re: Arsenal 2013/2014 Season Long Thread

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i'm not sure arteta was ever a winger (at least not since his pre-everton days) but maybe i'm misremembering. still your point is valid.

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He made his name as a wide midfielder but played all over. From the man himself:

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"Sometimes when I watch old videos from when I was at Everton, I see I was playing left wing, right wing and the way I have to play now is very different,"

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Everton fans claimed he was too weak to play in the center.

In 06 he was awesome. Should have gotten a call-up then. He's slowly transitioned to a central player but he isn't a natural CM like Flamini or Ramsey. He's like Song, except he chooses to remain deep rather than go upfield and then get caught out.

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2011/12 seems like a pretty big outlier in his career. he's been average to bad at both DM and CB when he's gotten onto the pitch for Barca. he doesn't have the pace to play a high line and his positioning at CB is suspect. i'd only want him playing CB for us if everyone was injured.

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Well we thought 2011/12 was when he turned the corner. If he stayed here he would have been the lynchpin of the team. He wasn't great in 2010/11 at DM, but in 09/10 and the latter half of 08/09 he was really good. He certainly outshined Diaby and Denilson.

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the quickness with which we decided to sell him for a non-godfather offer when we still had him on a very reasonable deal is pretty strong circumstantial evidence to me of AW's opinion of his value.

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Well 15m was a great price for him, especially as we bought him for peanuts. He developed and looked like a diamond in a certain system. Barca didn't look closely enough at him, obviously.

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unless barca let him leave for free (maybe they do), it just doesn't make sense. and ManU or somebody would overpay for him anyways. even then, i'd rather us spend our money on fees/salaries for much better or more promising DMs/CBs.

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I can see an Italian team overpaying for him.

Basically I want him for a free and nothing else. I'd rather go younger, more mobile, and more disciplined. We haven't really missed Song's hollywood balls, which only worked because he was connecting with RvP.