Marouane Chamakh completes move to Arsenal, Fabregas still an Arsenal Player

With Fabregas transfer news all around the web, most of us forgot about Chamakh.
Yes Chamakh was a done deal but in modern day football its never a done deal unless
players and team officially confirms the same. Finally Arsenal have confirmed that
Marouane Chamakh has signed for Arsenal.

Time and again I have mentioned that he is a great addition to this Arsenal squad and if
he can find his bearings right he can be lethal weapon in English league. One of the most important attributes which he posses is he is a team player, he can link up play from mid-field, can play as a lone striker away from home, is solid in air and is quick and tricky in the box.
For me he is a complete package. One thing where he can and needs to improve on is his fitness.
Not that he needs to build brawny muscles but I personally believe that in premier league more that anywhere else it can be quite physical at times and unless you are up for it, oppositions will
make sure they play hard and make you submissive.

Coming back to Fabregas news, its disappointing how Spanish media and clubs goes about
their transfers business. I was surprised by the fact that Arsenal did speak to them couple
of months back and seeked assurance from them that they wont bid for Fabregas this summer.
Now why would a club who already has a 5 year contract with a player worry about Barcelona
bidding for its player. It just shows how submissive we are in terms of keeping our big players
away from the grasp of big clubs. Why would a club not draw a hard line and ensure that contracts are not just piece of papers which players sign one day based on their convenience. For me its sign of a weak club who cant keep its players even though they are under contracts. No matter what a player wants, you better respect the contract that you have signed unless club feels its a right time for you to leave.

Whats even more funny is a price tag of 30m pounds. Barcelona/Real Madrid over the years have done this to players whom they want to sign. First they will meet the players and ask them to publicly mention about their interest in joining the club and subsequently when a player does that, they will try to sign him for a lesser transfer fee as compared to the market. No way Arsenal can be bullied and held for a ransom for the players they want to sell. If Arsene decides to sell Fabregas which I doubt, no way I can see him go for less than 50m pounds.

For me, if we can cash in on a player who eventually wants to leave us, we should do it rather then force him to stay and be a liability. We have learnt from the past how Henry and Vieira were not their greatest in their last year at the club when we forced them to stay. That also meant we got a lesser transfer fee when they actually moved. I would have preferred selling Henry for 40m pounds rather then 16m pounds which we eventually got for him.

One way or the other, I am sure we will have more interesting transfer news going forward and I wont be surprised if Barcelona eventaully does bid for Fabregas.