I dont think Mr Bean will want to retain a disgruntled Cesc, him being captain and centre of team's play. So he has no choice but to let the fella leave and make money to bring in new players and offcourse change the team's style of play.

Without seeming to bash Arsenal - It is probable that Cesc has found himself in Torres position (albeit alittle better): Sticking with the club (earn 10 points on loyalty) and miss winning anything (earn 0 points on personal front) or leaving(earn minus 10 points on loyalty) and winning something (earn 10 points on a personal front).

The choice is obvious. And in any case he will face less risk of breaking his legs and prematurely ending his career in spain.

So the issue for barca is the money 50m. But with addition of Ibrahimovich and yaya toure. The deal should be done without breaking the bank.

Romours are that SAF made a bid for Jack Rodwell the everton starlet and that Chelsea want to sign Kaka. Mmmmh!

Good stuff McGreggor.
One of the major issues SAF has with the market today is that prices are extremely inflated.
IMHO I do not see a position United desperately need a signing

The latest on Fabregas is that he is willing to sit on the bench at Barca and win a trophy(from the bench) than play regularly at Aseno and finish the season trophyless.

Remember even if he joins Barca,he will not walk straight into first team. There is Busquet, Xavi and of coz Iniesta in midfield. The latter two have kept Cesc out of the Spain national team for quite a while. Thats the dilemma the boy is facing.

I largely agree with you McReggae and have never doubted Man Utd to put up a worthy challenge but whether we lost by 1 point or 10 we still lost...look at the 3 nil loss to Fulham and then 1 nil loss to Villa at home, all coz Vidic & Rio were out and it has happened often - in the 2008/2009 season, despite the times when both were injured, we had Ronaldo to provide goals.

But depth is required for trophies and depth cannot be achieved if you don't have a sure replacement for each player. Remember when Jose joined Chelsea? For those two seasons, there was not much difference between Team A and B Chelsea. While SAF will never go that way i.e. buying expensive players whom you're then forced to sell coz they're not seeing playing time e.g. Shwan Wright Phillips then, we still need one or two additions, not 5 like Benitez wanted for L'Fools, just one or two.

Right now I still think Barca is the team to beat in the CL, Jose Mourinho/Guus Hiddink or not. That's what depth is.

@njunge - our football (mis)chiefs cant differentiate a ball from a mango. Great work in abidjan. I thought we had a few academies. And the just ended coke competition should throw up some names that can be moulded. Talent iko. Development strategy hakuna!

Just to add Man-U needs not just depth but experienced depth (we saw what rafeal did in the CL).

If the league is to be won with say 90 goals and Rooney provides let say 30. Then a good proportion of the balance say 20 goals must come from someone dependable. That is what is missing upfront.

Cesc is better off warming the bench at Barca and sooner than later he will get his chance. He might not get the prized position that he currently holds at Arsenal but maybe in a year he would be a regular and a key part of the team. I think nothing that Arsenal have done so far (transfer market etc) gives confidence that they will challenge for trophies next year. Infact Wenger should be very afraid, someone may come knocking for Vermalean!

Benitez with his 5 players dream should account for all the players (save for Torres, Mascherano, Benayoun) that he brought in. Wapi result? His sounds more like an excuse.

The market has not started to overheat. I think after the world cup, player values will soar especially for fringe players who have a good showing and are injury-free. I think managers could be cautious now not to pay highly only for the player to be injured in the world cup and miss the rest of the season.