Filed under: Arsenal, Manchester City, Champions League, Premier League, Football, Transfer News
What would you buy if you had £60 million burning a hole in your pocket? About 430 new Aston Martins? A couple of big houses in Mayfair? Fernando Torres plus a goalscorer?This is the dilemma facing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger now that the mind-numbingly long saga of Cesc Fabregas's move to Barcelona is appearing to be nearing an end. Arsenal are widely reported to be close to agreeing a deal with the Catalan club worth around £35 million.
Samir Nasri is also nearing a move away, with Manchester City said to be ready to spend around £25 million - which is preferable to having the Frenchman remain at the Emirates for a season then leave for nothing.
Why the sudden movement - especially with Fabregas, whose story linking him with Barcelona has been going on for over a year? It is because Barcelona want to finalise the deal before Arsenal play Udinese in the Champions League next week. If Fabregas plays then he is cup-tied.
So what many neutrals would have regarded as the inevitable has happened. Fabregas is off. Cue a massive sigh of relief from fans up and down the country. Finally the will-he-won't-he soap opera and the claptrap about the player being torn between two loves is over. Almost.
Now Wenger has a bigger test. He claimed last month that if Arsenal lost both Fabregas and Nasri then they could no longer regard themselves as a big club. And he is right, unless he re-invests wisely.
The Arsenal board are widely reported to have told Wenger that all of the transfer windfall from Fabregas and Nasri will be made available for new signings. Which gives the Arsenal manager 20 days to find replacements.
He has been linked with enough players, such as defenders Gary Cahill from Bolton, Everton's Phil Jagielka and Chris Samba from Bolton. But with two creative players like Fabregas and Nasri on their way out, he will also have to think about whether he has enough left to achieve his aims for the season.
Valencia's Juan Mata has been strongly linked with the Emirates, as has Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid forward. The former could slot into the hole left by Fabregas, although there are players already at the club such as Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere who would jump at the chance.
For now, fans - depending on their allegiance - can either rejoice over the Fabregas saga is finally over or take solace in the fact their manager has a large amount of money to spend.
Those in the latter camp now have new worries. Not only is their biggest player set to leave, their spendthrift manager is now charged with buying in reinforcements.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/08/11/arsenal-fabregas-nasri-transfer/
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