From : http://soccerlens.com/when-will-barcelona-ever-learn/7983/

Whilst Barcelona continues its shameless pursuit of Adebayor & Alexander Hleb, one can’t help but wonder whether the Blaugrana should look into its past dealings with the North London club before venturing any further. They have brought the likes of Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit & Thierry Henry to bolster their ranks for a combined fee of around ₤53 million. So far it has not worked out for either the Catalan club or the players involved.

Marc Overmars moving in the summer of 2000, did deliver solid performances but simply could not conjure up the magic that he had with Dutch mate Dennis Bergkamp, for which Barcelona paid the Gunners an astounding ₤25 million, making him the most expensive Dutch player at that time. Emmanuel Petit, the other Arsenal man moving in the same summer, was a total flop appearing only 23 times scoring a solitary goal for the Blaugrana.

After chasing arguably the world’s best striker using the Spanish press as their mouthpiece, they finally managed to land Thierry Henry in the summer of 2007 for a reported fee of ₤16.1 million. In his first season, the striker managed to hit 19 goals playing out of position, which can be considered a good return, but there was discontent amongst the fans, some even booed him during the past season, as he looked only a shadow of his former self and that didn’t help with the fact that Barcelona had failed to win a single trophy since their Champions League triumph in 2006 not to mention, Real Madrid doing the double over them.

Now, after finishing another trophyless season, the Directors from the Camp Nou have gone fishing at the Emirates once again hoping to lure away two of Arsenal’s core members in the form of Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb forgetting that each time these two clubs had transfer dealings, the North Londoners have always seemingly come out on top.

The irony is that Arsenal managed to get two of the most exciting players the Barcelona Academy has ever seen, Francesc Fabregas and Fran Merida, at prices that will make discount stores look expensive.

So, it comes down to this, when will the Directors and the embattled President at a club whose motto is “History & Glamour” ever learn that they are just not cunning as they like to show they are when it comes to doing business with the conservative North Londoners?

Exactly.

Although I do think Ade and Hleb, if they move there, will do very well.

Yeah, Arsenal have fully shafted them in all the previous transfer dealings between the two. (EDIT: post Wenger) I just can't see the same happening if they get Hleb and Ade though. I think they'll both go on to do very well in Spain. Hleb especially.

Not really sure what the article is trying to get at though. How are they trying to be 'cunning'? They're just trying to prize away two of Arsenal's best players. Can't really blame them.

Oh I think Arsenal rather encourage the interest from the bigger clubs, in fact they love it.

expand on that bergs

I think we have ample reason to report Barca to FIFA than Manchester United ever did when they reported Real over Ronaldo.

They love hawking their players around and obtaining sizeable transfer fees. In this case I wouldn't mind betting that Wenger doubts that Ade will repeat the success of last year, certainly in terms of goals, he's almost said as much. Would not surprise me one bit if he takes the cash and tries to get Gomis from St Ettienne.

Stop talking of gomis please he makes bendtner look best! He can't be the one to replace ade

If Hleb and Adebayor move there i don't think they'll do as well as they have done at Arsenal. If we get big fees and they flopped it'd be great.

You'll never know. But then, they will only be as good as they are now, nothing more, especially Ade. You have to first adapt the environment and then the team. Look at Hleb, it took him 3 seasons to become noticeable. If he is that good, Barca could have got him before us. Without Arsene Wenger and his coaching team, the player will only go downhill. The only player that I have seen doing better is Van Bronckhorst in recent years.

Anyway, if they decide to leave, goodluck to them, I am happy that they have found their 'levels'.