Fran Mérida has rejected a second and improved offer from Arsenal and will now join Atlético Madrid on July 1st. The Spanish Under 21 international has already said his goodbyes to his team mates and is expected in Spain on Monday to finalise terms on a five-year-deal.
Arsène Wenger agreed a contract extension with Mérida before the end of the campaign, but he requested more time to mull over the decision. Agent Joseba Diaz then instigated a meeting with Europa League winners Madrid who also offered him a contract, with similar terms. Fran told Wenger he would be leaving in search of more playing time, but last week a final, improved offer was placed, but snubbed.
Fran is desperate for more playing time despite being given increasing Premier League and Carling Cup chances. He has also started in both the FA Cup and Champions League, finishing this year with two first team goals to his name. The 20-year-old is set to have his wages doubled with Atlético, yet Diaz has refuted claims he is simply leaving for money.
“Fran’s decision is based purely on sporting questions and not money.”
Mérida joined Arsenal in 2007 from Barcelona on a free transfer although compensation was paid following a long standing contract dispute. Madrid will also have to pay the Gunners compensation as the player is under 23.
adios
Fran’s decision is based purely on sporting questions…yeah rite…
Henri lansbury is a better player plus hes a gooner arsenal through and through.
Imagine if merida has a good season, barcelona come sniffing in he will pack his bags and go. Thats hwo it is with foreign players
exactly… it’s time to start playing British players. Not because I’m xenophobic but you can guarantee Wilshere, JET, Lansbury et al don’t dream of playing for Barcelona.
Ah yes – lets get more British bulldogs. Thats what we need. all these johnny foreigners with their flair and skill just leaving the club! who do they think they are?!
You wouldn’t see the likes of Ashley Cole or Sol Campbell or Matthew Upson or David Bentley leaving the club. No way, they’re British, mate!
Xenophobic Mugs
lool well said fran who
To say Lansbury is a better player is a bit harsh and what are you basing that on. Merida was a beast at the u20 world cup and played some good football in our first team. Not saying Lansbury isnt but i dont see what you can be basing that on.
British players arent often courted by foreign big clubs and they rarely do well outside of England. Has nothing to do with any other rubbish.
that’s one area we dont have to worry about we have Rasmey, Wilshere, Lansbury, Henderson, Ozyakup and Aneke
too many talented players for one or two positions if you ask me
Was really looking forward to seeing Fran play for Arsenal. A great loss me thinks
He must believe Cesc isn’t leaving, or he believes he is not good enough to make it in a Fab-free Arsenal.
Akiki, be fair.. The guy is 20 and made 4 appearances this season. Most of the time he didn’t even make the 7 man bench. In his situation i would have done exactly the same. For all Wenger’s words about him being a world class player he obviously felt something was lacking and so it doesn’t make sense for Fran to sign on with us. This next few years are crucial ones in his career, he can’t risk sitting in the reserves any more.
Agreed. I wanted to see him break through here, but he never seemed to. Can’t blame him for trying to get some playing time (and more money).
We’ll recover.
Merida would have gotten plenty of chances if he would have signed another contract. This could have been his year considering how many players were injured.
This is fantastic riddance.
I can’t stand having another Catalan in our ranks who will always see a move back to Spain or Barcelona as ‘dream’.
If we do get rid of Cesc, please don’t sign any of these Iberian players! I would even take the Frenchies any day then.
i agree totally am also tired of the spanisn crying to go home remember reyes! now cesc
good by fran
yes fuck off for these mercenaries!!! Sell Fuckregas for 60-80 mill. For that sort of money we will get a better player. Bring in Joe Cole for free!!!
Yeah, lets sign players that are not for spain, like Arshavin, who would never say anything like that…
As for the guy that calls Cesc a mercenary, you really have no fucking clue, do you? Did you watch any game this year? Cesc gave his all in every single game this season. How many players would have taken that penalty and stayed on the pitch with a broken leg against Barca? Go fucking cheer for Chelski, Sp*rs or some other wanker club.
is Arshavin a Catalan? I figure he has the same ‘dream’
Henri lansbury is a better player plus hes a gooner arsenal through and through.
Imagine if merida has a good season, barcelona come sniffing in he will pack his bags and go. Thats hwo it is with foreign players
————————-
It’s nothing to do with them being foreign. We had our so called local lad Cashely leave over £5k in wages. Nationality does not play a part.
But Ashley Cole’s instance was rare (cuz he’s a cunt of all cunts) and he did not leave for overseas at least.
And at least Cole would have stayed if we paid him more money but these Spanish twats don’t care whether it’s money or not. They dream of playing for Barca or Madrid and that’s it! So it doesn’t matter what they do for the club or how many years they spend there – they’ll always want to return home one day.
Ah, but what would you prefer. Someone leaving to play for their hometown club or someone leaving for money?
Yeah, it’s so much better when your player leaves for your rivals and plays against you instead of moving to another league.
Cashley could’ve gone to Real Madrid and the fans wouldn’t have cared. He snuck ’round our backs with the Chavs and that’s why he’ll always be hated
Nationality it does play apart.
Come on you cant compare Lansbury to Ashley cole?
Ashley cole is a one off freak. Hes lost it just watch hsi pre match interview for the FA cup
Merida won’t go back to Barca even if he becomes World Player of The Year. They sued the shi*t out of him for leaving remember. Burnt bridges like that don’t get rebuilt.
lol, he will never been world player of the year!!!
I think this is a very unwise decision from the youngster. Arsenal is going places whilst in La Liga he has pretty much no chance of honours….there the winners are Real or Barca the others have no look in the whole season might as well be a “best out of 3″ season because the other clubs are not up to par and are struggling….heck Atletico are in financial strife also.
Merida is gonna regret this choice, mark my words, he will be the next Hleb wishing and praying to turn back the clock………how do you like the icecream Hleb??”
shut the fuck up he will be a great player and the spaish league will suit him… hes not made for the premier league apart from the speed and physicall presence he has all the qualities to be one of the best… time will tell .
dis cud b a blow 2 us keepin cesc cos fran nd cesc get on quite wel. Wit quite a few arsenal players im sick of their attitude dey r lookin 2 move away if i was playin for sum1 like say Atletico Madrid id show de utmost respect rather dan say il decide my future in de summer even if arsenal wer interested. Does an1 feel Yaya Toure is a complete bolocs sayin Arsenal arent a big club im realy p off wit him now i used to like him bfore bu mayb its dat arsenal didn sign him wen he was on trial.
What a surprise! Didn’t see that coming! You mean the boy was just waiting for his contract to end to return to his childhood club??
Good riddance. Extremely average player.
Jamiedegunner, i know what you mean with yaya, whats the betting that he will end up at Mancity…….if he does i will LAUGH if he says that Arsenal are not a big club but then goes for all the money at the 2 bit club Mancity, they were nothing until sheikhurmoney came in……they have no history to speak or are small in fan base “small ” in every way and classless in the way they are trawling after worlds best talent that don’t even want to know just because they have money bags now. The only people that go to mancity “to win things” are mercenaries, and the more recent fans that are loud and proud are just gloryhunters,……….they suddenly have a voice when we didn’t hear a peep from them in decades, but now they are bigshots
Why all the bitterness towards Fran. He’s always gone about his business in a quiet dignified way and there haven’t been any stories of bad behaviour… He’s more than entitled to move on when his contract is up. There’s no need to be childish and say “good riddance” or “i don’t care, he was shit”.. He is a talented player, his contract is up, he wants to play football… From my perspective i wish him all the best for the future.
Agreed. The bitterness here and anger towards him is amazing. He’s just done what any person with common sense would do to be honest. If I was in his position and had the opportunity to play for my dream club and actually get a lot of game time I’d take it straight away! As opposed to getting the odd CC and maybe prem sub appearance here and there.
He hasn’t made the break through and so that leads you to believe that he isn’t cutting it in Wenger’s mind.
I hope he goes on to make a good career for himself because he is a fantastic player but he always struck me as being a little way off physically.
C’mon. To be honest I actually think we need some Brits in the team. It’s quite boring with all those players coming from all around the world. Bring some local kids in, the way it always has been.
Fran is a great player, its just a shame we are loosing a player with his talent. To leave a club to increase your playing time is the most justified reason to leave a club .I hope he does well in the europa league next year!
Arsene will be the one regretting not playing him more. This guy is class. We had so many injuries this year and he still did not have a look-in. I believe that was the final straw. I cannot blame him for wanting a move. Its a shame though as Fran merida will prove to be one of their best players in the coming years.
If we lose merida and cesc the world will not end. We Just buy replacements.
WE HAVE THE MONEY!!
GOURCUFF AND EDEN HAZARD ARE WORLD CLASS ESTABLISHED PLAYERS. THEY WOULD FIT RIGHT IN!! OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE SOME PLAYERS THAT ARE OUT OF OUR REACH BUT THESE TWO ARE WITHIN OUR GRASP. ARSENE IF YOU TRULY KNOW CESC IS LEAVING SNAP UP THESE TWO BEFORE WE SELL OTHERWISE IT WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS!!
BUT I WARN YOU ARSENE….. IF YOU LET MERIDA AND CESC LEAVE WHILST NOT BUYING DECENT REPLACEMENTS YOU WILL HAVE ALL BUT SEALED AN OUTSIDE TOP 4 FINISH NEXT SEASON.
with the money from Fabregas we can buy each player in the world!!!!
His situation is similar to Man United’s Ben Foster.
Belonging to a top club but getting limited playing time even when their are injuries present. Ferguson saw ben as his future no.1 just like wenger saw merida as cesc’s replacement. Both managers will soon regret not giving them more playing time as they will blossom by playing regular football. (But i bet foster has a return clause or something in his contract though)
Yes, show some respect please. He’s a young and talanted player and will make it, but not here. He has never said anything disrespectful of Arsenal or Arsene, dispite very limited playing time. Good luck Fran.
JS, is there anymore news about where obed and byles will be playing their fotball next year
They’ve been released. http://younggunsblog.co.uk/2010/03/arsenal-set-to-release-under-18-trio.
No idea which club they’ll sign for.
Not going off the subject of merida but i have now realized why are keepers are so shit!! AND Why are next keeper will probaly be shit.
It is simply because our goalkeepers are not being tested in training… Goalkeepers like petr cech,Van der sar, Reina were not always world class. They are only that good now because players like Drogba, Rooney, and Torres are constantly shooting, heading and taking free kicks against them on a daily basis in training. That will surely make you a better keeper.
Arsenal play ‘soft football’ they rarely score headers and rarely shoot from long distance. They have no physical presence so the keepers cannot prepare for this. They mostly just pass the ball in the net in matches and i believe thats all they do in training. We dont have many players who score amazing goals therfore the keepers cannot practice at saving these kinds of attempts. Lehmann and seamen had the benefit of training with real physical players and that is what made them such good keepers.
Do you agree?
ya kind of and also we need some tall strong players while defending corners….
2 tall def and 1 tall def mid will do the job
you would think if a player practised long shots and freekicks in training all the time they may get better. i bet you ronaldo practised his long shots and free-kicks all the time at man u
No. WTF are you on about?
Merida is brilliant, gutted he’s leaving.
brillant??? come on he is not made for EPL!!!
Much better than Denilson or Diaby,in attitude and work rate,pity he was not preferred by the manager except again as an after thought,why the improved offer so late? Good luck to him,since Wenger will not give him any more pitch time even if he stays.
I find it utterly absurd that pepple seem more disappointed Luke Ayling is leaving the club than Fran Merida. It’s difficult to articulate just how ridiculous that is – suffice to say Fran’s phenomenal technique and vision is undervalued. Regardless of the aspersions often cast upon his workrate and defensive game, his potential is amazing, and technique is far, FAR more important than the ‘intangibles’ Arsenal fans (usually out of exasperation with Diaby/Denilson etc) all often espouse.
Marvelous player with an exceptionally high ceiling. I wish him well.
The guy has barely gotten any chances here and will probably get very few next year! Can anyone blame him for leaving?! I say good luck to Fran, I think he’s a very classy player and a future Sainsh international for sure. He’s not the type to rag on the club, despite how few chances he’s been given the past 4 years. I think he’ll perform well.
No BNP quotes allowed here dipshit, shouldn’t you be out leafletting after your lot took such a beating in the elections?
Good luck to Fran,
He is a superb little footballer and I think La Liga will suit him more than the Premier League ever would. People talk about him being lightweight and/or slow but I think the things he lacks most for the English game are the tenacity and mental side. Cesc never had the greatest physicality but he’s always had cojones (remember as an 18 year old him going face to face with Ballack? not many other 5’10” teenagers would have done that) as well as maturity.
I think the thing that may have been the final straw for the lad was seeing Ramsey (before the injury) leapfrogging him emphatically in the pecking order.
Signing Fran was worth the risk from Wenger, sadly it hasn’t worked.
And I have to be honest, the Cesc bashing is embarrassing to read. The guy has given us 7 years great service. If he does leave, he will do so with my highest regards and have only left great memories.
Viva Cesc!
Great points I totally echo this, cesc is a arsenal legend and one of the best and most committed arsenal players to ever pull on the famous red and White shirt; scoring a penalty with a broken leg against barca anyone. I would love him to stay obviously but I fully respect any decision he makes and he will always be a legend in my eyes although another year would cement his place as one of our all time greats.
If Cole and Sol are not British then what are they?
The comments levelled at Merida are unfair and very harsh. For a footballer the love of playing football should always be more important than the club one plays for. Merida wasn’t getting the opportunities he wanted at Arsenal so he decided to move to Atletico to get more playing time and more money. Merida joined Arsenal from Barcelona for the very same reasons. How can we now say Merida is doing something wrong, by asking for a transfer to Athletico Madrid?
Your thoughs?
Not surprised by this but little disappointed.
However he is below Song, Nasri, Diaby, Hopefully Cesc, Denilson, Rambo, Rosicknote in pecking order so not a major problem.
Hopefully Melo is soon as well
That is terribly racist to be British u need to be born in Britain that is all, ethinicity does not effect your nationality, cole and sol are both English to say anything else based on their skin colour is a disgrace. Pathetic
Good luck Fran, have no doubt that he will be class and a future Spanish international. Would be sad if we lost both him and Cesc.
Hopefully Cesc will decide against leaving
I think like in fairness many have I applaud a player who has; like many have said, been utterly professional in his time with the club. I hope he goes on to have a brilliant career and prove us wrong for letting him go, I do feel at arsenal though we have so many good young players coming though that many will have to leave to allow the new crop to come through. I wish merida the best of luck and although I’m disapointed to see a player leave of his caliber, I respect and trust his reasons and hope he gets the playing time he probably deserved last season. I also feel that athletico are a much better club for a player like him to be at as we have so many young midfielders in front of him. Gud luck fran
THICK, BRITISH, IDIOTS! IT’S NO WONDER THESE GUYS WANT TO GO BACK TO THERE COUNTRIES IF THEY READ THE SORT OF GARBAGE YOU IDIOTS WRITE.. – STILL, AT LEAST YOU STILL HAVE THEO, HE HAS A LOT OF TALENT!
It’s too bad he is leaving, but I think we all saw it coming. As soon as the rumours started, I had a feeling this might happen. Comparisons with Ahsley Cole etc are crazy. If I were a manager I would try to develop local talent, but that is just my opinion, and often times certain circumstances restrict a manager’s ability to do that, like board expectations’, or the amount of money invested into scouting and youth development. Wenger knows what he is doing. I can’t wait to see what this means for Jack Wilshere. If Cesc leaves, and Ramsey still isn’t 100% Could we see Jack start premier league games at the beginning of next year??? I can’t wait to see what happens.
And as for Yaya Toure, he can go fuck himself sideways with his brother and Didier Drogba for all I care. What a fucking cunt. We don’t need him. Song is just as good as he is and is younger. WE ONLY HAVE ONE SONG. There. That’s my 2 cents worth.
If they consider themselves ( Campbell and Cole that is) to be British, then why can’t they be British, Holohoax. It’s all in how perceive yourself for me. If you think you are french, then you are french.
I’ve always said that our problem is too many foreigners in the team and vitually no regular British except Theo. This is not because foreign players are better (Almunia, Denilson, Diabolical etc) but just Arsene’s perceived mistrust in British players. The foreign players lack fight and don’t really care.
I can’t see Arsenal succeeding with this bunch of low quality foreign players who’re protected by Arsene Wenger. Any successful team requires a local presence but Arsene don’t see it. He’s more interested in buying only French/French African players. I wonder what the dressing room sounds like to Gibbs, Eastmond and the rest.
although i dont care if he leaves i tkink he is making a big mistake and doesnt know what he is doing because he may get more playing time in madrid but wegner can turn him into a fabregas
god awful nasty people on here
wish the kid luck and be done with it Wenger obviously doesnt rate him that highly otherwise he wouldve been on the bench alot more then he was this year, no need for all the racist garbage he is still a boy only 20 years old. Too the moron who’s complaining about spanish kids dreaming about playing ReAL or Barca what do u expect them to wana say i dream of playing with Arsenal or Man united get real hey will always dream of spanish clubs as english kids will wanna play for english clubs get a life
This is great news for Wilshere. Time to move on. If Cesc leaves he leaves.
It will be interesting to see how Wenger tweaks his squad for this coming season. With Blackpool promoted he might give them one or two players to gain Premiership experience.
JET has already played there. They might even take someone like Bartley too.
too young for anything really
The thing is Merida like Fabregas left Barcelona because they felt like they would play at a younger age hear. It isnt like Merida was behind a bunch of older players. Ramsey was far ahead of him at Arsenal. So if he isnt playing here then of course he will leave.
Merid leaving shouldnt really matter because
that’s one area we dont have to worry about we have Rasmey, Wilshere, Lansbury, Henderson, Ozyakup and Aneke
too many talented players for one or two positions if you ask me
In Ireland we have our own national games. I look forward to the day when / if a county GAA team fields (insert ethnicity here) players, in Croke park (where we were so ‘racist’ until recently by refusing to let ‘foreign games’ be played there) and watching them sing (or mime) Ahmran na bhfiann with the rest of the team and 80,000 supporters. Its a pity you cannot let sport unite people, as when you look at it, we really have fuck all else.
Anyhoo sad to see Fran go, very talented little player IMO. Would be borderline suicidal if Cesc went though. But if he does go, all the best. His replacement? Stephen Ireland of course!! :-)
Fuck mate your anecdotes are shit.
Of course, being the fascist that you are, you also believe it’s within your rights to tell people what sport to play
I agree you need a core of British players to win the premiership especially in England.
British players understand what is a windy wet, muddy day up northis , British players compete more, battle, grind and graft more so than foreign players.
Fran merida for me is a clasy player, of real quality shame hes going but we are talking about the premiership here its not la liga, serie a every game is a battle, war, you need players up for the fight.
ALa Henri lansbury. Passionate, committed but also technically brilliant likewise with wilshere. Wilshere can battle and do the dirty stuff as well as show that amazing flair hes got.
boo hoo, springs to mind.
JS i think it s start to ban this idiot from bnp and Howard the racist f**k,this is about youth player from arsenal football club not a pro nazi party blog.British grit my arse.
as for Merida ,he is 20 years old and arsene has not really give him a chance in the premiership and he saw quiet few people in front of him.i would have left too to get first team football at this age he what he need not reserve football.Good luck to him,I would i prefer he stay but as free agent he can decide whatever he want.he never moan and go to the press because he was not playing.
actually he should have got the chance as he is a left sided mid and we did not have any and would have definately proved to be amazing and better than diaby and nasri in that position
I agree this kind of racist stuff has no place on any site let alone a site which I think probably has quite a young readership you can see all the idiots who jump on board with it as well.
read again, i say he was not given the chance,even with injuries .Arsene prefer in order Arsahvin,Rosicky,Nasri or diaby playing left.So he probably make the right choice.The same will happen with Vela if we don’t start using him more often.The next in line is Barazite.We ahve so many young player as back up than some of them will jump ship at the first chance to get better chance to first team football.
When you have so may talented young player ,it s maybe nice but can bring problem when they decide they want to start playing more often.Wilshere has taste first team football now he want more that s why he would prefer comeback to Bolton next year.
Merida is a class player and will shine at Atletico Madrid. Best of luck to him. Thankfully, we are so loaded with youngsters in that position that we needn’t worry. We have Ramsey, Lansbury, Wilshere, Aneke, Ozyakup in there, not to mention first teamers such as Diaby and Nasri.
I’m more interested in our current strike force. RVP and Arshavin are guaranteed starters, so it’ll be a fight between Bendtner, Chamakh, Walcott, Eduardo, Vela in addition to JET, Jay Simpson and Barazite. I know we have awful luck with injuries so this situation might be to our benefit. We should loan out JET for a whole season and give chances to Vela, Simpson, and Barazite, as they have all been out on loan already.
Foreign players like Almunia, Fabianski, Diabolical, Denilson and Traore are not fit to play here but they are here, collecting huge wages, 50k and above. We heard that these foreign chaps are ahead of English players in terms of superior skills but what do we see in games? The above players for instance haven’t proved why they were bought. Denilson came under exceptional talent label but crap on the pitch. Can’t understand Arsene travelling all the way to Brazil just to buy a player who hasn’t proved whether he’s a DM or CM. He can’t tackle, can’t track back, poor passing range and yet getting chances all the time while other potential English players are benched. Same as Senderos when here.
Its like ethnic cleansing in favour of foreign players.
Simpson and Barazite will be sold and i’ve got a funny feeling he may hold on to JET for his versatility.
Howard, who are these potential England players who are being benched?
I can’t believe you actually have backing for any of the crap you say but I will say it again, your ethnicity does not effect your nationality, fact. If you are born and raised in England you are English fact, skin colour does not effect this. It’s not about about cole and sol feeling English as commented by some1 else, they are and for some1 to question that based on their skin colour is disgusting and a view that has no place in modern society. Arsenal as a team have players from all over the world, and that is of the things I love about the team. This rubbish about lack of commitment from foreign players is nonsense look at vieira, cesc, vermalan to name just a few. Yes we do have lazy players in the team but their nationality is not the cause of this. Stop getting sucked into this crap of we need more English players we don’t we just need better players. If they are goodenough why does their passport matter
James
Lansbury, Ramsey, Eastmond, Jack are all better than the ‘exceptional Denilson’. Simpson scored lot of goals and played as a striker and a winger and hope that at least he’ll be given some chances to prove himself. Arsene should stop his ethnic cleansing policy and give Simpson the chances he gave to Bentner. Nik scored 11 goals at Birmingham and was brought back and given chances. Simpson has scored 13 at QPR but everyone is saying he should be sold while people are not craving for the sale of Denilson, Flappianski, Almunia and crap Traore who’ve all proved to be failures.
Its amazing how an English football club has become hostile to English players. You just have to be French/African and your chances are brighter than being English. Ethnic cleansing of the highest order.
No one has come out to back the players you mentioned. i for one think both keepers should be sold but the problem is not denilson. if you had scott parker in your teaam denilson will not start. he is okay as a squad player but should never be starting for a club like arsenal on a regular basis, he is not good enough. your manager’s solution, buy an 18 year old who is even not as good as denilson and tell us otherwise. Arsenal have becomes as unambitious as a few people i know on benefits. content to sign on and cruise. but the problem is arsenal will be out of the top 4 next season then it will be judgement ime.
bendtner also collected assists and was named championship player of the year simpson went missing other than to score goals and was often benched
Bendtner was 18 when he went on loan and was playing as a target man aswell, leading the line and was the main reason they got promoted. Also made his international debut at 18 and was too good for the reserves. Simpson I don’t think has ever done what Bendtner did in the reserves.
Though I agree that Lansbury & Jack should get the chance to prove themselves
I understand wer most of you are cumin from wit wantin more British player bu to be honest it doesnt realy matter wat nationality u are take a look at Inter they had alll foreigners in der first 11 and most de subs wer foreigners nd dey are after winin de champions league. Wenger buys Foreigners bcos der is a wider range to look at not just de EPL or Championship bu also its alot cheaper 2 buy foreign talent. Its not dat Wenger doesnt like British players its dat he seesit as a way to save money. I also tink Wenger wont buy many British players any time soon bcos he can just get good young English players out of de academy.
I’ve never read so much garbage in all my life. I’m ashamed to support the same club as some of you people.
Hey guys you are spot on. we need to get the british boys in. i have seen enough games where we lack the british grit. JET, Wilshere Lansbury are good squad players whose loyalty lies in north london not barcelona or paris or somewhere else.
Howard, all the players you mention have only just come on the scene. I’ll agree with you if they’re being kept out of the side in a couple of years but not now. They’re still 18/19 and learning the game. I wouldn’t have any of them as a first choice regular in our side yet. That doesn’t mean i think Denilson is good enough. I’d like to see some proven international quality come in.
Absolutely gutted – watched him quite a few times live and he looked to be an outstanding prospect. Good luck to the lad – him and Fabregas will be the Spanish national team in a few years time.
Howard,
Do you actually know what ethnic cleansing is?
howard nobody care about your racist pro-nazi point of view and you are not welcome on any arsenal blog.You are a well know racist.i suppose you not even support arsenal,not F**k O**
Did Arsenal not pay the fine of over 3m when he came over from Barca? does that mean he has to pay them back to the club now? Surly it was very very very bad buisness to buy out a talented youngster that would leave after 5.
Surly Merida owns the arsenal team to stay or ?
I has been revealed that Denilson played with a crack vertebrae. The lad should have been in bed and he was playing professionnal football. No wonder he was not as good as previous season. Moreover Denilson play an invisible role that most supporter do not understand. That remind me of Gilberto who was lambasted for not being Viera and not going into hard tackle and not committing enough foul. When he was injured, suddenly team started to score a lot more against us. Supporters then saw the Gilberto shaped hole in the middle of our midfield. I hope that next year Denilson has a great season and people starto give him the credit that he deserves.
Howard and Hollowhoax should be banned from this site for thier xenophobic views and rants. The site is about football and Arsenal FC not politics by neanderthal.
Regarding Chamahk, Marounanne is more French than Morrocan. He is born and raised in France. A couple of month ago, he was a candidate for French parliement election. Marroco gave him a chance to play at internationnal level. Opportunity he never though he was going to get with France. He was not deemed good enough to be in the senior French team, the marrocan coach then went and selected young bi-nationnal in his team. Talking about integration, I would say that the integration with the bi-nationnal was more difficult. He does not speak arabic with a proper marrocan accent. Only because people have seen his commitment in games has he started to be appreciated by the Marrocan people. The same way in 1998 Jamaica did not see the English players who got called upon by their coach as real reggae Boyz.
Regarding Merida, unless he see Athletico madrid as a stepping stone to a bigger club, he is going to regret his move. Athletico Madrid are ruined. Their wage bill is greater than their income. They may not get their European License. Unless they successfully sell their better players (Forlan, Aguero, …) they will not be able to afford to pay the player’s salary.
Moreover with an extra year at Arsenal he would have qualified as a home grown player. With the new premiership and European rules that may have a big consequence to squad composition and player opportunity.
The problem with Merida has never been his talent, but his physics. He could have played against Wigan and I think that Arsene Was thinking of introducing him before the Wigan’s goals. However against Blackburn he would have been pushed around.
I can understand that some English fans wants to see English players being successfull at Arsenal, but objectively most fans would rather have a successful team than a team full of Sidwell or nearly there journeymen.
I am afraid Simpson, Gilbert, Hoyte, Deacon, Dunne, Randall, falls into that category.
I need some help people……who are some former Arsenal players or youth products that play in the lower leagues?
most people just want a scape goat and since alot of Denilsons true work is “invicible”, people think he does not do anything.
if he has played with a crack in his spine then thats madness! That would also explain why he passed out on the field against who was it again? Not many players bleed that much for their club. I really hope he has a good season next year, showing all the cm managers how totally wrong they are.
Shane,
Abu Ogogo at Dagenham & Redbridge.
Paul Rodgers at Northampton Town
Matthew Connolly at QPR
Rene Steer at Oldham Athletic
Justin Hoyte at Middlesbrough
Dean Shiels at Doncaster Rovers
James Harper – No club at the moment
Thanks mate…i know most of those but I am basically asking cuz i am trying to make a bronze team of current and ex arsenal players on fifa ultimate team if you no what that is at all. Thanks tho.
Oh yeah Jamie do we not get any compensation?? as he was under 24 and is moving on a free?
we do but we still payed his 3M fine when he first came over. So i assume we will break even, give or take a couple of 100k
The ‘donkey-paced always-on-the-ground’ Denilson, the ‘Spanish waiter’ Almunia, Flappianski, Neither ‘LB or LM’ Traore should not be here but they are because Arsene only see wrongs with English players not foreign players. Aliedeire was crap but managed to stay here for 8 years collecting pay cheques week-in-week-out same as Senderos for 6 years. No average English player has been given long tenure to prove himself.
Shane wer r u from nd r u on xbox live. Unfortunately for those Arsenal fans who want to see more British players in de team it is very unlikely Wenger wil b buying British players dis Summer as i barely c Arsenal bing linked wit any, it doesn realy matter about de Nationality its about the players qualities and der attitude nyway
Jamie- I am from Indiana in America and yes i am on xbox
Agree completely with Valentin’s point!
Could really care less whether Arsenal’s starting 11 is all English or not as long as they are the best players we can possibly field.
The racists and xenophoes who write on your site have a point in that recently Arsenal’s starting 11 hasn’t been good enough to win trophies. But, being racists and xenophobes, they highlight irrelevancies like ethnicity, nationality, etc., as the primary reason for this when it is not. They ignore issues such as age and injuries because they do not serve a racist or xenophobic arguement.
It’s interesting that Merida’s exit, right on the heels of Ayling’s exit, has spurred the enthusiasm of the intellectually primitive readers of your site. I think the loss of a mediocre English playrer really kicked their dreams of an “all English Arsenal” up the backside. So Merida’s departure, in their twisted view of the world, represents some sort of victory or maybe some sort of revenge for the loss of the meiocre Ayling.
Frankly, who cares?!!! Merida’s departure was no surprise. It was clear he was leaving when he refused a new contract months ago and when AW refused to play him even amidst a massive injury crisis. Ayling was not good enough…he’s a good kid who tried hard but was nowhere near Arsenal material. He know it, Bould and the coaches new it, and he’s off to the lower leagues where he cna have a respectable career.
…And J.,
Regarding the racists and xenophobes poluting your site…. Many people are calling for you to remove this drek, to ban them or something. I don’t think you should do that.
Most people are not as weak as the racists and the xenophobes. When you allow people to read how pathetic they are it acutally helps ‘right-thinking’ people because it allows them to say, “Hey, I may have my issues or what have you, but at least I’m not a total fuckin’ idiot like tha racist guy…”, you know what I mean.
Reading the garbage of racists and xenophobes can help ‘right-thinking’ people confirm their positive belief system.
So I think you should let the pigs stay. The rest of us can smell theim and be thankful we’re not pigs too!
I agree totally wit u kc who realy gives a hit wat nationality our players are its about how good dey are. If ur a racist u can go fuk urself nd u certainly arent a true Arsenal fan. I remember Wenger giving out about a small section of Arsenal fans in de Emirates, the racist idiots wer de ones Wenger was givin out about
Oh, yeah, because the only “real” French men are white men who aren’t race traitors right?
Is delusion lonely?
Clarification:
I’m not at all against our up-and-coming English players. I want to see JET, Wilshere, Lansbury, Gibbs, Eastmond, Freeman, Watt, Aneke, Afobe, and Frimpong become big success. But, I don’t want to throw them into the First Team now just because they are English.
It’s foolish to think that a 17 year old Afobe is a better choice for the team than a 26 year old Eduardo just becuase he’s English. It’s foolish to think that a 19 year old Lansbury is a better choice for the team than a 24 year odl Diaby just because he’s English.
The best choice for the team is the best player…we have a great pool of English youngsters and I believe some of them have the potential to become Arsenal legends. But only Wilshere and poosibly JET are anywhere near ready for the 1st team right now. The rest will have to continue to develop and wait for the chance…even though they are English.
I have bashed Denilson before. I admit it. It wasn’t based on anything racial though, ask Shane lol. It had more to do with his play. But I take it all back if he was playing with a cracked vertabrae. Clichy couldn’t even do that when he had a crack in one of his. Vertabrae is hard to spell for me lol. I loved Denny at the beginning of the year, but then when I saw he wasn’t committed to defending I got on him a lot. I know this is about Merida, but I want to be one of the first to say I was wrong about Denilson IF in fact he was playing with a cracked whatever-it-is. AND he’s only a year older than me which leaves a lot of time for him to improve his play. I have mentioned that before in his defense. I always thought he was a decent squad player, but I never saw him as a starter. We’ll see next year. I may have to revise my prior evaluation of him. Especially if he can play as well as he did at the beginning of last year, and carry it through the entire campaign
23 May 2010 @ 1:34 am
comment by Holohoax
“If they consider themselves ( Campbell and Cole that is) to be British, then why can’t they be British, Holohoax. It’s all in how perceive yourself for me. If you think you are french, then you are french.
Oh yeah, and hey Holohoax, I’m a communist in every sense of the word. Seriously. LOL.”
I can see why you would consider yourself a Communist after you daclared that “If you think you are french, then you are french.” this is classic Marxist Commie “workers of the world unite” nonsense.One must be proud of ones national and ethnic identity regardless,ethnic sucide is not the solution,we are not all the same,we belong to our own kin,this is why Human kind has become top dog on planet Earth through hundreds of thousands of years of racial and ethnic kinship.
I wonder,is it any coincidence that the England national team hasn’t won anything since they have decided to play non English teams?
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*cough* brazil *cough*
Arguably the world’s biggest melting pot and look at how many world cups they’ve won.
There goes your theory.
23 May 2010 @ 1:34 am
comment by Holohoax
“If they consider themselves ( Campbell and Cole that is) to be British, then why can’t they be British, Holohoax. It’s all in how perceive yourself for me. If you think you are french, then you are french.
Oh yeah, and hey Holohoax, I’m a communist in every sense of the word. Seriously. LOL.”
I can see why you would consider yourself a Communist after you daclared that “If you think you are french, then you are french.” this is classic Marxist Commie “workers of the world unite” nonsense.One must be proud of ones national and ethnic identity regardless,ethnic sucide is not the solution,we are not all the same,we belong to our own kin,this is why Human kind has become top dog on planet Earth through hundreds of thousands of years of racial and ethnic kinship.
I wonder,is it any coincidence that the England national team hasn’t won anything since they have decided to play non English teams?
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*cough* brazil *cough*
Arguably the world’s biggest melting pot and look at how many world cups they’ve won.
There goes your theory.
Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the world along with India, China and Russia. That’s how Brazil is doing. Oh by the way World War II ended 65 years earlier and you and your mates lost.
What is it with all these anti-Spanish comments? Yes, I am also disappointed that we have lost a talented young player, but who wouldn’t go back to their home country? Who wouldn’t move back home to play for the team they grew up supporting?
Nevermind loyalty to Arsenal, no one knows whether Fran actually liked life in England.
I think he did, lived with Rhys Murphy and said in interview regularly went out with all the lads. I really do think that he only moved because of sporting reasons and I heard he will be starter for them.
First of all the racists and xenophones need to crawl back to their caves and stay there. You’re not welcome as supporters of Arsenal.
Now focusing on football: Merida could have been a good player here, but fact is that as long as he was stalling on the re-signing all season he was NEVER going to get playing time from Wenger.
More importantly Ramsey was playing his head off and Nasri was backup AM so in he wasnt going to get in the midfield. Similarly at the wing positions Arshavin and Rosicky and Nasri were there. And Eduardo was always going to be given playing time to come back from injury.
So this was not the year for a young attacker/playmaker to come through. The only small window that was there, Ramsey took it with both hands. Full credit to him. And that is why Wilshere for instance went out on loan. But for all we know if Wishere was on a Bosman this year, maybe he too would have run away when he looked at the competition.
Could Merida have bedded in over the next couple years? Yes, but he wasnt willing to bide his time and learn his craft like Ramsey has been doing – and benefited from. I mean at this point he has seen Ramsey go down with injury and Cesc one foot out the door and STILL he doesnt feel he can nail down a spot. So what can you say to that? He simply isnt willing to stay.
So good luck to him. I think the likes of Lansbury and Wilshere will benefit from the room now. It was there for the taking but ;Merida didnt want it.
bide his time? learn his craft?
he’s a year older than ramsey for christ’s sake. ramsey was atrocious from the carling cup match against burnley right up until the end of that season. still he got games, merida? nothing.
ramsey has only ever played in 1 reserve game (which he was awful in), whilst merida has worked his arse off with FA to show for it
it’s never been level playing field.
don’t even get me started on that waste of space rosicky.
Shane wats ur gamertag
Anthony, Ramsey might not have played well in the reserves, but in case you didn’t know, I’ll inform you upon the fact that the league (which Ramsey played VERY WELL in , and the FA cup, WHICH RAMSEY PLAYED VERY WELL IN, are more important than how one plays in the fucking reserves. You are a stupid piece of shit. Ramsey played well when it REALLY COUNTED and he will be a Premier League great from here on in if he can recover from his injury. Just for the record, who would you take Anthony?? Merida, or a guy who played BETTER THAN GERRARD THIS FUCKING SEASON??? WHO WOULD YOU TAKE??? Dumb shit.
OH yeah and hey Anthony, why wouold you play Merida when he doesn’t even know if he wants to be with the team in a year??? Why would you do that???
Wenger blew it again. Merida should have been sent out on loan as Wilshire… and now he’s gone thanks to that stubborn, piece-of-shite-tactics-coach of ours. He should be demoted to our chief scout, not our head coach.
Wenger was never going to send Merida out on loan in his Bosman year – only a dope would do that. Nor is Wenger insane – if Merida was better than the others he would have played.
But when you are a marginal young player and any playing time you get is a gift ie on-the-job training when you cannot really claim to be the best in that position, well you cant expect the club to give you that if you are refusing to committ to them.
I mean do you think Eastmond, Gibbs or Lansbury would have seen even a minute on the field this year if they hadnt already committed to the club on long term contracts?
Merida was playing some sort of brinksmanship game. But that is up to him. What is clear for me is that he was never confident that he could make it here. I’d have a lot more sympathy for the likes of Vela who could make a claim to be getting more of a chance as Eduardo has been misfiring. But Diaby, Ramsey and Nasri had a firm lock on any playing time that Merida could have hoped for.
And if he didnt fancy is chances with Fabregas headed out and Ramsey in crutches they why should anybody cry. Its a free country – let him move on and we move on. At this point the club doesnt need any players who are not focused on being here and thriving here.
the guy is ONLY 20 years old and already demands much playing time. look at most other 20 year olds in the world….they get real playing time when they are around 22-23, like barca’s Pedro for example.
Merida should just have waited for his chance
Only the best make it and he wasn’t good enough.
Good bye and good luck in the future.
come’on guys don’t be selfish this kid need time to play and he will never find it at arsenal……
and last but not least , all the racist xenophobe should go in HELL!!!!
He was very good going forward but was aweful defending. Lansbury and JET can actually defend too. Lansbury is the better overall player for me and is younger and is Arsenal from childhood. I think this was a good decision both for Arsenal and for Merida himself. He would have leave if Barca or Real wanted him in 3-4 years time. Now Lansbury and JET is even closer to the first team which is so much better for the club. Hopefully they will be given chances during the season and do well for us.
fran looked a good player but was never going to get in the team ahead of ramsey or wilshere
any truth in us being linked with gai assulin? looks a winger with great skills, but would we buy another barca youngster?
Hopefully not we don’t need him and Barazites a much better talent
true barazite i like a lot, been unlucky with injuries but played great for reserves hopefully he will get some more games next year. assulin does also look good and could get him for free.
yes Wenger should have never bring this african french foreigners like henry,anelka,petit,lunjberg,pires,cecs,van persie,Lehman,arshavin, Gilberto,toure,vieira,vermalaen. they all rubbish i would prefer british steel who are not mercenary and leave the club for money like jenas,Defoe,Bentley,cole,pennant,crouch…they are world-class and so faithfull to their club ho wait..never mind
Good luck to Merida
We need to keep a faith in Wenger. He knows players better than we know. I dont say that Merida wasn’t better player or english playrs are better than foreign, but we must see how foreign players do not play with spirit like homegrown gooners.
I dont remember and I dont know any player which has departed from Arsenal to shine after in any club. I belive in Wenger.
You are not an Irish man really are you? and if you are you should be ashamed of yourself,GAA games are a sport for the the racial ethnic Irish and as for your commie “unity” nonsense you spouted in the way of the IRISH GAA let me tell you a story of a very good friend of mine,an ex all Ireland finalist player as it where,when I asked him what you would do if ever you came up against a non European (nevermind a non Irish man) he replied. “I’ll tell you one thing I certaily wouldn’t be going for the ball,at every chance I would be going for the darkie,how dare his kind pollute our national,culture, ethnic game”. His words not mine and he knows, he’s been there.
This is completely off topic, but it deserves a response.
Silly boy… And your friend too.. In fact I have never PLAYED gaelic games as my lot (dem protestants) have never been truely welcome either (hence my opinion on integration) . That doesn’t bother me, I used it just as an example of our indigenous games. I have in my past played rugby (thats a mans game, fella) and we have always welcomed ANYONE who wanted to play, regardless of ethnicity ot nationality. There’s a difference between your friend and me. Although we are both Irish, if I heard him say something like that I would be embarrased to call him my countryman. And I would say that straight to him. Even your mucksavage mate would not even dare question my nationality. Not to my face anyway. :-)
i still think traore has afuture at arsenal as he does have pace and has good cross. It is a bit unfair on denilson as he was playing well at the start of the season before the injury. the reason we have a lot of foreign youngsters is because transfer prices in britain is far higher. Anyway, football is a freemarket, i get pissed off with uefa, fifa and the fa with such high regulation. The fa charges people for critisising referee’s, what a joke. THe new fa rule on the make up of a squad is also a joke. although being scottish, i do support england and i do like seeing english talent coming through but in the end of the day, its the good football that i support arsenal for. Also, communist governments are alot of the time far more racist than any other i.e stallin and polpot
Yeah, let’s all join Holohoax and his fascist brothers in a March for freedom.
Afterwards, we can masturbate over a picture of Ian Stuart’s car and then emulate our Fuhrer by blowing our brains our in a moment of total despair and feebleness
holofox,
….hahaha….fuckin’ evolutionary straggler you are arent’t you…hahaha!!!!!
That’s because you are sad fuck who focuses more on the irrelevance of race than culture.
Now please go along and inter-breed yourself in the the genetic disaster you inevitably will become
Let me bet, you aren’t racist, you are “racialist”
If you live and grow up in England, and have an English passport, you are English.
If you kid has a Japanese passport and speaks Japanese, then he’s Japanese.
Wait, do you call yourself Anglo-Saxon? Fucking race mixer. And you better not have Celtic blood. Because that’s a different nationality all together.
comment by Milo
Anthony, Ramsey might not have played well in the reserves, but in case you didn’t know, I’ll inform you upon the fact that the league (which Ramsey played VERY WELL in , and the FA cup, WHICH RAMSEY PLAYED VERY WELL IN, are more important than how one plays in the fucking reserves. You are a stupid piece of shit. Ramsey played well when it REALLY COUNTED and he will be a Premier League great from here on in if he can recover from his injury. Just for the record, who would you take Anthony?? Merida, or a guy who played BETTER THAN GERRARD THIS FUCKING SEASON??? WHO WOULD YOU TAKE??? Dumb shit.
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why are you getting emotional?
reading comprehension is obviously not your forte, so let me break it down for you.
ramsey was brought in and was fast tracked into the first team. He started 08/09 pretty well and then started playing terribly from the burnely game onwards. are you telling me there was that the gulf in abilty between the two players was enough to justify ramsey getting minutes no matter how poorly he played in previously and how well merida playing in the reserves? of course not. they should have been picked on merit and ramsey should have been playing reserve team football, working hard to regain his form. why wouldn’t merida consider his future he see’s its clearly not a level playing field?
This season Ramsey has had terriffic games. He’s also had a consistent run of poor games and merida has still been overlooked. Bar the odd game, merida has been mostly impressive in the first team.
TBH, the player merida should be most peeved about is rosicky. This guy was shite all season, he’s consistently injured, in his final year and what does wenger do? gives him a new contract. if ever there was a player at arsenal who didn’t nee their contract renewed it’s rosicky.
Being injured is not a crime. Nor did Rosicky get injured while working on his roof. he got injured playing football. So it would be the decent thing to do to give him a chance to prove himself.
Besides what has Merida done to deserve to play before Rosicky? Rosicky has proven himself as a world class player, only injuries holding him back. No coach would just go ahead and play Merida without giving Rosicky a chance.
Besides this Rosicky complaint is a side track. It is really Nasri that ate up any playing time Merida would get on the wing. And what was left there Vela took. At AM, well Merida has Fabregas, Ramsey and Nasri ahead of him.
How you figure he was gonna get any playing time ahead of those guys, I dont know. As I said, Wilshere had a better clue and chose to go out on loan so he can play while being able to come back and play for Arsenal later. Merido just p#ssed off to a rather ordinary team that isnt really the best choice for him even in La Liga.
Holohoax, I’m Jewish. So from now on I’m goignto call you Holocaust. Fuck you.