By Walter Broeckx – our man in Belgium
So here we have it again with the Cesc DNA and move to Barceloanus.
And this time it would have been Vermaelen who has said something. But has he really said something? I will try to find out. I’m not going to say that I am going to prove it because in fact you cannot prove that someone has not said something. But I will try to see if there could be anything in this quote.
The news came out on Tuesday 7 September. Suddenly all kind of sites mentioned that Vermaelen had said something about Cesc and his DNA.
When I tried to look at the various reports no one actually is saying where they get it from. On no serious news site there is any mention of a full interview with Vermaelen. One could expect that if a player has a long interview with a serious newspaper that he would have said more than just those few sentences.
And that this newspaper or media would publish the full interview, with the quotes in it. But nothing of that kind. No, just claims that “he had said it”.
I have taken a look at the articles and web sites and only on one site I can see someone who has said where they got the news from. On the site Goal.com they tell in their article: “He is quoted as saying by talkSPORT:” and then they go on with the article.
So I went to this site talksport and this is the article. Please don’t go to that site and give them hits to check it. I have just copied it from their site:
“Thomas Vermaelen admits that Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has Barcelona ‘in his DNA’ and says the Gunners skipper was ‘determined’ to move to the Spanish giants during the summer.
blah blah blah……...
But defender Vermaelen, who joined the Gunners last summer, revealed that Fabregas had made no secret of his desire to rejoin his boyhood club.
“Cesc carries Barcelona in the heart, in his DNA,” said Vermaelen. “Therefore it is impossible for him to forget about them.
“He was determined to go to Barça last summer, he more or less confessed it in the dressing room. But that is passed history.
“Now is 100 per cent ready to put his all in to a great season with Arsenal.”
Nowhere in this article (can you call a make up an article?) is there anywhere a possible link to where and when Vermaelen would have said it. Let us say for example: “When talking to the Belgium newspaper “X” Vermaelen said and then the quote. So I could check this newspaper but I can’t check it as there is no such thing in the article.
But another most interesting thing about this is the fact that it came out on Tuesday 7 September. Because at that day Thomas Vermaelen was in Turkey with the Belgium national team. So he was nowhere near England and he was in the Belgian team where he only was talking about the Belgium team as they have their own troubles.
As I have total access to the Belgium media I would have thought that if Vermaelen by any chance would have talked about Arsenal, which he has not, as far as I have seen him on TV and press conferences and on interviews after the game, I would have seen it. And also the media would have reported it. Vermaelen is a big news story in Belgium.
But I can assure you that the media in Belgium have said nothing about anything that Vermaelen has or would have said about Cesc. So this “rumour” came not from the Belgium media and the Belgium press. And remember Vermaelen was in Belgium since the start of last week and has only been in touch with the Belgium media who haven’t reported anything about Thomas saying anything about Cesc.
But one site starts the rumour and the other reprints it and gives it credibility by repeating it. But so far no one has said when Vermaelen would have said it. And without this I cannot believe those things.
Another thing is that Vermaelen is not a stupid guy. People who have met him, people who have worked with him have said that he is a smart young man with both feet on the ground. He was made captain of Ajax and was praised for the way he was someone who could build up the team. He was known as someone who was bringing peace when there was some internal troubles. And all this with not jumping on the table and shouting but with calm talks with his team mates.
Yes, there could be a possibility that Vermaelen took his phone, dialled the number of talksport and said: “hey do you know what I think Cesc has Barelona DNA. Just write it down, will you?” With the way I know Vermaelen and the way we all have seen him in his first year at Arsenal I think it is fair to say that this scenario is not likely to happen. Vermaelen is not the man to attract attention on his person as some players like to do. He just isn’t that type of person.
My conclusion is: Thomas hasn’t said anything. If you look at the words in the rubbish article it just is a mix of old quotes (from Xavi) and they just have put another name (Vermaelen) in the article to make it sound as if it is something new.
So let us just forget about this rubbish media and press hyenas who have to fill their pages with non existing news and who just make things up. Let us not fall in their traps. It’s just another way on trying do disrupt Arsenal and us, the fans and to make us feel uncomfortable.
This week’s match preview is here
I think it is also worth noting which media runs with stories like this. When you see who does run the story, you know who is just running made up trivia, and it helps pick out true and untrue stories.
Talksport (the radio station in the UK) has a clear anti-Arsenal agenda, and it is not surprising it is there that the story started. Goal repeats whatever it finds – that is the nature of the site.
But beyond that it is interesting to see who else ran the story. Here’s a few
IM Scouting
Sky Sports
This is London
Football 365
Soccernews.com
Bleacher Report
Inside World Soccer
Who Ate All the Pies
Tribal Football
The Sun
The Daily Telegraphy
On line Arsenal
The Daily Mail
Just Arsenal
Mirror Football
You have been warned
And still in Belgium no media has made any reports of Vermaelen saying anything about Cesc, let alone his DNA.
The thing is for people like me who live outside the UK we are not familiar with all those names and do not really know them. Well I do not know them that well. The names of the big newspapers I know but I don’t know if they are reliable or not.
But I knew fans over here who asked me if this could true and so I went on to a search how it started. And how it got told further and further…
You know these quotes are real. There is an audio tape thing on talksport website. But these quotes have been turned around a bit and added to. He never said “He made it very clear in the dressing room or anything. He said
“He’s one of our best players and has been important to us for the last two years. I don’t know if he really asked the boss to leave but, of course, it {Barcelona] was his first club, but he came here when he was 15 so Arsenal is important to him as well”
He said it in a very breif way like he wasnt going to make a point out of it.
I hope, such reports be confirmed once with the arsenal club as well. Only then their crediblity can be made
C’mon guys, Cesc is here for at least 1 more season, maybe 2. Can we please put this story to bed? Hearing it all summer was bad enough, I’m dreading the whole saga being built up until the January transfer window opens when it will all blow up again. BTW, why do Talksport hate the Arsenal anyway? I’ve noticed that whenever there’s a liverpool/man n/chelski game on at the same time as us, both talksport & radio 5live both cover the same game. Tony, any ideas or am I just seeing conspiracy where there is a perfectly reasonable answer?
Thats why its called “talk shyte” and not talk sports by most people GO FIGURE 🙂
One way or another we will have to live with rubbish in the papers every transfer season about Cesc but he is our player for now so lets just get on with the football again we do decide the release or sell him Jack will be just as good.
I think I can explain…
[reading the paper over breakfast with his missus]
Thomas – “Hey look what this asshole Puyol just said: ‘Cesc carries Barcelona in the heart, in his DNA’, have they no shame, why can’t they just let it lie? You would never catch me saying that kind of crap, I tell you!”
Thomas’s missus – “Yes dear.”
Alas the milkman overheard them and got right on the blower to Talksport.
Walter, I doubt the quotes, but Vermaelen could well have made those quotes. They could have published ‘off the record’ quotes with actual quotes. The date of publication doesn’t reveal much. For all you know the interview could have been by email, through a spokesman, through his agent, by text message, or done at any point in time.
I am skeptical but that’s because I am skeptical about most things I read in certain sections of the media.
The Times, on Wednesday reported that a scan had been done on Theo and he was going to be out 2 weeks, whereas, when the scan was actually done it was determined it would be 4-6 weeks
Eirik so he didn’t say anything about his DNA?
Hard to believe that the Verminator would get involved in any such crap.The guy seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Arry started the rumour.
I THINK I’VE SUSSED OUT WHERE THE QUOTES WERE SPAWNED. IT WAS THE CITY OF BARCALONA IN SPAIN…..WHERE MUCH STIRRING ORIGINATED THIS SUMMER AND WHERE IT WILL CONTINUE UNTIL FABREGAS RETURNS.
So what you’re saying is, the media like to make stuff up? Come on, that can’t possibly be true. You’re trying to pull a fast one on me. Next, you’ll be telling me that Tottenham fans aren’t very smart.
If I can back away from the sarcasm, most of the Arsenal fans I know think Goal.com is a joke. Over this summer, they had Cesc going to Barcelona, Chamakh to Liverpool (it was a “done deal”), Joe Cole to Arsenal and Rafa Benitez to Juventus. And in the last month, I’ve seen them post a goal being scored by Basel against FC Sheriff as coming at “45+9” (You didn’t know Alex Ferguson managed Basel on the side, did you?), and one of the international games this past week as having a goal at “1+90” — instead of the correct “54” and “90+1.” All this, and that’s just in the last 4 months. No wonder we call it “Fail.com.”
does it realy matter what thomas said or didnt say, cesc is here with us, he will be at his best for us, we have bigger things to worry about like all the injuries
Eve – it matters when our fans start to believe it – and there were many who were believing every lie that came out of Spain this summer, while failing to take on board the fact that Barca were so broke they could not even pay their players.
Whole thing with press remind me of Delphi’s prophecies, which were always made in at last two meanings. I accept that TV maybe spoke to talkSPORT or who ever. I also accept that he may said Cesc has Catalonia in DNA, it is well known truth. Is there anyone who denies it?
Thomas also maybe said there were talks about Cesc leaving. Was it something what no one knew before?
So it is just way how to sell story, they ask basic questions, and than fill the gaps with peaces they want.
But I don’t see why someone will make fuzz about it, if my calendar is ok today is September? So about 9 months to new transfer window (no one would buy players who is CL locked), why should I spend my time reading article talking about Cesc leaving. Especially as Tony mentioned where those stories appeared. Mostly not worth of clicking.
As Walter concluded, there is no chance TV spoke at that day, but it could be peaces of some interview he gave them (or someone else), who knows when, which they modulated at their needs.
I think the only way to put this whole thing to bed is to have a Paternity test done on Cesc.
Imagine a tacky Jeremy Kyle set up with Xavi and co. on one side and Arsene Wenger on the other as the results are read out.
Sorry, risidual alcohol from last night.
my gosh!!! is this media or mafia???