The Skipper

Nah, U21s don't count towards HG status either. We can have as many of them as we want - so essentially they aren't taking any space in the squad whatsoever.

Balague is an idiot. I remember last year he was adamant that Benitez wasn't going to be CFC manager and then we signed him on a few days later. Also insisted that Ozil wasn't going to Arsenal and voila, Ozil went to Arsenal.

£26.8m is a fucking steal.

Explain how signing Fabregas means Oscar's off... Especially when Mourinho called him, Hazard and Matic the future just a few weeks back.

Just today:

This is gold.

Apparently they're one of he most reputable sources out there in Spain and have very close ties to Barcelona. Edit: Pretty sure @petre.ispirescu can confirm the above?

Apparently some guy on RAC1 said that Fabregas is definitely signing here for 33m euros plus add ons.

Arsenal Supporters Trust had an open Q&A with Ivan Gazidis (their CEO?) tonight and regarding Fabregas, here's what was said:

One game... You lot are funny.

Fair enough. I can understand the concerns on the defensive end, because Fab obviously isn't exceptional defensively, but if we do get him; trust Jose. I'm pretty sure he'll get the best out of him and if he didn't fit at all with what he was trying to do we wouldn't sign him.

That's completely irrelevant because Shaw plays for a PL team that have a wealthy owner. There is no way anyone from the Belgian league will go for £40m.

He's a huge talent, but even if he does stay for two more years, there is no way he'd go for £40m...Anderlecht don't have the financial clout to reject a bid of even half of that.

You don't have to be as naive as Wenger or Rodgers to create a team that scores goals though... His time at Real proves that. Real we're still predominantly a counter attacking team but because they still had great finesse, were very versatile and effective going forward and in possession, and they were regularly putting 4, 5, 6 past teams. Mourinho's underlying system will still be there but we'll simply be more adventurous, and a player like Fabregas would essentially help towards that. I wonder... Would you be as against this if we were signing Rakitic (who I know you rate highly) instead?

Which is fair enough, but Messi shouldn't be worth twice more.

See, you don't know that. One could say that you're neglecting the fact that Jose might be willing to change. You don't know and can't say for sure whether Jose is going to remain conservative or whether he'll change the style of play again to the one he initially promised when he first came back. Sure, Fabregas doesn't fit the profile for the teams we put out in the 13/14 season but who's to say that Jose wants to keep it that way? Who's to say Jose doesn't want to go out and get goals just like he did in his 2nd season at Madrid?

How is Messi worth twice more than Ronaldo?

One thing Fabregas would give Mourinho is options. We don't have a player like him in midfield, so this signing would make us a lot more versatile and unpredictable, and will give Jose even more ammunition and tactical flexibility to change things up.

The worst statistic out there and why WhoScored are awful sometimes. I remember when Schurrle had this exact one last year and people called him a poor finisher... Stupid stat. Diego Costa was the most clinical striker in the top 5 European leagues last year, his shot to goal ratio is the best.

Looks fine in training.

I'd definitely say he's more suited to direct, counter attacking football rather than tiki taka, hence why he wasn't a huge success at Barcelona.

My idea of a pivot is a two man central midfield with one holding and one venturing forward a bit more to help use possession more effectively during the attacking/possession phase, whilst returning to a flat two base in the defensive/retrieval phase. 4-4-1-1 is basically a permutation of 4-2-3-1 anyway, and we usually go into a 4-4-1-1 shape when defending or trying to retrieve the ball anyway. I would classify the two in midfield Arsenal used to employ on several occasions (Fabregas with Gilberto/Flamini/Song) as a type of pivot, yes.

It's coming from this guy, some Madrid guy. Not sure how reliable he is though, so take it with a pinch of salt. https://twitter.com/churchoffutbol/status/474157838982713344

DM saying that Soton want Hernandez to be involved in the deal.

Courtois to Vitesse.