Sycophants Of The FA Cup Giant-Killing

“Leeds United will milk this for all its worth”, remarked Jon Champion, with Kevin Friend’s whistle still warm from having blown for full-time, bringing an end to an FA Cup tie fought between Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur, a match which Leeds United won 2-1.

“Young Sam Byram will remember this for the rest of his life”, said Jon Champion, indicating that the talented full-back will do nothing from the age of 19 to the potential age of 39 in his football career. “It’s a famous victory for the Yorkshire club”. Leeds famously being a club to have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, knocked out by Valencia. Don’t forget to count the prolific “Don Revie era”, when two league championships were won, along with… An FA Cup of all trophies. Read more

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Craig in England, FA Cup Leave a comment

Arsenal Move For Cazorla Hits A Wall / West Ham Bid For Carroll / Snodgrass Joins Norwich City

Snodgrass in action against Norwich City, his new employers.

Good morning, Jumpers For Goalposts fans!

For the fifth, maybe sixth consecutive day, we have sunny weather! Honestly, I’m astounded, though kind of annoyed that I had to stop building my Ark to survive an impending flood.

Before I get to the main bulk of the news, we continue to have reports of links to the website not working and certain articles aren’t appearing for other people. Now, our website man will be on the case today to see what’s the problem since we switched servers, so hopefully all issues will be resolved, I’d just like to issue a massive apology to people who have had trouble accessing Jumpers For Goalposts.

Arsenal Move For Santi Cazorla Hits The Proverbial Wall

The main reason behind Arsenal’s move for Santi Cazorla, it has been said, is because of Malaga’s financial issues and the fact they have to settle their debts by the 31st July (next Tuesday). According to Christian Machowski on Twitter, a man who organises training camps for football clubs and holds a season ticket at Malaga, the problems should be resolved by the 31st.

Originally, it was thought that Malaga wanted to sell Cazorla in order to wipe out their debts in one go, but the rumoured return of Malaga’s estranged chairman means that if they really wanted, they could hold Arsenal to ransom over the £35 million release clause in Cazorla’s contract. Of course, Arsenal, nor any other club, should pay £35 million for a 27 year old from Malaga, as Cazorla’s actual market value is closer to the £15 million mark.

Whilst Malaga’s debts aren’t yet settled, there does seem to be great confidence in the belief that their chairman will swoop in with the required money to halt potential relegation and the suspension of their UEFA license. If that happens, Malaga have no reason to sell their best player to Arsenal for anything less than the release clause. Read more

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Craig in Championship, England, Europe, La Liga, Premiership, Spain Leave a comment

Notts Forest Recover From Derby Loss / Sheff Wednesday Earn Vital Point

Good morning!

After losing 1-0 in the last minute to your local rivals, you could be forgiven for falling into a little bit of a slump. Nottingham Forest were the unfortunate club to suffer that fate last Tuesday, having been beaten 1-0 by a later than late, Jake Buxton header.

Having tasted the bitterness of defeat in such fashion to your local rivals, it’s of course easy to go away and feel sorry for yourself, it happens to teams all the time.

As far as Nottingham Forest are concerned however, reflecting too much on previous previous results isn’t going to help their plight too much. For the first time in years, Forest find themselves fighting off relegation through the combined circumstances of poor boardroom decisions, bad management and woeful dealings in the transfer market.

Having not been backed by the board, Steve McLaren had seen his vision undermined and as a result, McLaren’s Nottingham Forest struggled desperately. It’s widely acknowledged by Forest fans that McLaren is indeed a very good manager, though when no backing is received, it can be very hard for anybody to do a job, even Jose ‘I’ve spent billions on success with various teams’ Mourinho needs backing.

Now ex-Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill has been the lucky man charged with ‘saving’ Nottingham Forest and took over a limited pool of players, low on confidence. It was no wonder that Forest didn’t get off to a flying start under Cotterill and some Forest fans moaned about Cotterill’s tactics coming ‘straight from the back of a van’.

That was an incredibly short-sighted view from Forest fans who just failed to realise that Cotterill was fighting against the tide, never once managing to take note of the utter struggle Cotterill would have faced going into a dressing room holding no confidence and even less in talent.

To Cotterill’s credit, he has managed some astute loan signings to help Nottingham Forest, such as Greg Cunningham from Manchester City as well as George Elokobi and Adlene Guediora from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Those signings represent Cotterill’s shrewd ability in the transfer market. When Cotterill was still at Portsmouth, he managed to acquire the signature of Norwegian international, Erik Huseklepp, (now at Birmingham City) who shone brightly for Portsmouth despite their struggles.

From twenty-seven available points in the last nine matches, Nottingham Forest have managed a total of fourteen points, which is the best run of form in the relegation zone.

For Nottingham Forest to take that form to Elland Road and become the first ever visiting team to put seven past Leeds United. When you take into consideration the teams Leeds United have faced down the years, having played in the Champions League and all that, it’s a phenomenal record to break and further demonstrates that Cotterill’s tactics do not indeed come from the back of a white van, but a gleaming Ferrari. Okay, there have been mistakes made on Cotterill’s part, but he’s needed to educate himself about his new side so throughout a period of experimentation, there will naturally be a lot of bad results.

Nottingham Forest have passed their settling in period under Cotterill and are looking to continue the recent progress made in the fight against relegation. this season was always about survival and building for next season, which is an objective currently being achieved.

From Leeds to Sheffield now, or S6 to be precise, where Sheffield Wednesday have been going all guns blazing under new manager, Dave Jones.

I was speaking to a Sheffield Wednesday fan the other day who said he’d read that throughout Dave Jones’ career, he’s ammassed a win percentage of 40%. Over a sixteen year career in management, having managed football league teams, that’s a fantastic stat to put on your CV. I haven’t bothered to actually chase up that stat, but wow, it certainly points to a very able manager at football league level. Jones did a great job at Cardiff City, despite their constant failings to get promoted, Jones did qualify himself as a quality manager long ago.

Whilst I think Dave Jones is a great manager and better than Gary Megson, Sheffield Wednesday’s previous manager, I still believe that sacking Gary Megson so close to the end of the season, was the wrong decision taken by Milan Mandaric, following a reported argument between the two after Wednesday’s away loss to Chesterfield Town.

Since Megson’s last match as manager, in which he defeated fierce rivals, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday have gone five matches unbeaten, winning three and drawing two, putting themselves in a very strong position as the football league season draws to a close. With eight matches left to go, Wednesday find themselves third, two points behind Sheffield United in second place.

A win last night would have seen Sheffield Wednesday level on points with United, but a battling Walsall managed to find themselves 2-1 up with just seconds left to play, when a Gary Madine strike earned Wednesday a draw, saving the undoing of Wednesday’s recent good work. In the grand scheme of things, Wednesday fans would have ripped your hand off to be level on games played and just two points behind second place, so not all is lost, though yes, ideally Sheffield Wednesday would this morning, be level on points with their local rivals. Just a few weeks ago, Sheffield United had a couple of games in hand over Wednesday and it looked as if United would put themselves out of sight and with it, second place, meaning Wednesday would have had no option but to compete in the play-offs.

On a personal note, I must say I don’t like the play-offs one bit. Okay, you get romantic stories such as Blackpool gaining promotion to the Premiership, but surely the team in third place is better qualified than a team in sixth place to qualify for Premiership football. For me, it should be the top three who get promoted, no first and second place, with an average team who have scraped sixth place allowed a shot at promotion.

Having digressed now, I have to ask, would Sheffield Wednesday have experienced a similar run of form post-Sheffield derby had Megson been in charge? It’s incredible what a derby day win does for a club and whilst it could be argued that Dave Jones has ‘worked wonders’, I would like to see what ‘wonders’ he’s performed. Having taken over a confident squad, full of quality for this level, is Jones just riding on Megson’s success in the Sheffield derby at the moment? I doubt that Jones has tinkered too much with what was a winning formula and with that, I do believe it was wrong to sack Megson, no matter how good a manager Dave Jones is.

We’ll see next season what ideas Dave Jones wishes to implement at S6, but for now, Sheffield Wednesday’s promotion would be Gary Megson’s success.

That’s your lot from me today, I’ll see you in the comments…

Follow @J4goalpostsblog

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Craig in Championship, England, League One Leave a comment

Making or Breaking

Good Morning Sports Fans!

My post this morning or my question this morning is concerning the large teams playing in lower leagues that have hopes and ambition to reach the promised land. My question is this, at what cost either financially, morally or ethically would we accept to see our beloved teams reach the Premier League. I ask this as my team Leicester City are rumoured to make more signing in the January transfer window, having already spent an estimated £30m in the last two seasons alone; at what cost do we pursue the dream? What also lead me to this topic was Leciester’s game against Southampton on Monday night. Leicester convincingly beat the Saints at home which led to the home crowed booing their team off at both the interval and full time, despite the fact Nigel Adkins’ men are second in the League and have been on a cracking run so far.

The scenario applies to many teams with the ambition of playing top flight football, no doubt fans of Leeds, Derby, Nottingham Florist, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United and don’t forget teams like Bradford playing in League two all feel the same (there are many more!). So for sake of argument say our teams make the Premier League and begin another shot at the big time. I ask, what can we realistically expect? Unless Bill Gates has been announced as new owner what’s the most you can hope for just avoid relegation? maybe 16? 15 at a push? Maybe have the promotion syndrome and finish even higher who knows. But never in a million years are teams that get promoted going to challenge for anywhere near the top 6/7 keeping the spot light again on the teams that need it the least!

Watching Leicester this season who have spent, spent and spent some more, (it was rumoured we spent so much we were steering the nation away from recession) we have massively underachieved but I look now just over half way through the season, it could go either way – we could finish a lonely 15/16 or we could still easily make the play off’s the same applies for all the teams in the football league except the Premier League that’s what makes our leagues so exciting!

Even though my side were winning, it shocked me and saddened me to hear Southampton fans booing their team who up until that point have been magnificent all season and some would say they have overachieved! I think to be second or even competing in any over our leagues which are undoubtedly some of the most competitive in the world is worth cheering about! And, from a ‘clubs’ perspective the exposure is surely more positive than getting relegated from the Premier League?

What could be better than an away trip to Elland Road the City Ground or the King Power stadium but name a few – needing 3 points to get back on the promotion push! It’s what football is all about I think some fans don’t realise how lucky they are Your thoughts?

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@j4goalpostblog

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Mat in Championship, England Leave a comment

Arsenal Beat Leeds

Good evening!

It’s not too often I post twice in one day, but I felt it was owed since this morning’s post made little sense, if any at all. Was I overly-excited about Thierry Henry’s return? Well, of course, it was a magical moment!

Now able to get on to the match itself, we should probably discuss what happened.

Despite Arsenal dominating the match from first minute to last, enjoying a steady 63% of possession, there was nobody on the end of any good work done by Arsenal. Back to his mazy, dribbling, yet still infuriating best, Andrey Arshavin found himself right in the thick of everything, proving himself a constant to the Leeds United defence. Arshavin’s work was was impressive and it felt as if the Russian was taking you back to when he lit up the Premiership.

Like Arshavin, Oxlade-Chamberlain was proving a menace, particularly in the second half where he looked to be very sharp, using his many, many tricks to good effect. Both Arshavin and Chamberlain were performing well out wide, so why were there no goals sooner than the 78th minute? Simply put, Marouane Chamakh, Arsenal’s main striker for the night, was impossible to find in goalscoring positions. There was a moment in the second half where Arshavin beat his man, raced toward the byline, before cutting back a pass into an empty penalty area. As Pedro said on Le Grove, ‘where is Chamakh?!’

The man in question was nowhere to be seen. Arshavin had set Chamakh up for what was a simple tap-in and Chamakh was nowhere, infact I can only guess Chamakh was pleading for the Leeds defence to mark him.

For me, Chamakh’s Arsenal career is over, dead and buried, never to be seen again. The Morroccan’s confidence is completely shot and at a top club like Arsenal, you can’t be allowed time to get over it, you need to get back to your best pretty sharpish. I read on Tim Payton’s Twitter feed that Chamakh’s ‘free’ transfer actually cost Arsenal around £10 million when you take into account his wages over his four year contract, a figure backed up in an article on The Sun website. Chamakh has been a massive flop and in my opinion, will be moved on this summer for a more dynamic player, like Andy Pipkin from Little Britain for example.

Despite Chamakh’s no-show, everybody else was having a pretty solid game in an Arsenal shirt. No Leeds player had an answer to Arsenal’s midfield trio of Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Song, who dominated the Leeds midfield with little trouble. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but Arteta offers a steely resistance not really possessed by players such as Denilson, Diaby and Nasri. Whilst Arteta doesn’t offer the same sparks of brilliance once provided by Cesc and Nasri, he does provide a solid platform for others, whilst more than able to score his fair share of goals. Personally, I love Arteta, he also goes very with Ramsey in midfield, another player who works all day for the team.

It has to be said though, as amazing as Henry’s cameo was, it only highlights just how thin Arsenal are on options in attack. Marouane Chamakh should be the player making runs, not an ageing Thierry Henry and whilst a great moment, it only highlights just how short on options Arsenal really are.

What of Chu-Young Park? The Korean signed from AS Monaco in the summer has done nothing since joining Arsenal, apart from one goal against Bolton Wanderers in the Carling Cup. I’d heard that he’s not played because of the ‘do or die’ nature of all Arsenal’s fixtures at the moment, not an ideal situation for Park to come into when he’s still adapting. All the same, you get the impression that if he was playing well enough in training, he’d figure in matches, surely?

So, does Henry’s cameo inspire Arsenal to greater things, or simply paper over the cracks of Arsenal’s deficiency outside of Robin Van Persie when it comes to scoring?

Let me know i

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Craig in Championship, England, Premiership Leave a comment

Thierry Henry Writes His Own Script!

Good. Morning.

I don’t really know where to start with this post, I’m still on cloud nine from watching the match, still sat here watching videos of Thierry Henry on YouTube. It was a magical moment, one tailor-made for Henry.

All day yesterday, I had been relaying my opinion of Thierry Henry coming on a substitute, scoring the winner and getting an ovation. Half in jest, half in seriousness, you just knew it would happen the second Henry took to the pitch. Offering the sort of movement that Marouane Chamakh lacks, Leeds’ defence didn’t all step up, allowing Henry to nip in behind his marker, creating space for Alex Song to pass into. Henry needed one touch to set himself, and another to stroke the ball across the face of goal, past Andy Lonergan and into the corner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftZQZ-Jtlqs

It’s a great goal, and an amazing moment for Arsenal fans. My little Brother cried, I’ve ruined my voice and only when I’d managed to calm down did a tear roll down my cheek. Thierry brokes Arsenal hearts when he left, but we never hated him for it, we just loved him more. That moment where he rippled the net was beautiful, a moment which gives a stadium still in it’s infancy, a little story to give it more character, more glorious moments for fans to emotionally connect with. A new house can look as magnificent as it wants, but you have to make it your home and goals such as that, Fabregas’ solo run v Spurs, Arshavin’s winner against Barcelona, are all great moments that Arsenal fans can remember and directly affiliate them with Emirates Stadium.

Leeds fans had been singing ‘you must be shit, you’ve got Henry’. Hm, okay, maybe that is a fair point, signing an ageing striker from America could be a signal of desperation, but let me just level with you. Can anybody out there honestly name me a quality striker available in January? No, I thought not.

As well as being a quality signing, Henry will inspire Arsenal’s younger players. Jack Wilshere, Wojciech Szczesny, Theo Walcott etc all grew up watching Henry and for them to play alongside a man voted as Arsenal’s best ever player, a man who knows the meaning of pulling on an Arsenal shirt better than anybody, will be a massive boost for Arsenal’s players and though it’s only two months, this period will have a massive effect on Arsenal’s players.

Am I warbling throughout this post? Oh, without a doubt, I’ve been hit with delirium thanks to Henry’s goals. What a moment!

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Craig in Championship, England, Premiership 1 Comment

Nasri to Join Manchester City?

It would seem that Arsene Wenger’s empire is slowly crumbling from beneath his feet.

Who thought that a few months ago when Nasri was wiping the floor with every team he came across, that he’d be refusing to sign contracts, flirting Manchester United and Manchester City in the process? I certainly didn’t. The fashion in which Nasri was playing looked mesmerising as he single-handedly put Fulham to the sword, scored an incredible goal in which he played a one-two with Arshavin in the box against Manchester City and then provided the assist for Arshavin’s winning goal vs Barcelona.

Samir Nasri had a great three months before a hamstring injury against Huddersfield in the FA Cup produced a month on the sidelines for the French international.

It was that month on the sidelines that seemed to put a halt to Nasri’s incredible form, which was on show in the Carling Cup Final against Birmingham City where he seemed to shirk responsibility, producing an anonymous performance. Bar the assist for Arshavin’s goal against Barcelona, Nasri had remained pretty quiet throughout the game, likewise in the return leg at the Nou Camp, followed by another no-show against Manchester United in the FA Cup shortly after. Within a fortnight, Nasri’s confidence had been shattered, returning into the withdrawn shell he had formerly occupied in his first two seasons at the Emirates.

Despite a season which produced more than PFA Player of the Year winner, Gareth Bale, Nasri did not win said award. Even so, Samir thought that consideration for the award demanded a higher wage, a wage which Arsenal are currently refusing to meet.

As a result, a £20m transfer to Manchester City is being touted, as is a move to local rivals, Manchester United.

So the question is, how big a loss is this to Arsenal, and how big a gain is it to a potential suitor should Nasri reject advances of a new contract at Arsenal?

Let me know in the comments…

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Craig in England, Premiership Leave a comment

Leeds Take x2364 Steps Back / Luis Enriqué Confirmed As Roma Boss

Morning all! First off the bat is the quite remarkable sale of Leeds United goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, to league rivals, Leicester City.

Now, I can’t say I watch Leeds United very often, if at all, but the twice I saw him this season against my side, Arsenal, in the FA Cup, he was fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaZClt0mdIo

He was incredible in the first FA Cup Third Round match against Arsenal; denying Arshavin in a one on one, pulling out a world class stop to deny Denilson in the final minute, before the replay at Elland Road, which though Arsenal won 3-1, he brilliant again, pulling off another world class stop, this time from Marouane Chamakh.

£1 million for a 24 year old goalkeeper is scandalous business on Leeds’ part. Which is even more shocking, is that Leeds hadn’t constructed a new deal for Schmeichel to sign, considering he had only a year left on his current deal. Surely Leeds must have known that even if they wished to sell him, signing him to a new contract and flogging Schmeichel a year later would have brought about £5 million into the clubs’ piggy bank. Maybe I merit a place in Leeds’ boardroom, who knows? What I do know, is that Leeds have let a very talented goalkeeper go to a play-off rival in Leicester City, for a mere million, which is peanuts for young talent in today’s market.

Not only have Leeds let young talent go for the price of a pack of crisps, but they are going back in for old Leeds trio; Lee Bowyer (34), Jonathan Woodgate (31) and Alan Smith (30). Now, I’m not against signing an ex-player whose suddenly come good, but these are players in the twilight of their careers, not players who are in form but conveniently out of contract or anything daft, but players who whose careers are dwindling. For example, at 31, I don’t see Woodgate’s ageing body repairing itself to full fitness anytime soon, so even if he were to join, Leeds would be shelling out for the best part of £40,000 a week for his wages, only to see him sat holding hands with the physio on matchdays. Furthermore, Woodgate has played 4 times in the past 2 years, you just don’t go near a player with that kind of injury record. Meanwhile, Alan Smith has been moved from the capacity of striker, to holding midfielder in recent years due to the lack of spark in his legs. Smith started seven times for Newcastle United last season, a clear indication he’s on his way down. Smith is not a ‘class act’, he’s a player on his way down, a player who would do very, very, very well to dismantle the current Leeds midfield.

Lee Bowyer on the other hand, I have time for. Sure, he’s a nasty piece of work, but most of the best footballers are. For example some of my favourite Arsenal players have not exactly been angels, just look at Patrick Vieira’s disciplinary record, or Tony Adams’ private life, none of it has been perfect but was still a cracking player. I’m not saying Bowyer is in the same league as those players, no way, but he does a very steady job for Birmingham and if he could be tempted into re-joining Leeds, I think he’d do a brilliant job for a season or two. Just look at his stats from recent seasons and you’ll see he can still mustard in the Premiership, so why not in the Championship?

Bowyer aside, I think the other two signings show a distinct lack of drive going forward into the future. I also think that signing old players on high wages for a couple of seasons to gain promotion is a financial disaster, just look at how Cardiff ploughed money into a similar venture and you can see how it didn’t benefit them.

The new Thai owners of Leicester however, must be laughing their socks off at such a deal. Say the latest Leicester revolution takes off and the Foxes make the Premiership next season, what would Schmeichel be worth then? Figures of 6 or £7 million wouldn’t be too far-fetched, so not only is it a knock-down price deal for a great, young keeper, it’s a future investment into a player who will be worth a lot more if tied to a long term contract. It’s a brilliant deal, a deal I know Rainy is happy about and with a few more of these signings in the right places, Leicester will be going places next season!

Finally, I’m going to finish with AS Roma officially confirming the appointment of ex-Barcelona and Real Madrid great, Luis Enriqué. Now I don’t know nearly enough about his career to do the man justice, I just know he was a terrific player. I first learnt of his existence when on FIFA 2002 with Fulham of all clubs and I signed him for about £20 million. I was infatuated by Enrique, I thought he was quality and purely for winning three European trophies in his virtual time with me at Fulham, I thank him!

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Craig in Championship, England, Europe, Italy, Spain Leave a comment

What The Papers Say!

Saturday morning’s transfer gossip…

Daily Mail

Spurs midfielder, Luka Modric, wants to leave White Hart Lane for pastures new at Stamford Bridge. I know I’ve given Modric a hammering on here the past few days, saying he’s not worth the money due to his assists etc, which is an opinion I stand by; he isn’t worth £30 million. What Modric is though, is like Arsenal’s Tomas Rosicky when he was still dynamic. Modric can start the play from deep, keeping the play ticking over, keeping the ball on the ground and making space for the rest of the team. That is what Chelsea miss, as Essien, Mikel and Ramires can hardly do that, it’s not in their nature. Modric will be a good buy for Chelsea, though I do hope it’s for something nearer the £20 million mark, otherwise I don’t feel Modric could justify his transfer fee.

Neil Warnock is lining up a £3 million move for Javi Guerra of Real Vallodolid, who scored 29 goals last season, making him the highest score in the Spanish Segunda Division.

Swedish free agent, Sebastian Larsson, is set to join Sunderland after rejecting the advances of Arsenal, Newcastle and Aston Villa. Larsson scored 4 goals for Birmingham last season, assisting a further 6.

Wolves are the next West Midlands club to upset Birmingham, with a move for defender, Roger Johson. Wolves believe a £7 million bid will be enough to capture the steely defender.

Bolton Wanderers will allow Ali Al Habsi a £4 million move to Wigan, where he spent last season on loan, due to Jussi Jaaskelainen agreeing a new two year deal with Bolton.

Daily Mirror

Udinese and Columbian international, Cristian Zapata, says he expects to complete a move to Liverpool in the next few days. The defender, rated £14 million has also received interest from Manchester City, while Arsenal had a bid of £8 million rejected two seasons ago.

Blackburn Rovers are set to miss out on signing AS Roma striker, Mirko Vucinic. I’ve always been a fan of Vucinic, mainly because he missed a penalty against Arsenal to send us through to the next round the Champions League, though partly because the man is silky smooth, a hard worker and scores some great goals. Vucinic has his eyes set on a move to Turin, to join Juventus.

Swansea want to sign Leeds striker, Max Gradel, in a bid to bolster their attacking potency in the Premiership next season. ‘Rainy’, being a Leicester fan, can’t stand the man, though I’d say that a reported fee of £1.5 million for a player who scored 19 goals last season, assisting 5, is good value for an exciting prospect.

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Craig in What The Papers Say! Leave a comment

Cesc’s Worth How Much? / Picking The Logic Of Nolan’s Move

Once upon a time I told a girl that she was ugly in order to attract her. Ultimately, it did not work; nor did Sandro Rosell’s attempts to ‘lure’ Cesc Fabregas to Camp Nou.

In a stunning twist in the Fabregas – Barcelona saga, Rosell, Barcelona’s President, as claimed that Cesc Fabregas’s value has decreased due to a season of ‘wear and tear’. Fair enough, Fabregas has suffered injuries this season, only starting 29 games for Arsenal this season, compared to 34 the season before last. Fabregas also only scored 9 goals in all competitions last season, which pales in comparison to the 18 he scored for Arsenal in the 2009/10 season. Cesc also assisted 13 in that same season, more than last season’s total of 11.

So, take those figures into consideration, then bring Barcelona’s valuation of £35 million from last year into the equation, then say you deduct £5 million for diminished figures, which would obviously indicate that Barcelona would be ready to bid £30 million for a 24 year old midfielder.

Now we have to take into consideration the value of Barcelona’s current midfield. First we’ll start with Xavi, a 31 year old midfielder whose never scored more than 10 goals for Barcelona in a season. Here’s a good fact, in the same period that Fabregas made his first appearance for Arsenal in the 2003-04 season, to the end of the season just gone, Cesc has scored 57 goals for Arsenal in all competitions. In that same period, Xavi has scored 43 goals; 14 goals less than Fabregas. You may now argue that Xavi’s job is to probe and create chances for Barcelona, not bomb forward and get in amongst the goals. Well, that theory is all well and good, but Fabregas has assisted 91 goals since 2003-04, compared to Xavi’s measly total of 67. So if we take into account the fact that Fabregas has contributed to 48 more goals than Xavi since 2003, shall we say that Xavi should therefore be £10 million less than Fabregas, so we’ll price Xavi at £20 million, since a slight dip in Fabregas’s productivity has seen his price dip by £5 million. It can’t be argued that Xavi does a different job to Cesc, as it’s been argued that they couldn’t play together as they’re ‘too similar in style’, so to argue that Xavi plays a different role to Cesc is frankly, rubbish.

Moving onto Iniesta, aged 27, who in the same time slot as Fabregas and Xavi, has produced 32 goals and 39 assists. Iniesta is seen as a more nippy player than Xavi, one who prefers to play higher up the pitch to his Spanish counterpart, so why the low productivity tally? Surely he should be pitching in more with the figures? Due to this, we’d have to knock £15 million off of the price of Fabregas’s new worth, so Iniesta is a snip at £15 million.

So despite Fabregas boasting superior figures to a much higher degree than to those of his Spanish pals, Barcelona still value Xavi and Iniesta higher than Cesc, in spite of what he contributes to a team. This shows Barcelona lack a real energy to sign him, no motivation nor desire to take him to Barcelona and if I were Arsene Wenger, I’d form a £20 million bid Xavi, aged 31 bare in mind and wait for Barcelona’s answer. I’m pretty sure I’d get told where to go with my offer, with them stating that Xavi is ‘priceless’, yet Fabregas, a 24 year old midfielder, 7 years Xavi’s junior, is worth a mere £30 million.

Thankyou, Sandro Rosell, for showing Cesc Fabregas exactly what he means to Barcelona. I’ll be looking forward to seeing him play for Arsenal next season.

In more flawed logic, I struggle to understand the transfer of Kevin Nolan from Premiership side, Newcastle United, to newly-relegated, West Ham United. Nolan is more than capable of playing in the Premiership, he scored 12 goals last season, yet aged 28, he’s decided to play for West Ham in the Championship.

I understand that in the next few weeks, we will see a lot of stories, rumours and gossip coming out of Newcastle, two of their most influential players leaving and being refused contract extensions, indicate there are white hot bubbles, about to surface at St James’ Park, but even if this is indeed the case, Nolan could still have manufactured a move to a Premiership side. Stoke, Everton, Fulham, Wolves, even Liverpool would have found a place for him, of that I’m sure, yet a move to the Championship is what he’s opted for.

Nolan gets to rejoin Sam Allardyce at Upton Park, which was no doubt a factor in his decision to move, having combined so well together at Bolton Wanderers, but to sign a five year deal shows a massive risk. No club going down into the Championship is guaranteed to come straight back up. Just ask: Derby County, Sheffield United, Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Leed United and Middlesbrough. To sign a five year deal would mean that West Ham are under no pressure whatsoever to sell should Nolan decide he wants to leave, meaning a West Ham would command a massive fee from any potential suitor, a massive fee that they might not wish to carry through, considering Nolan turns 29 next week.

That’s your lot for today, but as always, I shall see you in the comments!

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Craig in England, Europe, Premiership, Spain 2 Comments

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