Same price as Joe Allen... lol
Alex Song
- Thread starter Mersault
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
They should, IMO. Not a like for like replacement as such but he'll definitely improve them.
15m is afecking bargain.
Would say £20-22m would have been a more reasonable fee.
Some of you might be slightly overrating Song.. but then the transfer market/fees have gone mental.
Hmm I was sure the season he left for Madrid he won it.
...Not really sure where to check for a more credible source, but it is on his Wiki page.
Song had three years left on his contract and has CL experience plus and is in his prime. Modric has one season of CL experience and whilst being definetely better than Song is worth 20m more than him supposedly. It's fecking bollocks.
I don't think it's over rating. There are few class box box midfielders about today, I can't think of anyone we could buy of his quality for 15 mil and he's only 24.
How long is the contract for?
Someone on FB said it was only 2 years which didnt sound right to me
Someone on FB said it was only 2 years which didnt sound right to me
Sky sports said 5 years with an 80 mil release clause I think
Five seasons, and € 80 million release clause, as Ash_G said.
http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/agreement-with-arsenal-for-song
Sounds better, i didnt understand why a club would pay £15m on a player only for 2 seasons
Typical Wenger transfer. Bought cheap, put into the first team, heckled by the supporters, defended by the manager who urges them to trust him, starts to perform well....and sold for a profit.
Espn Said 2 years, but Jon Champion is a twat
Are those silly release clauses obligatory in Spain?
A release clause is.. Its often some silly number.
Yes it's some kind of employment law
Dry humour online often has a tumbleweed effect. I was just taking a shot at players commenting on how a player would fit somewhere and it then being sufficient for an article. I despise lazy 'journalism' like that. Moreover, it was Miguel who, if you're going on logic would be a poor example since he was shown the door - I mean would he really be a good source for who would fit in someplace when he didn't himself? Anyway, it was subtle but fell flat, it wasn't a dig at you
It's not bad for the player, he's getting better wages, marketability, chances at trophies/history and opportunity to better his game with better teammates. I don't see that's a bad move for a player.
19m, it's still a lot of money but less than the club intended to spend in total this summer, even with Alba. However, he fills a secondary need as a Keita replacement rather than CB depth which remains the club's biggest priority going forward. Yet, I do think it can be a positive move for the club as well since Alex has aspects to his game (Speed, steel & stamina) that Seydou was deficient in at the end.
Plus, there's no telling what other plans Tito might have in store for him. Perhaps he's going to use the 3-4-3 and play Song right along side of Mascherano as sweepers. I think Song has versatility and that's high up on the club's list of criteria when pursuing a buy like this
He's a good lockerroom player and is sure to integrate into the squad which is also a vital issue. I'm also quite certain that between the number of times the team has faced Song and Cesc's relationship with the player, the club had plenty to evaluate the value of such a transfer
If anything its the opposite.
Song will only "suffer" from playing time but other than that in every single aspect it's a great signing for him
Why have Arsenal sold him so cheaply?
Unbelievable that he has a release clause. Once again barca make a great purchase at a bargain price. First alba and now song.
I wonder if that release clause would have been available to English clubs? Would have been great to add someone like Song to our midfield.
I wonder if that release clause would have been available to English clubs? Would have been great to add someone like Song to our midfield.
Well he sure has more credibility than say someone who has never played competitive football, never been in and around Barcelona academy, or is not even 'Spanish'.
Odd sale by Arsenal.
He's worth more than that. £20M is more in line with current prices.
Song must have made his position at Arsenal untenable for them to acquiesce so quickly. Interest from Barcelona is like an instant mind-feck for any player.
How long was left on his contract?
The crazy thing though is he won't even be guaranteed a spot in the first 11. Not by a long shot. At best he is behind busquets. At worst he has thiago, cesc and probably some other bloke from their academy to compete with.
Unless of course they plan on converting him into a centre back too.
If £15m is right it's an absolute steal. How had he not been snapped up previously?! Why weren't we in for him?
If Keita got as many minutes last season as FCBarca (the poster) is suggesting than Song won't be getting a bad deal if he can take that time for himself (assuming Keita goes). But he won't be the main man like he was in Arsenal's midfield, which I'd have thought would make an impact on the thinking of a player at the stage of his development that Song is at.
Do I really have to say it?
Because unlike with RVP Arsenal had a choice to sell to someone else; the length of time of RVP's contract and his desire to play for United were the only reasons we were able to sign him. Song has 3 years left and has been enticed by Barcelona. We would have had no chance of signing Alex Song even if we had been interested.
Yeah, I think anytime a player willingly goes into a situation where he knows he will play less, he's going for reasons other than minutes. Ambition, competition, trophies, fame, history, money, I mean there are lots of reasons to make that sort of jump but only if you have the game & disposition to make it there
I do wonder how much the Cesc factor figured into this deal from the start since they formed quite a nice partnership at Arsenal. Would be nice if he could build on it at Camp Nou.
I do wonder how much the Cesc factor figured into this deal from the start since they formed quite a nice partnership at Arsenal. Would be nice if he could build on it at Camp Nou.
Odd, fair enough though.
Why did Arse sell? How many years on his contract did Song have?
No use in keeping an unsettled player, it's contagious on team morale.
I had a benchmark of 25 on him with his age, his experience and remaining contract years. The Arse have once again been butt fecked by the Barce.
This summer we've bought Cazorla for around £15mill & your lot bought RvP for £22mill so I wouldn't say Song is worth more than Cazorla or worth the kind of money your lot paid for RvP with one year on his contract.
Also I could be wrong but I'm not sure if the Barca fee includes add-ons as I heard it was £15mill rising to £18mill but this is just me speculating.
Just slightly! Of course I would of liked £30mill but anything between 15-20 I think was fair. Some people comparing his fee to Joe Allen but that is Liverpool with their stupid buying. They spent more money on Caroll than City spent on Augero in the same bloody summer, everyone knew then Aguero was a much better player but that doesn't mean City got him cheap. Quite how people think he is worth much more I don't know, there was no other club in for him either so if he was worth £25mill and available for £15mill I'm sure many more would of been interested.
Typical in that when everyone was getting on his back for poor performances Wenger sticks his neck on the line for the guy and persists with him, when he comes good suddenly thinks he deserves better.
I thought three years but I've heard two as well. I remember reading three but can't for the life of me find where I read that.
That is what I've heard as well and even though twitter is a bit like the gossip section a reliable gooner on there said that in Germany recently Steve Bould and Song had a bit of a bust up over his antics so a situation has been brewing there and it isn't like this guy is Patrick Vieira who is worth fighting for even if he is being a cnut.
15m is certainly not a great price for Arsenal, that much is obvious. It's not terrible, but it does them very little good, albeit more than an unsettled player would have done. But if I were an Arsenal fan I wouldn't be too impressed with the money in for Song.
I wasn't being entirely serious with that. But I am a tad surprised we've shown absolutely no interest (or so it seems) in an excellent premier league midfielder who could be bought at a knock-down price. He'd be cheaper than Carrick was six years ago.