If Cesc - as is generally accepted - did only want to join Barca, was there

[Monty91]

really any way this could have been concealed from other clubs, including Barca, to avoid driving his price down?

[Snin]

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

I would imagine it was all very straightforward from their perspective.

[PSRB]

so we could, if Barca were playing silly buggers, hold off without worrying about losing him for nothing

[Classic Jorge]

[Monty91]

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

Excellent player, used to play for us, nothing else to say really.

No different in my eyes than other much more maligned figures like messers Nasri and Fabregas, even Cole.

[Mo Britain less Europe]

[Monty91]

when surely there was no realistic alternative?

[Mo Britain less Europe]

[Monty91]

['Neg]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

bandying the foulest of terms to describe a mild irritation is a symptom of a world full of anger, or whether it, in fact, encourages the user to become angry and angrier, I could not say.

[Classic Jorge]

Even if we werent obliged to. What a show of good faith, eh? That was well repayed

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

His perceived stance meant they could name their price whereas once he decided to break his contract with us we should have had the upper hand and been able to basically hold an auction. Issue there is that the highest bidders would probably have been within the PL and we could not sell to them - see van Persie. It was a *******s of a situation, no need to hate him all the same but equally as silly to come out with all this Cesc coming home *******s.

I can't be bothered hating footballers.

[Nicosia Gooner]

['Neg]

So we didn't quite just let them have him for nothing...

[Nicosia Gooner]

[Classic Jorge]

['Neg]

[Luis Anaconda]

[Classic Jorge]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Anyone can be a c**t these days.

[Supermac1976]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

[Peter]

Its safe to say that cesc's desire wasnt the only factor in driving the price down. There was also the small matter of barca's anger at how they lost him in the first place and their consequent year-long campaign to get him back for as little as possible.

I dont hate cesc but i was quite unhappy with how barca handled the whole thing.

[Peter]

f**king hell :-)

[Mo Britain less Europe]