Emmanuel Eboue went up to the Arsenal crowd following todays match in what appears to have been a farewell gesture.

I saw a video of him going to the crowd, handing his shirt to a boy and handing his boots over to someone in the crowd. He was the only player to go over to the crowd.

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Deal as good as done with Fiorentina.

More good business from Arsenal, as Darth Vela said in another thread, a great difference this season is we are shifting out players that didn't do a thing last season instead of the ones that did (although, they would be few and far between).

Au revoir 'Shere Kahn!'

Sell him just when hes having a decent time of it

:doh:

Exactly, I can't believe this. Anyone who thinks he is a dud cannot have seen his latest performances for Arsenal.

He had his faults, but had come good.

Apart from the stinking cash...how anyone can put a positive spin on losing Ade, Kolo and Eboue in 10 days is beyond me.

In fact this is just quite astonishing.

Easy. We got rid of three players that no longer wanted to play for Arsenal.

We know the Ade saga, we know Toure had his head turned and threw his toys out in Jan and Eboue has mentioned 2/3 times in the past 18 months about other teams chasing him.

They wanted out? They got it.

I guess the club needed a quick cash.. cant see any other reason :coffee:

Maybe not but it doesn't need to be all bad either.

Some people WILL gloss over it, see no problem whatsoever and stick a positive spin on a situation that continues the constant upheaval and lack of stability on the team.

Thirty years ago, these same people would be frontrunners for any vacancies annnounced by Pravda.

At best its a disturbing trend.

The fans are the fans...we agree with it or disagree with it.

But I wonder how the players feel, last year they lost Hleb, Flamini and Gilberto this year Ade, Kolo and probably Eboue.

When your friends, colleagues leave by the drove, surely you are less motivated, you question the clubs decisions and you wonder whether its best to get out yourself...or you just think wow look at the cash they got, I'd like some of that.

New signings don't just apease fans, they give current players belief, a sign of ambition and a buzz.


If I was a player now out in Austria, I'd be thinking whose next ,and what the fuck is going on.

he's the only one I think we will really miss

it could just be me seeing things through orange-and-black-stripe-tinted glasses, but I think he was one of our best, I dunno, 4 or 5 players in the last third of last season, or whenever it was he started to play well.

And he has looked like good Eboue in the preseason, as well.

I can understand AW's thinking, I guess: We have got a surfeit of wing players and Djourou can cover at rb. But I disagree with it:
1. Eboue is one of our of most impactful attacking subs
2. Eboue is breathing down Sagna's neck as starting rb. It's good to have the competition, and Eboue is sometimes a better option than Sagna.

Wenger has got to learn how to keep experienced players on the bench.

This is it, I was astounded by how quickly the Invincibles team was pulled apart - I had never known anything like it before.

Now the pace of movement out of the team has actually increased! Teams need to be built - how do you build one when you are constantly ripping it apart?

right ...

Its true Jens, some posters put a positive spin on anything and refuse to publically acknowledge that there might just be a HINT of something wrong despite being presented with a mountain of evidence to the contrary.

And some should be writing existential novels but I really don't see what relevance any of it has.

Well, we have no idea. Some might see it as an opportunity to stake their claim. There are so many differering personalities it's nigh-on impossible to ascertain whether it will affect players in a negative manner, meaning anybody could come up with a plausible situation. The only way we can really gauge is when it comes to competitive matches.

If all of them have their best football behind them - which is highly feasible (although in Eboue's case the standard was never particularly high to begin with) then all three deals make perfect sense.

I'm sad for Kolo - he gave a lot to the club, I genuinely wish him well - and in terms of value for money - was one of the greatest aquisitions by any club in Premier League history.

But I applaud all three sales & would've done the same had I been AW - the fact is for much of the last 18 months - we have carried all three of them regularly for much of that time (admittedly not the only ones)

If we want to win a trophy or two - we certainly could never have done it with all three as first teamers - even just one of them (if Ade is in his 'couldn't give a toss mood') could potentially have been a weak link - so they were in effect squad players - and most of our are much of a muchness - Toure, Djorrou, Senderos, Song - aks four fans & you'd get 4 different opinions on whose the best.

I've said for a while part of our problem is too many players as well as too few great ones). Silvestre for example - do we really need a seasoned international as a 3rd choice left back & 6th choice CB? by May, we'd have probably played close to double figures in players down the left flank.

All that does is reduce time in units developing & add to players gobbing off to the press about not getting game time.

I still think we could shift another 2 or 3 after Eboue - Silvestre & Traore say and not weaken.

I think we'll surprise people this season - you could argue the other big 3 sides all look a little weaker than 12 months ago while we look a little stronger.

If he goes we'll have NO right back cover ffs.

And I agree, he's getting back to being an asset to this team again.

If we sell he shouldn't go for a penny less than the £9m reported.

The summers are getting worse now with us.

I don't see Wenger buying more than 1 player, if that now.

The players must be affected by this, I just cant see where Wenger reckons he has players to cover. If the players are not replaced, we can kiss European football of any kind goodbye for next season. One or two injuries, and our starting XI doesnt look so good.

This is an important pointed being missed.

Fergie, Mourinho and the rest of our rivals never have problems keeping experience or full internationals on the bench.

Arsene appears scared to do that, or doesn't like doing it, at the fear of upsetting them...He used to do it, but now he just gets rid of them.



We have lost three players that could contribute well to our squad. Whether you like them or not...all three would have contibuted to our season because they do have talented...one maybe lazy, one maybe a bit errorprone and the other well Eboue but all 3 were conributors to the squad.

To let all of them go...with 31 days left of the transfer window, and hinting you might not need anyone because you have enough strikers, you have 7 CM's etc....is just plain BS and suicidal.

I didn't like Ade but got his good points, I liked Kolo but understood he'd become less than he was, and Eboue was a joke but bettered himself and knuckled down...Now they are more or less gone. I don't see how it helps us be contenders for anything.

I repeat, I fear for the way the Squad have taken the departures..They can't believe the club is ambitious and they must feel we are in desperate financial trouble.

I'm anything but a "Arsene knows best" or "in Arsene we trust" clown but for knowing when to sell players his record is pretty exemplary - probably even better than Fergies'

He's been proved right on nearly all of them, if you measure it by where their careers go.

What are you talking about?

So he definitely let them go and they couldn't have tried to force the situation?

The same nonsense you were. Just from the opposite angle.

Pointing out that some people will always spin positively on here, no matter what happens at the Club is not nonsense. It is fact.

What you wrote was just bollox.

Am I missing something? Wasnt Vermaelen brought in to replace Toure?

He will pretty much be a first choice pairing with Gallas.

Other than RB it looks fine to me and each to their own but for me Eboue would've been a severely weak link if Sagna was out for any lenght of time. Admittedly he was a far better RB than RM but his knowledge of where to run, what channels & linkinng up with Theo or the RM was abysmal & his crossing, albeit better than Sagna's wasn't great.

I don't rate Hoyte but maybe AW sees him able to deputise or Djorrou as good enough.

As for CM that looks a little weak even before any injuries - I really rate Ramsey but Denilson, Song & Diaby are all much of a muchness - if one is injured I don't think we're that worse (or better) off with another.

And you don't think people can spin negatively, all the time? And yes, it is nonsense. Nonsense because what is the point in bringing something like that up? It just makes it sound like you are the one on a propaganda mission.

Who knows?

But what is happening is that we have a team that has been in a constant state of flux over the past 6 years with no sign of stability in sight. In fact the rate of change is increasing, and I don't see how you can build a team in this situation.

Of course we can gauge it. It's not rocket science.

Players have been close to the ones that have left in the last 12 months. Players know the club hasn't won anything for years, players know we need the money, players know there are glittering contracts to be had elsewhere, players see no-one really come in, players know that we have had short and weak squads over the past 3 seasons to compete at the business end of the season, players know that we are incredibly unlucky on the injury front.

Players are not stupid...and neither are fans.

As Gary said , the evidence of a large problem is as clear as the nose in front of your face. It's clear to every neutral punter, every commentator and every ex pro.

It's clear to most fans...So ignoring the evidence is just incredible.

Something is wrong with our club...and when we all admit to it, we can move on, see whats left over and start there.

So unless we invest that cash, we are in danger of dropping out of the big time.

Without investing in Arshavin, we would have already dropped out...we got a lifeline but not for long.

I understand your viewpoint, its your club, you stick with them and their decisions, you give them the benefit because at heart we are a great club.

But something isn't right.

No, I spoke generally, I have done so about constant negativity as well.

I said what I said in this thread in direct answer to the post I quoted because it was a post I agreed with and it resonated with me.

You for some reason decided to have a pop at me for no reason and in a totally non sensical way.

No - I was talking nonsense.

Apparently.

That is true, but I guess we can only assume that Wenger is trying to get the right team together. We havent had a stable team since 'the invincibles' and maybe he is trying to get the balance right. I dont know why but I have a real spark of excitement for this season and I think we will do very well.

Loosing Ade, Toure and Eboue really isnt the disaster that most here seem to think it is. Maybe we will see Wilshire feature in Ebou's place. Vidic....I mean, Vermy takes over from Toure, then its just Ade's role to replace even then Eduardo could be the guy that does that.

Guage it on what though? Not just making well educated guesses, not just assuming every gripe you have with the club at the moment is affecting them or going through their thought processes, what can you gauge it on?

Saying 'it's obvious', doesn't make it so.

Why is he?

Hes echoing the majorities opinion of this football club's situation from any quarter you care to turn.

Why is that nonsense. The evidence of problems are clear, what is not clear is the positive angel of the last 12 months...I'm not talking just about this summer.

I'm talking about Boardroom unrest, I'm talking about the Highbury Square white elehpant, the fight between the Russian and the club, Arsene's flirting with Madrid, the League position, the loses in the League, the lack of trophies, the not replacing of the midfield etc...etc...etc....

What is not clear at all, is how this is great for the club.

Ok. So making some snide comment about Pravda exonerates you yet I somehow am the only to have had a 'pop' at someone? Nobody else mentioned Pravda, that was you. And something you have done before.

What is more likely?

Player - this situation is great, the club appears ambitious, the players needed to go, we don't need new faces, its great to have the money in the bank.

or

Player - Oh this is worrying, maybe theres a problem, can we win with what we have, why is everyone leaving, hope theres a plan.

By bringing up Pravda, that's why Elche - not that there are problems with the club, that these would-be Pravda writers have any relevance to this, that's what I consider nonsense.

I think you're overreacting, Elche. You're also writing as if AFC is uniquely poorly off.

Players have been close to the ones that have left in the last 12 months. true whenever players leave -- Ronaldo and Nani, for example
Players know the club hasn't won anything for years same for Liverpool
players know we need the money, they know Utd and Liverpool are massively in debt too
players know there are glittering contracts to be had elsewhere, true of every player in the world who is not already at Man City
players see no-one really come in, Vermin this year, Arshavin and Nasri last year, Eduardo and Sagna the year before.
players know that we have had short and weak squads over the past 3 seasons to compete at the business end of the season, same for Liverpool
players know that we are incredibly unlucky on the injury front. No, that's you -- the players don't think it's different from any other club