Apparently Spain wants everything. The European Championship, the World Cup trophy, the Champions League, your soul, better food, the Basque Country, dreadlocks, to host the World Cup in 2018, Cesc Fabregas, and apparently any Arsenal player who seems remotely talented. Granted, Fabregas is already Spanish, but his contract is not. Barcelona’s latest chapter in the “I want Fabregas” saga involved Fabregas’ Spanish teammates Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique trying to force Cesc into a Barcelona jersey during Pepe Reina Presents, brought to you by your host, Pepe Reina.
In the history of soccer transfers, this must be the most ridiculous, unprofessional transfer ever.
Fabregas has five years left on his contract with Arsenal, his current employer. You might have heard of them. But apparently this doesn’t matter to the powers at Barcelona who always seem eager to wax lyrical about how much they want Fabregas to join their empire. To be fair, it’s no secret that Fabregas has always expressed an interest in returning home one day. But that still doesn’t give a club a right to publicly (or even privately) attempt to unsettle a player who is under contract with another club.
Bad.
But Barcelona didn’t stop there. Then the Barcelona members on the Spanish team seemingly felt that they needed let the world know, repeatedly, that Cesc should be at Barcelona, and that they were talking to him all the time about joining them.
Worse.
Which brings us to the most recent episode, Pepe Reina Presents, the show where Pepe, a Liverpool player with no vested interest in where Cesc plays, orchestrates the episode below with Puyol and Pique in a completely unprofessional display. Barcelona is now attempting to literally force a transfer.
Worst.
There’s a way to conduct business and there’s the George W. Bush approach to making things happen. Barcelona is now the George W. Bush of the transfer market. Congrats, Barca. Well played. You may get your way, but at some point, there will be a backlash.
Well, this certainly isn’t a massive overreaction to a fairly minor incident. Not at all. Nope.
I’ll agree to disagree, Gareth. It’s a reaction to the Barca players and the club’s treatment of the saga as a whole, not just any one incident. It’s easy and correct to overlook one incident, but the club’s behavior as a whole is disgraceful.
The Barcelona management used their captain and players to convince Cesc to leave Arsenal. Xavi is at his best, there is no way Cesc can be the top 11….