Spanish newspapers get a dose of their own medicine!!
After all the facts unfolding at Barcelona, the choice is yours….let your conscience be your guide!!!
Gunners for Life.
Never mind Martie. There are lots of Arsenal web sites out there where no one ever smiles
LOOOL!!! Great article m8….xD
If he really said that, he’s the coolest guy in the WORLD-to bend barca’s knees like that takes some real courage.
Well done cesc
vow man ….fabregas should read this….he will stop talking about barcelona until he develops himself to… a beckham in crosses, ronaldo in free-kicks & long range shots….A player of that calibre will demand first team in even barcelona.
Great work TONY.. Hats off
Hey how about sending it in an envelope to Sun and others a week later when Cesc joins us for training.. I can bet that they would have no better reason and this will be the main story for a day or two.. The headlines can be
Cesc has his heart at Barca but finances worry him…
Cesc sold his Barca DNA for financial security…Or
Cesc to sign for Barca as soon as they come out of administration
Get Walter to drop this in to one of the Spanish rags. They’re so hard up for material they’ll probably run with it! Good one Tony.
Good satire!! Fab should and let’s move on please!
Fantastic if its his real words.Let Puyol swallow his words.
Just to be clear, on the masthead on the front page of this site it quotes what one reviewer of the site said
“Fantastic writing with a hellish amount of tongue in cheek”
That was very kind, and not something I can live up to, but this has always been a site that incorporates humour. It is part of being Untold. Go to the pub before the game and what do you see – by and large people laughing, telling jokes, being happy. So surely a web site should reflect this.
But most blogs don’t – they take themselves deadly seriously, and pontificate in a manner which suggests they know more than the rest of the world put together. So Untold Arsenal incorporates humour. If you don’t want the occasional grin, maybe there are other blogs that suit your personality better.
And yes of course I pontificate a lot to – but I also try to have a laugh.
One writer said that if it is not true, take it down. That, to me, was awful. Watch out, there are people having fun – stop that at once!!!! I seem to remember school being like that.
I would say, this world is in enough trouble as it is. If we stop laughing we might as well pack up and crawl under the carpet.
Well put together, a very enjoyable read. Sadly i do think he will go an he hasnt done anything for his asking price but slash it. Players sign contracts and can tear them up if a team they love put there intentions in a newspaper. Barca w**kers give us 50 million or else i’ll set me dog on you…….
Tony at his best!!!! Great piece this one n I especially liked the Clarification part! I have seen other Arsenal blogs but its all the same there, filled wid transfer rumours that will never happen but this is one blog that is different, its unique n talks about the club from its history to its days of glory n beyond… This is the Greatest Arsenal Blog ever n its all thanks to Tony n his wonderful way of writing it…
C”mon, imagine you are closeted with a bevy of Miss UK contestants for about 2 months, with everyone of ’em breathing into your ears.”you are the man…you are the man….you are the man….”
They kept coping a feel from you, playing with your zipper..up..down..up down….hinting..”tonite my room-mate not in..come “home”..come “home”..I know you luv me….I know you luv me….”
You sure a red-blooded chappie like you can still keep your pants on for that 2 months?
Give a thought to Cesc as a humankind under continual mental harassment and psychological pressure from Barca players..plus his family….
sucker punch article…
i feel d same.. nice article.. every nasty barca-ass should see this
Great piece of writing “You need all the fact’s for that type of comment: BUT Really why are “Aresnal” not making a complaint
with UFFA or Even the F.A. about this scandel’s Behaviour of BARSA LOAN MORE or is that Barsa loan bore
Anyone that can’t see this is a bit of fun and has to ask if it’s true should really have a word with themselves….mind you, I’d guess they’d often hear voices whilst spending time in empty rooms!
1) Hearing voices is a sign of madness
2) Being void of a sense of humour = hours spent alone with no friends.
Must be Spurmz fans.
Is Martie thick or what.
Loved it, Tony.
You did, however, miss out where Cesc was asked if his DNA was really in Barceloaner.
“It would be very easy to agree with my so-called-friends there, but to have DNA one must have blood, and to have blood one must have a heart, and in that aspect Barceloaner are sadly lacking.”
Or am I joking?
Can we drip feed the article word by word to the neanderthal Puyol?
Great Tony. Lord knows we need an honest to goodness chuckle now and again. Hope Cesc reads it too!
martie-lol, article-lol, could well be fact if cesc is the person i like to think he is. threw me off abit at the end tho with all that ‘we’ stuff. he’s not there yet!
lol any chance i can copy this and put it on the arsenal members forum……….they’ll love it.
ha ha! just love the “clarification”! you just bombed a bunch of people in what 700 words?! Hallowed be thy name!
Never a truer word spoke in jest Tony.
Awesome mate, very well done! How I wish he’d actually say this and finally end all the stupid rumours put up by the press and all the staff and players of Barcelona giving retarded comments that actually continues dropping what little respect I had of them. To think I actually used to admire Barcelona. ugh!
it’s true , i was at the press meeting when he sat beside his agent as he read this to us. no one there was shocked as they were only saying what we all ready new.
Genius!
This has to be one of the best article I have read in a long time. This is as good as the article that U wrote for us about how to become a sports journalist, id not better.
This keeps getting better. Cheers mate 😛
Heh! Tony, your genius is wasted on some of the 20watts above. Earth calling Martie?
Come on Tony ,confess – you used Billy the Dog to get that statement din’t you ?What did you guys use on him ?Tasers ?Rubber hoses ?Or worse ?
The kid would have come to the same conclusion without your “help”.He must be disgusted with the braying and bleating of the Barca players to join them in their pigstye .
Anyway I think the rest of Spain are going to invade the Catalans for
banning their number one sport ,bull fighting.Cesc will be safe in London.
I’m English but live in Australia at the moment and I have been keeping updated on the Cesc saga via internet. I have read a lot of your blog’s and find them a most enjoyable read, keep it up Tony.
Johnny Kay – will write to you privately about reprinting an article from here.
tony
Great article Tony, be interesting to see whether Cesc goes back at all considering things will probably only get worse for Barca finances! Cesc will have a chance to properly think things through this season and there is a good chance more may transpire at Barca during this time!
Who thinks Flamini would be a good buy at 4 million?
Mike
Where did we get Martie!!!!!!!?
lol…
well written and certainly better thought out than many blogs…
With a bit of luck the lazy journos at The Guardian or Daily Mail will plagirise this and print it as gospel 😀
Fantastic piece of work Tony.
The piece works like a dream……with the sweet justification that its at the same level of accuracy as most of the garbage we’ve had to endure this summer.
The whole saga has been a joke…..the infantile pleadings of the brokealoanus players and the devious wheeler-dealer “salesmen” tactics of the management of that club have embarrassed themselves. The spotlight is firmly on them now….they have opened up their financial position during this saga so the world knows they cant pay the price anyway.
Reading some of the replies and the question of humour has arisen…in my view humour is the greatest weapon to get a point across.The interest is magnified….great piece!
Great one Tony..if only there was a way to spam all these Bacre-loan-me sites and media and rub their bankruptcy in their faces