₦airaland Forum

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6371264#msg6371264 date=1278934260]We are all guilty of this and it's a shame really.

When a 22-yr old is not performing, we quickly compare him to Cesc, Rooney or Messi which does not make sense.
Apart from those 3, i am struggling to name other players in their category. . . .and there musta been hundreds of thousands of players who didn't make the mark in their teens.

Duduspace woulda condemned him to Burnley FC cos he's not as good as Luiz Ronaldo. [/quote]What nonsense is this yu're writing Sauron? I think your conclusion should be directed at Debo, he is the one pulling down a young player here and not me.

Szczesney is an exceptional Goalkeeper for his age and that is a fact, If only people like Debo are coaches, no young player would ever get a chance, he would be waiting for them to get the elusive experience until time passes them by.

Debosky can note it down, Szczesney will become Arsenal's number one within the next 2 seasons, he can quote me on that, the boy is that good.

debosky:
it is foolish to expect the likes of Mannone and Szezny to have the #1 jersey for another 4 years at least.

Be careful what you get quoted saying, it is not only about age, for all you know Szczesney may become No. 1 this season. All what people are saying is the boy has shown the ability to become No. 1, it remains to be seen how he will be managed to progress.

Here is a friend's write up on 10 things he learnt from this world cup, I have to say I agree with all of it

[Quote]
1. There isn’t anything as rewarding in the game as possession football with skilful players, along with the 2 CL titles they have won(And they will probably win more) this wonderfully talented generation of Spanish players especially the (Barcelona lads) can now boast of being European and World champions. This type of success can never be achieved playing negative park the bus type football.

2. When we talk of the greatest managers, please think of Vincente Del Bosque, he won the CL with Real Madrid twice and has now won the WC…I hope he stays on he might guide this special set of players to retaining the European Championship. Lippi is the other one who has done this with Juventus and Italy… 

3. The EPL is what it is, top 4 teams aside Shyte! I warned that the quality of football I saw in the Bundelsiga on ESPN was much better than that of the EPL and I have been proved right…please compare the German youngsters with the English…its not just about money(well….not when J.Milner is worth £28M), the basic football ideology in the EPL has got to change. (I know this will bring a smile to DK's face, but sadly it is very true)

4. This is the World cup where I have agreed the most with the Golden ball award, as a young boy in 1994  I felt it should have gone to Roberto Baggio but it went to Romario because Brazil won it. But this time the voters got it right with Forlan, he was the best individual player in the tournament IMHO and was immense for Uruguay…

5. We still have a long way to go in African football, Ghana and CIV aside African teams were seriously below par in the competition. The one upside is that South Africa did the continent proud hosting the WC

6. Louis Van Gaal did not manage in this tournament but his blueprint in Dutch football at Ajax, Barcelona, and Bayern was all over the competition. He is truly a great manager…no wonder people like SAF & Wenger never stop talking about how good he is. He gave Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol their Barca debuts and thought them to play the right way,,brought Golden ball winner & Best young player of the WC Thomas Mueller from the reserves into the Bayern 1st  team last season, changed Schweinsteigers position from winger to Central midfielder, rescued Robben from Real and has instructed all the players he coached in his career to pass the ball 1 Meter into the stride of the person they are passing to and move to another position. When we talk of great coaches we should certainly think of him….  (definitely I won't be thinking of Mourinho, negative footie has never been my thing)

7. European football at the moment has got the best mix of the key elements flair, organization and pace. They finished 1,2,3 at this WC…I’m sure the South Americans will come correct at the next WC.

8. Playing at great clubs helps certain players believe they are the best, whilst in all fairness they are only good at a few things and are not well rounded players. One wonders what happened to C.Ronaldo, Lampard, Rooney & Torres at this WC. Argentina were poor but Messi was still impressive and was still on the list for the Golden ball, so was Donovan….Fabregas only played a few minutes but he always showed his class throughout.

9. Pace is still a decisive factor in big games, despite all the technicians on display on both sides yesterday it was the pace of Jesus Navas that unlocked the stubborn Dutch defence in the end…prior to this the pace of Arjen Robben created the best chances in the game. I hope T.Walcott was watching… (now go and put that blinding place to use for us son)

10. Established WC teams like France, Argentina and Italy would have learnt not to come into competitions with the wrong managers and in the case of Italy relying on an ageing squad. Disorganised FA’s like the Nigeria FA would have learnt that without organization you cannot achieve anything, our team was talented enough to play in the Qtr finals of this competition. (at least we should have qualified ahead of South Korea).[/quote]

davidylan:
Arsenal is still existing? lol at this rate we'd struggle to be 5th next season. Man City looks a formidable side at the moment.

Oh ye of little faith. 
City's recent purchases are intimidating and their squad looks good but don't worry an array of stars a team maketh not, they'll still find a way to mess up. And they've got the Europa league to worry about also.

proudly9ja:
Why sell Sczezny? Ive watched that guy play two matches, one for us and one on loan last season and that guy has got raw talents! All he needs now is just experience which he will get on loan for another two seasons. If all goes well, that guy would one of the top keepers in the world! Considering that Hart is 20 (or so) and Ike Cassilas started for Madrid at a young age, I won't take it over this guy to follow the same lines.

Almunia was always a number 2, Lehman said it a long time ago that if a GK cldn't be number 1 for a 2nd division side at 27 then there was something fundamentally wrong (at least not so right) with his ability and or temperament. Szczesney has a good pedigree and dare I say genes too (as his father was a full international for poland) and he has kept for Poland (a country reputed for producing good GKs) U21s as an 18 year old and earned a full international cap at 19 (despite them having Boruc, Kuzcak and Fabianski) because there was rumor of the English FA already sniffing around to get him into the England picture, add this to the fact that he was already considered good enough to train with the Legia Warsaw team at 15 and you know you have a precocious talent with massive confidence on your hands. At the end of the day, it might come down to a use him or lose him scenario as his exploits at Brentford have not gone unnoticed and he might not be tied to a long term contract just yet.
Some players are good and also know that they are good, Szczesney is one of those, if there is no plan in place for him to become no 1 in the next 2 years, we will likely lose him.

proudly9ja:
In terms of goalkeeping options, I rate Sorensen and Howard high too but would Everton sell Howard? and Kirkland though a good keeper has a back problem. And considering the back up options we have, I want a keeper that will be in goal for at least 98% of our EPL and UCL games.
As for Sorensen, well he may be very good but for his age and also considering our back four, I don't think I want him. I don't see him as someone who has a good command of his defence.

You've hit the nail on the head, Arsenal have 2 European U21 keepers on their books (Mannone for Italy and Szczesney for Poland) whom you would expect to progress considerably over the next 2-3 years, having invested so much in nurturing this players, it would be counter productive to now go out and shell out anything above 10m  for a GK of the class we need who will end up holding back these players (who might then end up leaving like Merida did), most people forget there is a balancing act by the manager here. There might be "slightly" better options than Schwarzer but they might not be available, I think there was talk of us going for Sorensen too. The objective is that whoever comes in is only a stop gap measure and insurance to bed in the long term number 1.

proudly9ja:
I don't think Wenger will sign any keeper that will keep his two favourites i.e. Fabianski and Schezny out of action in a long time. From the little I know of the two, I tip Schezny to be no 1 at the Grove in a few years to come.

Szczesney is definitely the long term number 1 in waiting, Arsene has said much and that is why it makes no sense shelling out for a Buffon class GK. It will take a major turn around to save Fabianski's Arsenal career, I feel for him cos he is definitely not as bad a keeper as he looks now.

proudly9ja:
Manone and Shea can deputize for whoever the new no 1 is and if both mess up, Schezny or Fabianski can be recalled in January.

You can include Damian Martinez into the mix. He kept for Argentina in last year's FIFA U17 in Nigeria and will be linking up with the team this season, he'll likely be the Academy league keeper for this season.

proudly9ja:
My fear for the new season is that our defense will be so inexperienced. Sagna, Koscieny, Vermallen, Clichy don't inspire me at all. I hope Wenger brings in an experienced CB.

Yet another reason why Schwarzer would be a shrewd buy, he knows this league like no other keeper we can get at present, he can help the new defence settle in.

dayokanu:
For a club that doesn't make noise about their youth to produce the young player of the tournament while one that blames their failure to win major cups on their youth policy isnt that an irony?

Nothing that can't be explained by Capello's dodgy team selection.

debosky:
@ Folly

Eduardo has signed for Genoa, so Wenger either missed out on that or wasn't interested.

More defensive cover is sure to arrive, rumour has it that Schwarzer failed his first medical due to a knee problem but passed the second one. . . .not too sure about him TBH, I wasn't too impressed by his WC and end of season performances.

That said, he has EPL experience that can't be matched by any of our current GKs.

I don't think Arsene was ever interested in Eduardo, Schwarzer is PL proven and of the right age to allow Szczesney, Mannone or Fabiansky compete with and take over the gloves on a long term basis without us shelling out major Kudi. I think Schwarzer works well for us particularly if the long term GK coaching role continues after he is no longer first choice, the guy has got massive experience.

debosky:
@ Dudu

I don't think we should sign Melo - he is a troublemaker and has no self control, I'd rather he went for the Ghanaian kid, that way the balance of the team isn't upset and Song still holds the prime position with boys to take over from him.

Sure his temperament is a gamble, but players atimes learn from incidents like that don't forget Becks the English darling had to overcome a similar scenario to Melo. One thing I think Melo will improve is our squad balance, most of our players are gentlemen and we don't seem to have the squad temperament mix perfected just yet like with the invincibles, Melo brings some more needed agression into the MF (Cesc, Song, Denilson, Diaby and even Eastmond are all what I would term gentlemen), it is one of the reasons why I've always personally preferred Coquelin to Eastmond as he has that Agression to his game that has been lacking at Arsenal since Flamini ill advisedly took his all action style to Milan.
All of Arsene's recent signings have been those he has referred to as "fighters" and you can hardly find a better example of a MF warrior than Melo in world football at present, he can do for us now what people like Lauren, Vieira and Martin Keown did for the invincibles. If his world cup shenanigans lower his value in anyway, I'd say we should pounce.

mystikal:
English Representatives left in World Cup. Arsenal: RV Persie, Fabregas. Liverpool: Kuyt, Reina, Torres. City: Silva, Boateng and De Jong. Manchester United: Howard Webb.

, funny thing is that he's actually officiated very well, which further confirms bias and not incompetence. Maybe England's dismal performance might now lead to a change of mind so they begin to discourage this up at the arsenal mentality they've silently been encouraging in the name of the english game, one can only hope.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6350388#msg6350388 date=1278591232]The other man who had an excellent opening period was Sergio Busquets. Not the most popular player in the Spain squad, and probably the least naturally gifted midfielder on show today, but he did his job very well, both with and without the ball.
Busquets’ positional sense is exemplary, for he manages to constantly take up positions which simultaneously make him available for a pass, and be in place to prevent opponents attacking if the move dies down. – his critics will say that he only ever plays short passes to Xavi and Andres Iniesta, but that is his job. Besides, it wasn’t necessarily true, as the statistics show he frequently played forward balls to Pedro.[/i]

Last night showed the Spanish youngsters are head and shoulders better than the overhyped German Zombies.
Busquets + Pedro >>>>>>>>>>> Ozil, Muller, Kroos, Schweinidiot, etc.[/quote]On a side note though, this also shows the gulf between the Spanish national team and England's team. Segio Busquets IMO is more naturally gifted than any player in the English midfield but can only play holding role for Spain, and Liverpool was mortally wounded on losing Xabi Alonso whereas they always claimed Stevie G to be the main man. Maybe they were right to fire Rafa after all, to stupidly chase after Gareth Barry while losin Alonso should be classed an unforgiveable sin.

In the first half he attempted 40 passes, and completed 39

Good lawd, from a holding midfielder.
spain are gonna pass you to death, they passed the gra gra out of DK's germans.

Arsene says he will be making an announcement on our Goalkeeping situation after the world cup but most likely Almunia isn't going to be involved so it might be Schwarzer coming in as earlier rumored.

Lazio have indicated a willingness to listen to offers for Melo, this might be an opportunity to get quality competition for Alex Song at a knock down price cos Melo is still quality despite his temperament issues.

We're also still on the lookout for one more defender, I think this position is fluid and depends on what Big Sol decides to do and how quickly he decides. So the positions to be decided upon are:

1. Definitely a new Goalkeeper is coming in.
2. Bring in 1 more defender if Big Sol leaves.
3. Bring in a playmaker if (extremely unlikely) Cesc goes to Barca.

Arsenal players to be involved in the upcoming European U19s starting on Sunday (Some of them might also make FIFA U20s for next year)
1. Tom Cruise     England  (not the actor)
2. Francis Coquelin   France  (An opportunity for those who don't follow the reserves and wonder about the hype to see him in action)
3. Gilles Sunu    France.
4. Oguzhan Ozyakup   Netherlands (another Cesc in the making considering his progress at under aged competitions)

How stupid can some clubs be, how on earth did Everton contrive to lose a player of Dan Gosling's status? some heads should roll at that club for such a massive cock up. Only problem is that we are not in a position to pick up such a quality English talent.

dayokanu:
And Which country does Assanal captain play for again?

Bayern had 11 players in the World cup semi

We have 11 goals amongst Bayern players

Kindly tell us a bit about your Assanal players even young Pedro was selected over Fabregas, What a shame

Abeg go siddon DK, Cesc did not play due to his injury concerns with his shoulder. Please, review the following statements from your overhyped germans at least they are accepting the reality which you arent.

Joachim Low:

"They have shown us our limits,"

Bastian Schweinsteiger:

"It's frustrating when you intend to do something and then just can't do it."

The spaniards shut you up for good, so go and mull over that a while and ease off the gunner fetish yu've got.

at least, these Barca players are good for one thing. They did us a big favour shutting DK up for good. I hope Dayo is eating his words already? Spain showed everyone how to beat the german machine today, just keep possesion and make them run around only problem is most other countries don't have the calibre of players to do it. But the spaniards dey tap soccer abeg. We will get there at Arsenal very soon.

Its Official, join me to welcome the Koko master.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/laurent-koscielny-completes-move-to-arsenal

debosky:
@ v3

Let the love continue - if he wants to leave, barca must pay over 50m before we'll consider.

Abi o, Barca should put their money where their mouth is or forever hold their peace.

debosky:
Regarding the Kokomaster (Koscielny ) rumour has it that he'll be signing early this week. Here's hoping he's as good as a debut signing as Sagna and Vermaelen.

Kokomaster indeed

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=362607.msg6329848#msg6329848 date=1278246309]Sign Schweini and Ozil at your own risk - they only play well for the national team.
I still remember Rafael Da Silva running circles around Schweini in the UCL.[/quote]But they still knocked you out or is your memory that porous?

Finally, an English player calls it as it is, not hiding behind the excuse of there being too many foreigners in the league. Interesting that this comments are coming from the most skillful English player of his generation, perhaps he would have developed into a better player under a different system.

[Quote]
Joe Cole says England must reassess the way they coach young players after the country's World Cup exit demonstrated how the national side "abandon good technique".

A 4-1 defeat to Germany in the second round in South Africa has forced England into some intense introspection with Joachim Low's talented young side tearing Fabio Capello's group of stars to shreds.

Cole believes England were guilty of an inability to retain possession and says England are fatally fixated on looking to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. Such an approach left them vulnerable to a ruthless counter-attacking German side.

The FA has already confirmed that Fabio Capello will remain in place as manager and Cole believes that if success is to be achieved on the international stage, then a more fundamental rethink is required which will entail an overhaul in coaching practices throughout the country.

"It is obvious that we lack the kind of qualities you need to be successful at international level," Cole said. "We don't keep the ball as well as other countries; that's not a secret.

"It wasn't just the Germany game. Over the course of the tournament we looked a long way behind the other top nations and when it came to the crunch, the best side won. People will talk about the decision not to allow Frank Lampard's goal, but it was plain and simple to see that we just weren't good enough.

"Almost every team I have played for - including England - always want to hit the front players as early as possible. You won't get away with that at international level. It's about technique, keeping control of the ball, passing and moving.

"We seem to abandon good technique because we are obsessed with getting the ball from back to front as quickly as possible. That doesn't work against top teams.

"No one pulls the England shirt on with more pride than me but we've got to face up to the reality of it all. We're just not good enough. Maybe it's time to really look at how we're teaching kids to play. Maybe we're paying the price for having the best league in the world."[/quote]What Joe Cole has described above is what Kaizer called Kick and rush footbal, when Arsene changed Arsenal's philosophy to possesion based football, how was he payed back by the media and the English football establishment? ridicule and the breaking of our players' legs with rough house tactics the norm when playing against Arsenal with full backing of the football authorities.

Now the first generation of English talent brought through under Arsene (from the ages of 8-9) are coming through and you can see the difference in players like Kieran Gibbs, Lansbury and Wilshere who will hopefully be the next generation of England internationals compared to the likes of Milner, SWP and Theo.
One of the England youth coaches who worked with Theo as a youngster recently blamed Arsenal for stunting Theo's growth he claimed we were not playing to his strength (by which I guess he means putting him upfront and hitting long balls for him to chase after all day), if we did that he would of course get the customary 20 goals per season I think but when international tournaments come then he would be found wanting. I wonder if Theo is stuck in transition because they make him play that way when he goes on U21 assignment while we play differently at Arsenal.

On a more important note for Arsenal, this might sway Joe Cole to signing for us.

Arsene on German players:
[Quote]
"Germany have a good generation," said Wenger in an exclusive interview with Arsenal.com.

"For me they have three outstanding players in this tournament - [Bastian] Schweinsteiger, Mueller and Ozil. Two of them were with the Under-21s last year.

"Germany were not scared to face the new generation. When it works everyone says it is fantastic. When it does not work, everyone kills you."[/quote]

4llerbuntu:
and know the MOFO captain no longer wants to leave.!!!

tseewwww!!! nonsense, now is the time to offload the asswipe to madrid or inter for a decent fee, let him and his arsehole boyhood club eat shyte

Abeg, no disrespect Captain Fantastic. Cesc has handled this issue as well as he could considering the unnecessary pressure those stupid people from Barca were exerting.

Emperoh:

PRICELESS!!!
A departure from Berbaslow!!!

Lets see how the pre-season pans out!!

aint you rejoicing too soon? let the bloke play in the PL first make we see. I think I can see why Fergie bought him though, the guy has that kind of hustle and tenacity that usually pays in the PL about him, Vela could learn from him in that regards, beyond that I can't see much that the guy has to offer than an aerial threat, his link up play isn't impressive but that won't matter if he keeps on scoring though. Fergie might just have found RVN v2.

@DK

The current European U17 champion is England with 2 Arsenal players (Afobe and Aneke) being major contributors in that team's progression. Arsenal isn't responsible for the inability of English age competition team coaches to utilize the players we've helped in developing or the inability of Fabio to take younger players like Adam Johnson (who had started benching SWP in city by the way) to the world cup or even exposing the likes of Wilshere early when he is aware England doesn't really have an abundance of that kind of playmaking talent in their squad?

Not saying that takin Wilshere would have solved all their problems but there is something called squad balance and you don't help yourself packing your midfield with auxilliary strikers like Lampard and Gerrard.

Besides, how will England have players of Oezil's class when they go about breaking the legs of talents like Ramsey and condemn Arsene and Arsenal for trying to play football in the right way? 

Eboue is a clown, I doubt the coach was speakin English or French. 
back after a looooong time, I hope DK hasn't gloated too much about the German victory?    The English team proved him right on all points, dont mind those stupid boys, Fabio could as well have gone with the team beaten 4-1 in the U21s last year.

edoyad:
OMG where did dudu drop out from ? I heard he was on that flotilla headed for gaza

Not at all, I was trying to help the police apprehend the idiot who shot 12 people in Cumbria before killin himself.   prior to heading out to spend the whole of this month in Nigeria, started a 4 weeks vacation yesterday.

The downside of Joe Cole joining us is that it might mean the end for one of my favorite Arsenal players Tomas Rosicky, and the rumors are quite strong with some claiming he opted for us after getting offers from Manure and Spuds, but didnt go to Manure so he cld stay in London. But I still can't believe Chelsea would let him go on a free, shocking.

dayokanu:
Which dodgy calls made you trophylerss for 5 seasons

why are yu seeing things I didn't write, have you got gremlins in yur PC?

I'll differ a bit here, getting Joe Cole on a free would be another coup nigh Chamakh proportions, he is still the most naturally skillful player of that generation in England, also in the right age bracket to be steadily phased out over the next 2 years or thereabouts while the likes of Theo, Wilshere et al find their feet in the PL. The fact he made Capello's squad shows he's still got something and I hear he made an impression against Japan.
I do doubt the story though, cos there isn't much we can give him that Chelsea can't except they are only being stupid.
This is not bad news at all if true, on the contrary it would be very good news and would be strategic because it is a highly unusual Wenger signing and we would also have another English player to take to difficult away games to get some of those dodgy calls that always seem to go against us.

Leonidis:
New to the forum, but the funny comments here caught my eye.

Season ends 9th May - Chamakh signs on 21st May a period of 12 days.

Neanderthal level intelligence concludes that this period (12 days) is equivalent to a month?

This Dayo person calling others names smacks of pot calling kettle black or worse. What team does he support?

Don't mind Dayo, he is our resident Nazi activist and you know how intelligent they all must have been to have followed Hitler. 

dipo2much:
And what d u call manu not getting to the UCL quaterfs and finishing the season witha carling cup? FAILURE

I wonder o, for other clubs everything is relative but when it comes to Arsenal it becomes absolute.

dipo2much:
if liverpool fans were in the Champs League, they wont equate that to the misfortune that has befallen them now. Nada isnt nada,mate

That is the hypocrisy I can't stomach from most people and the media. The same set of people rejoicing over Tottenham's entry into the top 4 are not willing to give us any credit for achieving this consistently over 12 years while spending a pittance compared to those we compete with yearly and the D&G brigade can only repeat the we've not won nada for 5 seasons mantra like a broken record.

Cesc has finally spoken, and this should earn him more respect from all Arsenal fans. Let the silly media twist this statement how they like, we now know where Cesc stands. I've said it that people shouldn't be too surprised if Cesc ends up renewing his contract yet again this summer.

[Quote]
Fabregas has spoken of the "respect" he has for Wenger after confirming he held a lengthy conversation with the Arsenal manager, and says his destiny will now be determined by his club, leaving him free to focus on the World Cup.

"I have great respect for the football club, and the Arsenal fans," Fabregas said in a press conference. "Sometimes not even in my house have I felt more loved than I have at Arsenal.

"I had a long conversation with Arsene, it is probably the greatest conversation I have had with someone in my life, and I respect him so much and I don't want to say too much about this.

"He told me to concentrate on my football, to concentrate on the World Cup. He told me to leave it in his hands and he will deal with whatever happens for my future. That is what I'm doing: concentrate on my football.

"It is not up to me anymore, it is just now about Arsenal and however it has to be, that is it. I don't want to say anything else, I just want to be focused on the World Cup because it is the most important thing. The rest is the future, and I am not interested in the future."
[/b][/quote]To hell with Barcelona, they've just been piling pressure on the player so they can get him for peanuts. If they don't bring the cash, then we are not playing and I mean mega bucks. They want to take our crown jewel without paying for it and they think the best way to go about achieving that is to conduct their tranfer in the press.
I wonder why they kept on yapping in the media when they knew they had spent their money on Villa already.

dayokanu:
Nasri arrived as a 21 year old having played in Marseille first team for 4 years copping over 120 appearances and has even been capped by the French National team.

I am sure in 3 years down the line, we would hear about how Arshavin and Chamakh arrived as youths and were groomed by Wenger

A bird doesn't fly in one day, compare the way it is now to the invincible season and there is a marked difference in the amount of players who arrived as teenagers at the club but are now 1st team members and that is just within a 6 year period.
Take Fergie's fledglings (who were already in their 20s by the time Arsene arrived at Arsenal) out of Manure's squad and how many teenagers came through their system into their squad again? only 3 and Wayne Rooney (who was already a full England international when bought) aside they are not exactly what you would call first teamers.
If we have 3 of such players as first choice for their positions, and many more waiting to break in on the fringes,  then overall we have done very well.

dayokanu:
You dont seem to get it, Let me give you an illustration, You buy 4 18yr olds in 2000 hoping in the next 4 yrs they would grow to be world class and win you trophies. In the 3rd yr, you sell all of them and buy another set of 18 yr olds with the same storyline.
When would the cycle end?

According to your hypothetical scenario, the cycle will never end but your hypothetical situation doesn't match what is happening at Arsenal presently. Merida was offered a contract but chose not to sign it, there is nothing anyone can do about that apart from going to the authorities to request compensation since he is Under 23 years old.

dayokanu:
The Flamini, Hleb, Fabregas, Merida and co you bought what happened you shipped them, Before those, the Senderos, Owusu Abeyies, Ashley Cole etc that you groomed what happened? You shipped them.

Yes, in some instances they were shipped, the really good ones have however mostly been kept while mostly those who faltered were shipped. Even if Cesc is sold today, he has played in our first team for about 5 years now so it is not true we don't keep our talent. In the first 11 of the immediate past season, there were at least  4 bought under the ages of 20 and 6 bought 21 and under not to mention the large number on the benches so it is totally false to claim we don't keep our emerging talent.

dayokanu:
You can never be great if you keep selling your best talents. A club has to put its foot down and not sell their best players every season. With the imminent sale of Fab that means their is no season Arsenal hasnt sold key players for them to always start all over again. When would you leverage on the exposure and experience you gave them?
First it was Reyes, later Henry, later Flamini and Hleb, last year Kolo and Adebayor, this season maybe Fabregas.
Check out how Bayern stood their ground in the case of Ribery and he has signed up till 2015. If we had sold him and bought maybe Krasic, it might take Krasic some seasons before he fully gells with the team and in that time frame  we would be missing trophies.

There is no key talent we have sold, bar probably Hleb and Ade. Henry was already waning as a player, we performed better with Ade out and yes the money was too good to pass over at that point considering the club's financial situation. We have told Barca we won't sell Cesc if the money aint right and with the rumored 87m euro we're said to have stamped on him, we can either replace Cesc or rethink our playing strategy, the core of the team still remains and this would not be exactly 07/08 summer all over again.

You and I know Ribery did not go to Madrid last year only because they had spent all their money breaking records in bringing in both Kaka and CR9, it was also obvious they wouldn't come for him this season having been set back in their galactico policy so don't try convincing us it was because Bayern had a policy of not selling key talent. Every club sells when they have an offer too good to refuse and no matter what anyone says 87m euro for Cesc is too good to be refused, just ask Fergie of Manure.