Now they need to get on extending Prince's deal, we seriously cannot afford to have another situation like the one with Pirlo. Now THAT is really moving into the Arsenal business model of stupidity

I'd happily sell Prince to be honest.

This is a rare moment where I'm on Han's side and think Kurt's mad (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

+1

No point in selling Prince. He's been performing amazingly lately, like a leader. I'd go as far as say that his performances have been even better than the previous two seasons, when he would just limit himself into scoring a few goals.

I would sell him only if we were getting a quality trequartista in his place, like Goetze, or Hamsik, who has been nothing but amazing this season.

I see Hamsik as a more refined Prince, he's not really a trequartista.

Also, if we were getting a quality trequartista, it would actually allow us to shift Prince into the midfield 3, where he did play well, even when he was going through his rough patch this season.

That would be a really strong midfield.

Still I can't see us spending the type of money buying a player of Gotze's calibre would entail, even if we do cash in on Prince.

Personally, I would never want to see one of our best players sold simply in the hope of buying someone flashier, simply because we've been bitten one too many times with this. Everytime we cash in big time everyone is expecting a revolutionary transfer market ala the Juve one when they cashed in on Zidane. But we've learned that this would never be the case for us. So with that knowledge in mind, I wouldn't want to sell any of our best players, especially when all of these players are still on the right side of 30 and have a lot to offer this club in the future

Galliani said just yesterday that if we hadn't sold Pato, then we would have never signed Balotelli, as the money from Pato's sale helped to financially fund Balo's move. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

In other news, looks like Strootman is our main objective for next season. We will try to insert Urby in the deal to lower the price (currently around €15 million). His agent said that Milan are interested in him.

EDIT: Wait, this isn't the transfers thread (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

This post has been edited by X-Offender: Mar 6 2013, 01:26 AM

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

That case is very different.

Selling Pato and leaving us with only 1 true striker as an option would have been ridiculous. They had to make a move for someone, at the end of the day Balo was available for a decent price so they pounced on the opportunity simply because the player was also willing to accept a very low wage deal, which at the end of the day was lower than Pato's

Do you really think that if we sell Prince now for a big sum that we'd replace him and strengthen other areas? Especially with players who would demand a bigger wage to the one Prince is earning.

Personally I'd rather keep the core group of this team together and make adjustments to improve the squad over the next few years. We're already seeing very encouraging signs in these last few weeks. Imagine if we made 1 or 2 very shrewd signings each summer/winter. For example, sell Traore, Bonera, Urby and Robinho this summer and bring in Ogbonna, Strootman and a creative mid. We'd already have made a huge leap in the quality of the team just by doing that

No, it's not. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)



Maybe Saponara is supposed to be Prince's replacement. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

Your second sentence just illustrates how different the situations are.

We have a good thing going. Keeping the back bone of the team while improving areas which are lacking over time is the right ay to go. Selling our stars and not only having to replace them but also try to find a way to improve other areas is just not a wise move. Look at Arsenal as the perfect example of this

Boateng's contract is ending in 2014 so either renewal or sale - it will be decided this summer. If he'll ask relatively too much, I can see Galliani cashing in.

This post has been edited by Jack Bauer: Mar 6 2013, 09:01 PM

It would be a shame if we were to lose him. I get the impression that he is looked up to by the younger players and his passion and hard work are a big help.

Hmm, it's tough. I think as a straight swap it's a no brainer that Pazzini, all things considered, is superior. He's more likely to accept a lesser role, he finds the back of the net more and as far as I know he's never really been a trouble maker. Cassano on the ball can be a genius, but he does cause problems.

Is it worth a 7m difference? I'm not sure. At the start of the season I'd have said no, but now it's starting to look more and more like a good deal.