@via Arsenal.com
Well good afternoon my darlings, here we are, another week has passed, AND I HAVE NO SIGNINGS to talk about.
The Sau Paulo President has gone on record to confirm that Arsenal took Marquinhos off them and paid a fee rather than take the player for a free when his deal expired in July. The rationale was that Edu wants to create a flow of players to Arsenal from Brazil and good relationships mean more players come our way.
… I’m gonna say it, this seems very odd. It’s the playing equivalent of getting two yellow cards in the same passage of play. It might be legal, but it seems very weird.
Arsenal can’t get a transfer fee for love nor actual cash/money and Edu is out here giving £3.5m for players that are going on free transfers? I’d be totally down for this being a masterful move if he wasn’t in the room when we basically did the same thing with Cedric Soares.
Alex Lacazette has exited the building. This was the correct decision and one that 2 years ago we might not have made. I can’t be dealing with the slander he’s getting in some quarters, the guy was a leader this season when he could have downed tools, he had a relentless work rate, he scored some great goals for us, and the kids loved him. But, it was time to go. Physically he wasn’t at the level and his confidence in front of goal deteriorated to extreme levels as the seasons wore on.
Good luck, Laca!
Folarin Balogun was a major part of the build-up for a Smith Rowe U21 goal earlier on today (ESR landed MoTM). He’s a massive talent, but I think it’s fair to say his career needs another loan move, so hopefully Norwich or someone like that comes in for him this summer. It might even be interesting to see if he’d go to Germany or France.
Nuno Tavares is another player that is likely to find himself exited on loan next season. The Portuguese fullback has lots of promise, but he needs to have those chaotic edges sanded down on someone else’s dime this summer. James from The Athletic says a move is being spoken about.
That leaves us down a left-back. There’s a lot of rumblings on the internet about Zinchenko coming to Arsenal because his pathway is blocked at City. The Ukrainian is just a proper operator, I’m just having big doubts we’d be able to afford a player of that pedigree if Kieran Tierney stays at the club. We’re not a mature enough operation to have that much expense sitting on the bench. If we’re going for a left-back, I suspect we’ll be looking for a Tomiyasu like deal if Kieran Tierney isn’t going to Newcastle.
I guessed a rumour into existence… apparently Newcastle are tracking William Saliba. It’s hard to know what is real and what is fake, because there are a group of media oddballs in France affronted that we loaned him last season, and they are desperate for him to carry on his career at another club. The only hinge factor we have here is that the player will fancy his chances of going to the World Cup. Can he trust Arteta to give him minutes? Would he dare sign a new deal with us? We’ll see. There are plenty of games to go around next season, I just hope Mikel has charm offensive planned.
Juventus, the absolute chancers, are offering up Arthur Melo for… Gabriel Martinelli. That’s like being offered a beautifully boxed dog turd in exchange for a Rolex. I’m sorry, but where do these Italian clubs get off? Also, I do find it amusing how bad at travelling Italians are. 23-year-old Striker, Gianluca Scamacca, has reportedly turned down Arsenal so he can wait out Italian offers. Again, take the links with a grain of salt, every player knows Arsenal wants a striker, so we are good headline fodder to shake out interest in the market. But come on Italians… why the fear of moving?
The striker situation is going to be interesting. The big names in journalism think the main target is going to be Gabriel Jesus, Germany thinks we might be monitoring Serge Gnabry, the Italian press are linking us with Tammy, Oshimen and Scamacca. There’s a lot of smoke out there and I think some of that is purposeful.
Youri Tielemans, this summers ‘he’s boring’ midfielder, is being repped by John Cross.
This move is the most likely to happen, apparently the players are talking about him joining at the training ground, most likely because they get the goss from the agents that are working on the deal.
He’d be a top, top signing for Arsenal. The man is making more ball recoveries than the internets favourite midfielder Yves Bissouma. He has it all to be a success at Arsenal and he’s a NOW player, so he can compete for a place in our midfield from day one. I just hope we don’t drag the deal out all summer.
Finally, before I go, sign up to our Patreon. Johnny dropped some top level content 2 days ago about his top 25 players. Tune in for the series. Matt and me are going to do a podcast about old school transfers tomorrow, we’re starting in 1997.
P.S. If you would like to see me on the EXCELLENT Youtube Channel of Sophie and Super Kevin Campbell, check out the below, we have a wide-ranging chat that ends with me admitting a pop culture mainstream film is my vibe. Make sure you subscribe and like the video. BIG LOVE to Sophie and Kev for having me on. xx
4th
Anyone
Yes
Tr4phy
an absolute Turkey he was. Cost about £360,000/wk when you spread fee and wages across 5 yrs.
Best of luck to Laca moving forward. Now watch him get his mojo back.
You cannot have it both ways.
How often has Hojberg been slagged off on here? And now a cherry-picked stat to back the Tielemans signing he is behind Hojberg in, lol.
He way Tchouameni looks on the pitch, the way he moves, he must be Pogba’s lil bro.
Hojberg with a sweet, sweet chip assist for Cornelius tonight btw.
France need to start with Benz, Mbappe, Nkunku.
Griezmann is a spent force and I never liked him.
Saliba and Lloris outplayed by Cornelius. France 1 – 2 Denmark.
ESR criminally under used by Arteta towards
The end of the season.
He has to be involved more in a central position
Next season.
If not, he will probably pack his bags and he
Would be entitled to.
Tielemans is quality. May not fill our biggest needs, but if he helps us quit our Xhaka addiction I’m all for it. Let’s not forget we’ve got midweek games again too.
Damn, still not top 10
Towards end of season ESR had niggly injuries which he and Arteta both mentioned
Laca has been a true leader at the club. He’s always been a true professional and he has my respect. It’s not his fault that Arsenal are terrible at squad management and selling players at the right time. I wish him all the best and I hope we’ll finally upgrade the #9 position.
It’s not Laca’s fault we dropped 50 mil for him, but it’s his fault he was an average player for us and couldn’t repeat the goalscoring form he showed in Lyon.
We are probably getting closer to knowing what is going on, but right now we know zero.
Youdaman
How can ESR have been under-used when he was clearly exhausted at the end?
The whole saga was a bit of shit show….nothing against the player, at least not at first, as I enjoyed watching him play with Fekir, who I coveted even more at the time, but he never justified either his fee or wage during his time here…the very fact that we pursued him for at least 2 years prior to bringing him in made the whole thing a tad anti-climatic…then the tactics on offer under 3 + coaches/managers never really favored him, minus a brief period when he and Auba played up top together…I likewise felt that once it had become… Read more »
£115 million in terms of transfer walked or kicked out in just months.
Think on that for just one minute both Lacazeete and PEA gone and not a penny in return.
Englandsworst
“right now we know zero”
how is that any different from every waking hour for you…this should be right in your cerebral wheelhouse bud
Lol why you handle him like that same Lynne ?
one has to ask how we couldn’t afford any incoming cover pieces a couple months ago, yet we can shell out 3.5M for a flyer who’s a month away from potentially coming on a free
Laca …
Laca of goals.
Lots of class.
Even on bench you cheered .
Proper club man enjoy fella welcome back any day
Top top bloke
The real
Play the politics lad
How many times did we walk loudly, why Arsenal couldn’t just pay a bit more to get a deal over the line People whining that Edu truncated a stalemate with a £3.5 million don’t know what he knows. These South American deals aren’t straightforward. The sooner you get them done the better. We have a Brazilian DoF who knows that landscape better than a million Pedros; let him do his job. I’ve never heard of a free transfer from South America to a European club. Many of these players have multiples owners of the ‘rights’. 3.5 million is still very… Read more »
**** How many times did we used to wonder loudly, why Arsenal couldn’t just pay a bit more to get a deal over the line?
The Laca situation is so sad Laca dragged his contract to. Bosman [Arsenal allowed him to get away with it], just to be able to sign a pathetic €90k weekly deal at Lyon. That’s measly by free transfer standards. Just goes to show how poorly run we have been under Arteta and Edu Edu has no presence ad Arteta foot drags a lot. He wants to keep players that he will eventually fall out with and the club takes a loss since everyone knows that pathetic man management is the reason the player is leaving. Saliba has been at the… Read more »
Au re voir Lacazette. Has been decent for us. Even sometimes this past season. Just didn’t quite fill the cup. Between all the managerial changes, different tactics, in/outflux of players, the battle between him and Auba, he never became the top striker that we all wished he would be for Arsenal.
He had a good reputation in France and around Europe as one of the top prospects in the next batch of strikers after the Henry, drogba class. Alas it didn’t quite amount to that for him.
We ve had mediocre to decent strikers since RVP. Let’s hope our next main striker is a top class one.
Question for everyone..
Based on Laca’s 5 years, was he really an upgrade on Giroud?
Came with a big reputation and price tag..
Englandbest
The ESR is exhausted and injured excuse is just something we use to avoid the fact that Arteta has chosen Odegaard over him. He was available most matchdays towards the end of the season.
Downgrade on Giroud 100%. Should never have bought Laca. We paid for Laca 3x what we sold Giroud for and got the worse player. Can’t make this shit up.
Bye lacca thanks for the memories you gave it your all unlike s lot of the final Wenger buys
Naija
no doubt, we heard the same nonsense regarding Marts and others when Willian was being shoehorned into the lineup
RSPC
what does that mean?
I’ve only watched the YouTube compilations of scamacca but I enjoyed his playing style and think he looked the right profile for what we need. Tall, good in the air, good feet and link up and flicks. Plays like a very intense giroud but with pace and goals. This summers locatelli arsenal transfer I guess…
the only thing more embarrassing than having Saliba go back out on loan, would be for our club to actually sell him to someone within the PL, especially someone like Newcastle, who based on their second-half might be battling us for the last Europa spot next season
Paying money for a free transfer is strange but 3.5m is such a low sum it doesn’t even register so who cares? This is a big young prospect in Brazil, not an ageist veteran who is well known as average.
And if 3.5m does keep us sweet with sao Paolo then that’s fine by me
Ye, 3.5m is a joke. Imagine if the player is the real deal. We all will be very happy if Edu manages to work out the Brazilian market. Marti, Magalhaes, Jesus (possibly), Marquinhos – we’re shaping up a good Brazilian core of players. Luiz before that as well was a quality player and he along with Auba were the best players in that FAC win.
China If he were more well-known, I could see this as being another infamous Arsenal bluff simply to appease those within the fanbase who are logically concerned with our potential lack of height at the Striker position…I agree with your Giroud comparisons, as he plays well with his back to goal, but he certainly needs a little polishing…if the main target is Jesus, who I rate, it could be considered a rather savvy move to bring a more economical Striker who brings something vastly different to the mix…that said, a “real” club would bring in Jesus, under the guise that… Read more »
Has to be the dull days of a summer window when this space is breaking down a 3.5m fee for who the fuck knows what… for a player thats got bags of potential. Wolves willing to go to the wrestling matts over in court as they thought they had him but he slipped into Edu greasy basket.
Me: I love the fact we pushed in heavy with Edu, exactly why he’s here.
Gotta feel for Zverev tonight he had some quality moments.
We’ll never know!
https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/player-analysis-youri-tielemans/
Wow. Laca’s numbers really fell off a cliff this year. 4 goals from 30 games. In the season we got rid of Auba halfway through the year. I do hope we can start to be wiser with our money. There are so many players out for loan and sale and the clubs are starting to take the piss as they know how desperate we are to offload. Why we even bother negotiating with Italian clubs I don’t know. Torreira is now a year less valuable and Fiorentina are now claiming poverty. Year Matches Goals Assists Yellow Red 2021-22 30 4… Read more »
Samesong, good technical breakdown of Tielemans yesterday. I see a lot of positives if we could add him. Other pieces I’ve seen point out that he is a defensive liabililty late in games when he tires. Maybe 5 subs could help with that issue. He would be a lot more than a slight upgrade that many describe here. In Xhakas current position he could be a literal game changer. I hope we can still get him. Just remember, if he were linked with Spurs, legrave losers (I don’t need to name them) would raving about his quality and hailing the… Read more »
Speaking of strikers, came across this today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-PfvQuWKHE
He might have been a weirdo but my God, what a player Adebayor was when he was on his game
Pedro highlighting the ball recovery aspect of Tielemans is funny. That is such a random stat. Defensively, he won’t do any worse than Xhaka. He likes a tackle up the pitch and he presses better than Xhaka. The most obvious stat is his attacking ability. XA, XG are among the best in Europe. We need a creator from deep and he can be that guy. I sure hope we sign him and all the doubters will eat their words. Lacazette has been an average signing. But he kept his class though. He went out the right way. I wish him… Read more »
Ade was great on his day but for me he flattered to deceive a lot He was offside relentlessly. I seem to recall he was the most frequently caught offside player in Europe’s top divisions for quite some time. He literally appeared to just not even know that rule considering he’d get caught like 3 times per game His hold up and link up were very good, work rate very good, technique very good and on his day his finishing by was good, but he was also a pretty unreliable striker at taking good chances. Besides that great streak when… Read more »
Like considering the guy played for arsenal and Madrid i don’t think he was really starting 11 caliber for either team. Him ending up at Spurs and an up and coming city before they became monsters was more his level.
I suspect the fee for Marquinos may have been paid to negate Wolves pre-contract agreement with the player? Maybe their deal became legal once he became a free agent so Arsenal agreed the fee to get it over the line quickly!
I wondered the same thing tee cee
Hoping so as we can do without a big legal battle and any fallout
China1
You are right. Arsene himself said in the summer of 2008 that even though Ade had just scored 30 goals for the season, he was only playing at 80 percent of his potential and could improve in certain areas specially when it came to being clinical. I remember 6 or 7 of those 30 goals came against the horrendous Derby County so when you think about it, his goal distribution was not that great that season.
But he did score some cracking goals though, This one vs Spurs, the overhead kick vs Villareal, the chest and volley vs Newcastle in 07/08. Waste of a great talent.
Yeah I think with some refinements he would’ve been a world class player but I think he always had that rough around the edges nature His level was akin to giroud. A quality player who can add value at the top level of the game. But I wouldn’t build a team around him like I would a world class player like Henry, RVP, Ronaldo, Rooney etc etc For me whilst I do greatly respect that level of player, they worry me a bit if they are talismanic for your club because they simply can’t be depended on. When arsenal were… Read more »
This is my fear a bit of ode right now On his day he’s absolutely class. But I really dislike saying ‘on his day’ because it implies this player has a lot of off days. Imagine there’s a massive game tomorrow which we need to win. How certain are you that Ode is going to have one of his good games? If you can’t say ‘very’ that’s a problem. Because I never ever doubted players like cesc, vieira, Sanchez, RVP etc. you just expected great performances the vast majority of the time To be fair to Ode he was demonstrably… Read more »
Edu works out deals for his own benefit. A DF who holidays with Raul Sanhelli and Kia Joorabchan should not be trusted.
Actually let me clarify that. I do trust players who are less than world class provided they are good and extremely consistent What I don’t feel comfortable with is players who blow hot and cold. Today this player is amazing tomorrow he’s anonymous. You can’t build a team around that. Somehow ozil built an entire legend whilst blowing boiling hot and freezing cold but for me it makes me feel insecure having such players in the starting 11. I’d rather have a reliable 7/10 every game than a player who is a 10 today and a 3 tomorrow. A 7/10… Read more »
RVP was definitely better than Ade. His only problem was availability, During his first 7 seasons with us, he missed around 16 league games on average per season, that’s 42 percent of the league season. He finally plays all 38 league games in his 8th year with us and fucks right off to Man Utd lol What a treacherous cunt.
Happy Arteta has a future for Saliba. Saliba can fight it out with Gabriel Gabriel showed last season that he has a mistake in him per game. Needs competition; he finds it very difficult if the challenge is coming on his right side. Ref: Arsenal v United with Ronaldo.
Saliba should be given chance to compete. Have seen Saliba play either as LCB or RCB.
Havyn
We definitely need that competition. If Adams, Bold and Keown can stick together for years and compete for two starting positions, so can Gabriel, White and Saliba.
Sid, either you’ve got an interesting take on what trolling is or are you still sore that you were banned.
China, I have the same slight misgivings around Odegaard. That said, I feel with a more balanced midfield he’ll be more consistently influential.
Haven, agree that Gabriel was less than impressive towards the end of the season but I’d argue that was for the most part down to having a dodgy left back outside him.
Only Le grove could complain about a player being offside regularly despite scoring 30 goals in a season.. I hope Eddie or whoever comes in as striker , plays on the shoulder like Adebayor, yes he did get caught offside but by taking that risk , if he timed it right he would be through one on one with the keeper, something that has gone from our game since the Wenger days. How often these days do we see an Arsenal striker through one on one with keeper…very rare. Of course, for a striker to receive the ball in these… Read more »
Tee I suspect the fee for Marquinos may have been paid to negate Wolves pre-contract agreement with the player? Maybe their deal became legal once he became a free agent so Arsenal agreed the fee to get it over the line quickly! This lad is as we all are well aware is very young and may turn out to be the real deal but to date in the league he has never completed 90 minutes.The only time he did stay on the pitch for 90 minutes was inBrazils equivalent of the FA Cup where he started and finished against an… Read more »
A good percentage of his goals from open play came from Adebayor playing on the shoulder.
https://youtu.be/Ao1sMT4YsHQ
Pierre, Adebayor was certainly a real handful for opposition defenders but the number of times he was caught offside was deeply frustrating. I am struggling to think of an Arsenal player who was offside more regularly.
He was at arsenal for a handful of years and he only looked like a 30 goal a season player that one year. It’s not like he was doing that every season like Henry
He scored 24 goals in the PL that season. In the other 3 years he scored 10, 8 and 4. The only other time he got near 24 (not very near) was 17 for Spurs. He was not a world class goal scorer (he was a good goal scorer tho)
And yeah RVP was a clearly superior player but his injury issues were a huge let down. If he’d stayed fit permanently we’d have won more trophies
If Rvp was fit in 007/08 we’d have won the league
We were 4 points off top that year
China
He wasn’t just the superior players
He’s one of the best strikers in premier league. He on United a league title nearly on his own.
Lacazette 206 71 36
Jesus 236 95 46
Jesus feels to me like Lacazette Mk2. Hard working pressing forward with not a great amount of goals in him. If we sign him, our game will not change much next season as we don’t have goal scoring forwards to play off of him.
How Arteta didn’t look at how we operate with laca in the side and see that it needed changing not replicating I don’t know.
Speaking of strikers , Eddie reminds me of Eduardo . The guy was world class , we were robbed of so many talents due to injuries its tragic.
Premier league history*
He’s up there with the likes of shearer, Henry, Owen, Ronaldo, Rooney, Fowler, Drogba as the best.
Divine
Eddie isn’t like Eduardo
Eduardo had world class technique and was classy on the ball
Eddie is like a ferret off the ball and scatty on it
Eddie seems like a hybrid of Ian wright and Andy Cole
Oh no, Eddie is not even close to Eduardo’s technique, touch, control, finishing or passing. Only similarity they have is that they can be that fox in the box, in the right place at the right time. That’s pretty much it.
If Edu knows the Brazilian market so well how the hell did this guy end up signing a pre contract with Wolves and we were are left scrambling to pay a fee? If he was that good and Edu knew surely we would have tied the deal up earlier?
lol where do these stats come from? Tielemans is dodgy off the ball. He is most noted for his attacking input for a side. So now we have to believe that as well as being handy offensively he is also great off the ball because of these so-called “ball recoveries” This would make Tielemans the absolute complete midfielder. This would make Tielemans a must buy for every club including the real big hitters. Where are all the real top end clubs absolutely drooling over Tielemans? I wish these geeks would stop bombarding us with stats. Half the time they haven’t… Read more »
Didn’t Martinelli come from a 3rd Tier Brazilian club? He’s not half bad is he? Don’t see the problem signing a 19yr old from 1 of the top Brazilian teams for £3.5m myself
Lacazette wasn’t as bad overall in his whole time at Arsenal as some of the absolute dogs abuse some gave him on here might have you believe.
Decent player and gave decent service to Arsenal.
Good luck to him.
I always liked Lacazette. He was never up to the league physically but he never stopped working and trying. Was a very selfless player. Not great value for £45m though in my opinion
Un
A hybrid of Cole and Ian? Handy and right? Boy, I sure hope so.
Maybe Arteta is looking to bring Jesus in as a wide player primarily and Scamacca (or someone else) as our no9?
I can’t see him putting Jesus in our no9 for a season as the focal point.
England is best
In style mate. Not output
Our biggest mistakes in the market were auba and ozil
Both could produce but both neeeded to the team to cater to them. Too specialist. Too temperamental. Too lazy.
We should have kept Giroud and Theo and brought cesc back instead of Ozil. Him and sanchez together 😍
ishola “”””Where are all the real top end clubs absolutely drooling over Tielemans?”””” They aint. Did someone state, that he did not get in the Belgian side that lost 4 1 at home yesterday? He basically does, exactly what Xhaka does and struggles exactly with the same with what Xhaka struggles with ( i.e pace) Leicester do not seem to be to fussed , if he stays or goes either. Window, going the same as last season. Overpaying for players that we do not need and already have in abundance ( Elneny Odegaard, Xhaka). We need some imaginative signings, not… Read more »
“Where are all the real top end clubs absolutely drooling over Tielemans?” Top clubs “drooling” is not conformation of nothing in my eyes. We could all name tonnes of players who weren’t ‘drooled upon’ by the big dogs who have turned out to be big players. For me Tielemans is a very good player. I remember him bossing us at home YEARS ago in the CL for Anderlecht. Couldn’t have been older than 18 them days. He’s a defininte upgrade on Xhaka as he has a better skill set and can play the 8 role much better than Granit ever… Read more »
Pascal Didn’t Martinelli come from a 3rd Tier Brazilian club? He’s not half bad is he? Don’t see the problem signing a 19yr old from 1 of the top Brazilian teams for £3.5m myself He did indeed . Playing wise I can’t say as to their abilities but Martinelli held/ holds an Italian passport and when he signed in 2019 the old rules re playing permits applied. They have changed dramatically the qualification points so it’s far from a given that he will qualify or come to that even get close to a work permit and that s why I… Read more »
For what we paid for Lacazette I consider him a flop.
Hard worker doesn’t really cut it for me. Maybe score some goals. Laca couldn’t get in the team because Eddie benched him. Average forward at best.
Un “Our biggest mistakes in the market were auba and ozil, We should have kept Giroud and Theo and brought cesc back instead of Ozil. Him and sanchez together ” Will just point out that for 7 years before Ozil arrived we were trophyless with Fabregas in the side. Ozil arrives and we win 3 fa cups in 4 years without fabregas, so hardly a mistake. The mistake was giving him a lucrative contract followed by 5 months later recruiting a manager who didn’t want Ozil in the side. Not the brightest move by the club i have to say.… Read more »
That’s no laca was a bit more then a hard worker..
Goals v Tottenham for example were always enjoyable and did he not get player of the year for us as well
Just read Auba was a mistake as well … lol
Can’t b arsed to defend that
I don’t think that Laca got ‘dogs abuse’ off of anyone in here. Quite the opposite.
He got off extremely lightly in the criticism department compared to Giroud who never had even close to only 2 non penalty goals in a near full season of minutes. And he has been virtually as immobile this season, absolutely no running power left in his legs.
Overall ok ST but disappointing considering the £50m fee.
“Why anyone wouldn’t recognise the special relationship that ozil/sanchez had on the pitch is baffling , neither were the same player when they went their seperate ways.”
Sanchez has done ok at Inter, won a title last season and is their most valuable contributor off the bench. 16 goals and 15 assists in just 2850 mins in Serie A (32 ish apps full 90) since joining them, 7 goals and 5 assists in the league last season winning the title.
Ozil doesn’t even resemble a footballer anymore, unwanted by Fenerbahce and basically a Twitter personality since 2019.
Pierre Fabregas has won everything there is to win Had wenger spent on DM, Cb and keeper during Cesc’s time at the club he’d have a league medal now Only almunia being shit and Henry choking in 06 stopped him from becoming a champions league winner with us Cesc was dominating the likes of juventus, milan Real Madrid and holding his own with Barca all by the time he was 21 He second only to Ryan Giggs for all time premier league assists with 111 Ozil isn’t even in the top 10 38 39 G/A in 09/10 season where he… Read more »
Well said Un…
Anyone who insinuates that Ozil > Cesc is not to be taken seriously.
I dont recall ozil making a single contribution in any of the 4 fa cup finals we played in his time at arsenal
Outside of his first assist (on debut at boro or Sunderland?) that world class goal in a 6-1 vs ludogrets and his joint pulverising of Chelsea with Alexis (3-0?) i struggle to recall many big moments from ozil. Days when he stood up and changed games
Routinely hid in big matches
Especially against German clubs. Was utterly awful ba Bayern. Terrible signing. Should have offered Alexis the £300k pw, sold earthworm Jim and brought cesc back in to play with Santi and Alexis
Both players at their peak world class but if I had a choice now of one, I’d take Fabregas no hesitation.
Laca, good pro and all, but it’s hard to say he was a great success. For the amount of money he cost in fees and wages I would argue that he was a disappointment. Great song though even if the line’ scoring goals is what he does best’ became anachronistic and ironic!