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    <title>Recent Posts in 'Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc' | sgForums.com</title>
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    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by @:)@ @ Sun, 11 May 2008 12:58:17 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Madrid always like that one. :D&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 12:58:17 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8077862</guid>
      <author>@:)@</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by NoObPrIeSt @ Sun, 11 May 2008 10:16:29 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;As usual Real always wants to buy players who did extremely well
for their respective clubs. Take Ronaldo for instance. He had a
outstanding season for Man U and they wan him. Fabregas has stated
that he doesn't want to leave Arsenal. but Madrid die die want him.
I was wondering if the reports on Madrid taking loan from bank to
fund their transfer and day to day operations were true.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 10:16:29 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8077697</guid>
      <author>NoObPrIeSt</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by zocoss @ Sun, 11 May 2008 00:29:15 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Arsenal despite having a reasonable yearly profit, are still
deep in&amp;nbsp;debt over their stadium... Actually i feel if they
want to, they can also pay like the other top 3 clubs like they
used to with Henry but the thing now is I belief the current
shareholders and directors are just interested to repay their debts
as soon as possible or lower it as much&amp;nbsp;so when they do sell
very soon i belief, withing 2, 3 yrs... They will&amp;nbsp;have more
money to share... These current shareholders don't really care how
the club perform, they only care about their bottom line and how
much they get to take back...&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 00:29:15 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8076941</guid>
      <author>zocoss</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by dukedracula @ Sat, 10 May 2008 22:21:44 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;arsenal is the all time great pretender&#8230;..cheap skate&#8230;..&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 22:21:44 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8076564</guid>
      <author>dukedracula</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by @:)@ @ Sat, 10 May 2008 21:22:19 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;No matter which player Real Madrid signs, it still underachieves
in the Champs League.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Any idea why?&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 21:22:19 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8076424</guid>
      <author>@:)@</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by Resentment @ Sat, 10 May 2008 21:08:49 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;fabregas shld go real madrid!! , i love real madrid. my all time
favourite club.!&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 21:08:49 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8076399</guid>
      <author>Resentment</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by Y_Shun @ Sat, 10 May 2008 14:12:21 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Yeah seriously, why are the gunners players earning so little?
They deserved more.... if they want to to win titles, you should
also give the players reasonable amount....&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 14:12:21 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8075680</guid>
      <author>Y_Shun</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by thongs @ Sat, 10 May 2008 13:44:59 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;i think the salary is abit too low. But last time the highest
earning was henry at 100k ithink&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 13:44:59 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8075622</guid>
      <author>thongs</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by zocoss @ Sat, 10 May 2008 10:02:59 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;div class="quote_from"&gt;Originally posted by dragg:&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="quote_body"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;arsenal's salary ceiling really works against them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;highest paid only 70k???&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/images/emoticons/kde-3.5.8/plain/oh.png" alt=
"oh.png" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Gallas, $75k...&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 10:02:59 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8075168</guid>
      <author>zocoss</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by dragg @ Sat, 10 May 2008 08:55:49 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;arsenal's salary ceiling really works against them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;highest paid only 70k???&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/images/emoticons/kde-3.5.8/plain/oh.png" alt=
"oh.png" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 May 2008 08:55:49 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8075077</guid>
      <author>dragg</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by stellazio @ Thu, 08 May 2008 18:46:57 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;div class="quote_from"&gt;Originally posted by Spartans:&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="quote_body"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
At least Arsenal is a lot more respectable compared to Chelsea.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hold on, who care about Chelsea at all? &lt;img src=
"/images/emoticons/kde-3.5.8/set1/wink.png" alt="wink.png" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;what has this gotta do with chelsea?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;who cares? obviously arsenal cares enough to hope chelsea slips
up and try to steal that 2nd spot. but they have to
&lt;strong&gt;respect&lt;/strong&gt; the fact that they can't now..&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 18:46:57 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8071308</guid>
      <author>stellazio</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by gunner77 @ Thu, 08 May 2008 15:13:17 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;div class="quote_from"&gt;Originally posted by zocoss:&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="quote_body"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=
"http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m3/apr2007/6/4/03CD7BDA-F843-1002-D08DB85EBCB61B5A.jpg"
alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Real Madrid last night
launched a &#163;35million attempt to sign Cesc Fabregas. And Real
president Ramon Calderon claimed the Spanish giants would set "no
limits" in their battle to lure him away from Arsenal.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;Calderon has described the Spain star
as the "best midfielder in the world" in a move which will
infuriate Wenger, who has already been incensed by Inter Milan's
attempts to "tap up" Alexander Hleb.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;Calderon has let it be known that Real
will pay up to &#163;35m for Fabregas at the start of what is likely to
be a long battle for the 21-year-old Gunner. Calderon, celebrating
the Spanish title, said: "If we receive any indication from the
player that he wants to leave Arsenal then we will negotiate
without limits.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;"But like in the subject of Cristiano
Ronaldo, the decision is up to them. My policy is also to work on
signings without getting into wars with clubs if they don't want to
sell the player. "I would like to hear it personally from the
player that he wants to leave before I make any move to respect
Arsenal."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;An angry Wenger hit back, saying: "The
rules are clear: if you are interested in a player then first you
have to call us. Real Madrid come out and say they want that
player. That is something I would never do."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;i donno why i &lt;img src="/images/emoticons/classic/icon_lol.gif"
alt="icon_lol.gif" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=
"/images/emoticons/classic/icon_lol.gif" alt=
"icon_lol.gif" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;img src=
"/images/emoticons/classic/icon_lol.gif" alt=
"icon_lol.gif" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;when&amp;nbsp;i saw the word ball&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 15:13:17 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8070791</guid>
      <author>gunner77</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by Trump_Card @ Thu, 08 May 2008 11:33:28 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Knn ... Arsenal now looking more like a feeder club ...&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 11:33:28 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8070274</guid>
      <author>Trump_Card</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by Spartans @ Thu, 08 May 2008 11:24:07 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;div class="quote_from"&gt;Originally posted by stellazio:&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="quote_body"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;no team seems to respect arsenal.&lt;img src=
"/images/emoticons/classic/icon_lol.gif" alt="icon_lol.gif" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
At least Arsenal is a lot more respectable compared to Chelsea.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hold on, who care about Chelsea at all? &lt;img src=
"/images/emoticons/kde-3.5.8/set1/wink.png" alt="wink.png" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 11:24:07 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8070254</guid>
      <author>Spartans</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by youyayu @ Thu, 08 May 2008 00:40:13 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;i thought manutd top earner is rio?&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 00:40:13 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8069709</guid>
      <author>youyayu</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by zocoss @ Thu, 08 May 2008 00:09:05 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=
"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/graphics/2008/05/07/sfnfab107get.jpg"
alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;"Something nice about Cesc is that he is Spanish and
this is one of my objectives - to make Real Madrid more
Spanish."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Real president Ramon Calderon&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;"My future belongs to Arsenal, and it is the truth. I
do not know why [it was brought up]. It is always the same with my
situation, always putting my name in another team. I have always
said I want to play for Arsenal, it is the best team I can be at,
the best club for me. Before I even say anything, people put me in
another club and I don't understand that. But I have always wanted
to play for Arsenal."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fabregas&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;Wenger, though, was unhappy with stories linking Alex
Hleb with Inter Milan, in March, and is to report the club to Fifa,
the game's world governing body. The Frenchman has revealed that,
in the last week, he has been made aware of developments regarding
a reported illegal move for Hleb.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;In March, when Arsenal played AC Milan in Italy, the
Belarus international left the Melia Felix Hotel with the agent
Claudio Vigorelli, who is an associate of international agent
Vincenzo Morabito.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;"It's true that Hleb saw Vigorelli and they went out
from the Melia Felix, but it's not true that they went to talk to
Inter Milan," Morabito said at the time. "They went for an
ice-cream. We are sorry that Mr Wenger took it badly and
complained, because we have a good relationship with him."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;Wenger stopped short of revealing precisely what it was
that had come to light, but was clearly angered by what he
considered a breach of the rules.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;"I will of
course do it [report them to Fifa], with Inter Milan
especially,"&lt;/span&gt; Wenger said. "I now know more about what
happened over there [in Milan]. I will keep the information for
those who need to know it. I don't want to speak much more on that,
but it is unfair what happened."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;span class=""&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=
"color: #0000ff;"&gt;The big four's big
earners&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chelsea&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;John Terry&lt;/strong&gt; &#163;130,000&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Michael Ballack&lt;/strong&gt; &#163;120,000&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Liverpool&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Fernando Torres&lt;/strong&gt; &#163;120,000&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Steven Gerrard&lt;/strong&gt; &#163;120,000&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Manchester United&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Cristiano Ronaldo&lt;/strong&gt; &#163;122,000&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Wayne Rooney&lt;/strong&gt; &#163;115,000&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Arsenal&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;William Gallas&lt;/strong&gt; &#163;75,000&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Cesc Fabregas&lt;/strong&gt; &#163;70,000&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 00:09:05 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8069607</guid>
      <author>zocoss</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by stellazio @ Wed, 07 May 2008 23:59:45 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;no team seems to respect arsenal.&lt;img src=
"/images/emoticons/classic/icon_lol.gif" alt="icon_lol.gif" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 23:59:45 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8069581</guid>
      <author>stellazio</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by zocoss @ Wed, 07 May 2008 23:57:57 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=
"http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m3/apr2007/6/4/03CD7BDA-F843-1002-D08DB85EBCB61B5A.jpg"
alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Real Madrid last
night launched a &#163;35million attempt to sign Cesc Fabregas. And Real
president Ramon Calderon claimed the Spanish giants would set "no
limits" in their battle to lure him away from Arsenal.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="text-align: left;"&gt;Calderon has described the
Spain star as the "best midfielder in the world" in a move which
will infuriate Wenger, who has already been incensed by Inter
Milan's attempts to "tap up" Alexander Hleb.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="text-align: left;"&gt;Calderon has let it be known
that Real will pay up to &#163;35m for Fabregas at the start of what is
likely to be a long battle for the 21-year-old Gunner. Calderon,
celebrating the Spanish title, said: "If we receive any indication
from the player that he wants to leave Arsenal then we will
negotiate without limits.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="text-align: left;"&gt;"But like in the subject of
Cristiano Ronaldo, the decision is up to them. My policy is also to
work on signings without getting into wars with clubs if they don't
want to sell the player. "I would like to hear it personally from
the player that he wants to leave before I make any move to respect
Arsenal."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="text-align: left;"&gt;An angry Wenger hit back,
saying: "The rules are clear: if you are interested in a player
then first you have to call us. Real Madrid come out and say they
want that player. That is something I would never do."&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 23:57:57 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8069576</guid>
      <author>zocoss</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by dcx @ Wed, 07 May 2008 19:30:52 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;money talks...&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 19:30:52 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8068798</guid>
      <author>dcx</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by ctstalin @ Wed, 07 May 2008 19:30:12 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;real madrid are cheesepies of football&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 19:30:12 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8068794</guid>
      <author>ctstalin</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by thongs @ Wed, 07 May 2008 13:42:35 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Pls do not go, fk la. gogogo, then whose going to be our
backbone in Arsenal??&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 13:42:35 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8068105</guid>
      <author>thongs</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by zocoss @ Wed, 07 May 2008 12:51:03 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;h1&gt;Threat of exodus casts doubt on Wenger masterplan.&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=
"http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o10/zocosss/Arsenal.png" alt=
"" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Arsenal's season had flirted with glory for so long it
seems perverse that Ars&#232;ne Wenger must consider the summer ahead
with a growing sense of frustration rather than any satisfaction.
His team had carried all before them at times, the combination of
the scintillating and the exhilarating threatening to yield a
Premier League title and the European Cup. A lack of depth to his
squad undermined those aspirations at the last. Now the fear nags
that this set-up is to be stripped when it needs to be strengthened
in the weeks to come.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Already, infuriatingly, the talk is of this side being
dismantled. The departure of Mathieu Flamini, arguably Arsenal's
most improved and consistently impressive player this season, to
Milan provided further deflation just as the last puff was leaving
this team's pursuit of Manchester United and Chelsea. Jens Lehmann
and even Gilberto Silva had been expected to move on, but the
French midfielder had been offered fine terms to remain at the
Emirates Stadium. Those proposals still fell well short of the
&#163;65,000-a-week deal to be had at San Siro.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Alexander Hleb, courted unashamedly by Internazionale, also
appears destined for transfer, denying Wenger two key components of
the side he had hoped would continue their development and win the
club's first silverware since 2005 next time around. There have
been suggestions emanating from France that William Gallas, soon to
lose the captaincy, may yet join the exodus, while Real Madrid were
back courting Cesc F&#225;bregas again over the weekend. "Cesc is
Spanish, and one of my first objectives is to make Real Madrid more
Spanish," the Real president, Ram&#243;n Calder&#243;n, was quoted as saying.
F&#225;bregas is contracted until 2014 in north London and revels under
Wenger's tutelage. Yet his closest friends at the club were Hleb
and Flamini.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Arsenal's supporters may not have anticipated such a
demoralising denouement to what should be considered a hugely
encouraging campaign, but Wenger might have seen this coming. Back
in December, the Frenchman had obliquely reproached Lassana Diarra
as his compatriot bemoaned a lack of opportunity barely six months
after departing the bench at Chelsea. "You tell me one club in the
world of our size who gives a chance to the young players like we
do," said the manager. "At our club, young players are in
paradise." Diarra left utopia in search of first-team football.
Flamini appears to have been enticed away by higher wages and what
he perceives to be a more immediate promise of trophies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Wenger might disagree with that, and would be disheartened to
lose such a key performer, but he has experience of a side of huge
promise unravelling despite his best efforts. Back in 1992, his
Monaco side's campaign which had threatened so much ended in
crippling anticlimax. Marseille, the dominant domestic force, had
been pursued in the French championship only to squeeze out the
Monegasques at the last for a second successive year. Monaco's
appearance in the Cup Winners' Cup final against Werder Bremen was
overshadowed by a tragedy at Marseille's Coupe de France semi-final
against Bastia on the eve of the game. Some 17 people died when a
temporary stand collapsed at the Furiani stadium. The Coupe de
France final, for which Monaco had qualified, was never played;
Otto Rehhagel's Germans won the European showpiece against Wenger's
numbed players 2-0.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Monaco were tagged as nearly men, the memory of the league title
secured in Wenger's first season at the club, back in 1988, long
forgotten. What should have been considered a successful season
ended without a trophy and, in the summer of 1992, one of the most
talented teams to grace French domestic football began to break up
in search of silverware elsewhere. "We had the best players in
France," said Jean Petit, Wenger's assistant at the Stade Louis II.
"With such a squad, with such players, we wanted to keep the
structure in place for subsequent years. It was so frustrating that
we didn't manage to do that."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;George Weah was sold to Paris St-Germain and G&#233;rald Passi to
St-Etienne. Wenger would not win another trophy with them. "For me,
the disintegration of that squad started in May 1992 [with the loss
to Werder]," said Claude Puel, a midfielder under Wenger at Monaco
and currently the coach of Lille. "A fortnight from the end of the
league, we were tied with Marseille and we had reached the finals
of the Coupe de France and the Cup Winners' Cup, but we ended up
fading horribly."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Wenger had wheeled and dealed as best he could at his first
club, Nancy, but he had built his first great sides at Monaco. He
has constructed teams of wonderful quality during his 12 years in
London, yet there had been real thrill in his voice whenever the
Frenchman discussed the current crop over the course of this
season. This was a team he had nurtured towards fruition while
Chelsea distorted the transfer market and spent so lavishly to
eclipse him. It was a side who might dominate as they learned, yet
the concern now is that their development may have been
checked.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Arsenal manager has insisted, once it was clear that his
squad was not strong enough to compete to the end on two fronts
that his philosophy will not change. Recruitment would be in youth
to be shaped, rather than in experienced, expensive players ready
to hold down first-team places. That ideology may have to be
re-assessed. Wenger had hoped to tweak his squad in the summer, not
overhaul it. Yet, as key players suggest their futures lie
elsewhere, the number of reinforcements required increases.
Frustration may prompt a rethink.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Changing faces Wenger's previous rebuilds&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1997-98 League and Cup Double&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;1999-2000 Uefa Cup finalists&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Ars&#232;ne Wenger inherited the indomitable English back four. Patrick
Vieira provided the midfield mettle and Marc Overmars and Nicolas
Anelka did the scoring. By 1999 Thierry Henry was making his
presence felt&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2001-02 League and Cup double&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;2003-04 Unbeaten League winners&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Tony Adams bowed out, replaced by Sol Campbell, who formed a superb
partnership with Kolo Tour&#233;. Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg
established themselves on the flanks; Dennis Bergkamp provided
continuity&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2005-06 Champions League finalists&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;2007-08 A season of near misses&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Vieira had gone, Ashley Cole and Pires wanted out and Jos&#233; Antonio
Reyes was a rare miss in the transfer market. Cesc F&#225;bregas emerged
as a leader but the failure to replace Vieira has been a problem
ever since&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 12:51:03 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8068027</guid>
      <author>zocoss</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
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    <item>
      <title>Wenger fury as Real try to lure &#163;35m Cesc replied by zocoss @ Wed, 07 May 2008 11:40:59 +0800</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=
"http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00482/fabregas_280x390_482453a.jpg"
height="390" alt="" width="280" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="small"&gt;&lt;em&gt;DON'T GO ... Arsene Wenger and Cesc
Fabregas.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="small"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ARSENE WENGER is considering reporting Real
Madrid to FIFA for tapping up Cesc Fabregas. Real president Ramon
Calderon has declared his interest in the Spanish midfielder, which
Wenger slammed as &#8216;disrespectful&#8217; behaviour.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;Calderon said: &#8220;My policy is not to create a
confrontation with other teams &#8212; but Cesc is No 1 in his position.
I would like to have him.&#8221; Furious Wenger had earlier warned
Calderon: &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to sit there and hear Madrid come out and
say they want this player and Barcelona come out and say they want
that one. &#8220;I never come out and say that I want a player from Real
Madrid or Barcelona because of respect to these clubs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&#8220;If I want a player from them I call them, &#8220;I know who
to call and ask if they&#8217;re selling him. &#8220;All the rest I find that
it&#8217;s like &#8216;We walk all over everybody else and we don&#8217;t care about
anybody&#8217;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&#8220;It&#8217;s unacceptable. But nothing will ever be done. &#8220;The
rule when a player is under contract is that you first contact the
club to see if a player is available. &#8220;We&#8217;re not stupid enough to
believe it really happens like that but I think you have to be
decent enough not to come out in newspaper because it&#8217;s unsettling
as well.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;&#8220;That they contact agents behind our back, we
understand. &#8220;But that they come in a newspaper I find
disrespectful.&#8221;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;Calderon had told reporters: &#8220;If Cesc wants a change we
will be there to negotiate. &#8220;Cesc is a player that all managers and
technical directors like and ours do too. &#8220;But it has to be a
decision that comes from him. It has to be the player to understand
a cycle has ended and he wants a change. &#8220;If that&#8217;s the case we&#8217;ll
be ready to negotiate with his team.&#8221;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;Calderon&#8217;s words will infuriate Wenger, who has hinted
he is ready to sue Inter Milan for tapping up midfielder Alexander
Hleb. The Belarus midfielder&#8217;s future is also uncertain following
the very public overtures of Inter, who have already met his
representatives.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;Reporting Real to FIFA is an option Wenger is certainly
prepared to take. It is not the first time Madrid have caused
outrage with their blatant disregard for FIFA rules. They tapped up
David Beckham after ex-president Florentino Perez invited him to
the Bernabeu.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;Perez also approached Arsenal&#8217;s Patrick Vieira and held
a private meeting him but the French international&#8217;s move fell
through. Real have constantly shown a desire to sign Manchester
United ace Cristiano Ronaldo. The winger came close to joining them
two years ago after his World Cup spat with Wayne Rooney.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=""&gt;Barcelona have also tried to lure Arsenal&#8217;s players on
numerous occasions. They nabbed Thierry Henry for &#163;16million last
summer.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 11:40:59 +0800</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">www.sgforums.com:2497:316739:8067948</guid>
      <author>zocoss</author>
      <link>http://www.sgforums.com/forums/2497/topics/316739</link>
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