So one of the biggest transfer sagas has come to an end. Neymar has officially moved to Barcelona for an undisclosed sum of money. Excellent, so let's move on.
This period of the year always leaves me anxious. As an Arsenal supporter I'm always concerned that one of our star talents will leave. However, this season, no one player has stood out. Add to that the £70m Arsene Wenger has earmarked for new players and suddenly, I'm not so concerned.
It's been a while since we have been linked with big names. Arshavin was the last 'big name' we were linked to I think. Before David Villa of course. Now, however, we have been linked with Villa, Wayne Rooney and our former captain, Cesc Fabregas. Such a plethora of talent would seemingly put us into the spending regions of both Man City and PSG. Except it won't.
Thanks to Wenger's shrewdness, Arsenal have first refusal on Fabregas. Couple that with Barça having to pay half of his transfer fee to Arsenal and suddenly it makes more financial sense for them to sell him to Arsenal for £20m than to anyone else for £30m.
Rooney wants to leave United. That's a fact. Whether Moyes changes his mind and convinces him to stay, it will only be for one more season. As a result, he'd probably be a lot less expensive than he would otherwise have been. The only issue is his salary. Rooney reportedly makes £200k a week, twice that of Arsenal's highest wage-earner, Lukas Podolski. I doubt Arsenal would be happy to spend that.
Finally David Villa. He's 31. He's going to be less than people say he's worth. I reckon if he goes anywhere, it'll be for £16m. No-one is going to pay more than that. Especially considering that Thierry Henry who, as Leeds fans will know, can still perform magic cost Barça that amount when he moved to them.
I love this part of the season, the drama, the headlines, the mistrust and the broken loyalties all played out to an audience of billions.
Let the silly season begin!
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