Well they think it’s all over. It is now.

Cesc Fabregas is on the brink of finally moving to Barcelona in one of the most protracted transfer stories in world football. Pretty much since Cesc broke his way into the Arsenal first team 8 years ago there has been speculation to when he would move back to Barcelona.

While most Arsenal fans will be relieved that this who affair is now (almost) over, I feel sad, upset and ultimately disappointed.

The bottom line is Arsenal have lost one of the most gifted, talented and young midfielders in world football. It obviously may be a slightly biased view but lost in the “will he, won’t he” saga year after year is the fact that Fabregas is one supremely talented footballer. He was, and still is, a phenomenal talent, and in a world where Cristiano Ronaldo can command a transfer fee of around £80 million, the reported £35 million figure is daylight robbery.

How did Arsenal let this whole thing happen? Every man and his dog knew Fabregas would be leaving for Barcelona one day. But why did it have to be like that? First of all having that in the public domain instantly reduces any transfer fee we would get. By having essentially only one bidder meant we got the shenanigans we got from Barcelona over the transfer fee and they could get away with it. I cannot remember another situation in world football like the one we had with Cesc Fabregas. Thousands of young players move abroad or to different countries but I don’t think I’ve seen a player pretty much declare that they’ll be moving back home throughout their career. Maybe at the end of their career but not all the way through it.

The biggest reason I am upset however is how much he meant to the team. The latest side Arsene has assembled was based around the talent of Cesc Fabregas and the heart of the team has now been ripped out. He made Arsenal tick and losing a player of that calibre is always going to be hard to cope with.

But the fact is that over the last 8 seasons Arsene Wenger has failed to bring in the required quality to compliment Cesc’s ability and give Arsenal the necessary resources to win major trophies. And that is the bottom line. So we end up with a perverse situation where we actually want one of our best players to leave the club so he can win things!

How messed up is that?

Do Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool or even Tottenham fans think like that?

The whole situation leaves a very bitter taste and while I’m sure we all wish Cesc all the best at Barcelona (where I’m sure he’ll win pretty much everything there is to win) the way Arsenal have handled it has something to be desired.

And worst of all, I’ll have to transfer Fabregas out of Arsenal on Pro Evo 2011 which means playing with Arsenal will be shit.

As the games most intelligent footballer Joey Barton ended his Newcastle career with a series of controversial “tweets”, speculation grows (although more like complete fiction) that Joey Barton has interested Arsenal.

While the sensible point of view would be that it would never happen in a million years, do Arsenal fans want Joey Barton at Arsenal?

Yes, he’s volatile, yes, he’s a nut case, but whatever you say about him he’s got balls, which is something severely lacking in this current Arsenal squad. He could possibly destroy the club from the inside, but he is such an enigma that he could give Arsenal that something extra.

Something other than more red cards before you say that!

Over the last few seasons, Arsene has loved bringing in players for free. We had Sol Campbell, Jens Lehmann, Marouane Chamakh and Amaury Bischoff – some of which were much worse than Joey Barton.

But unfortunately Wenger only wants players that listen to him and do exactly what he says, and Barton isn’t exactly the type of personality that would take orders lightly. Myles suggests that Joey Barton could be great alongside Jack Wilshere, and vice versa, and why couldn’t he be good at Arsenal?

In Barton we have a player that obviously has something to prove, and we could have a much worse backup midfielder in the team. He has a high ratio of assists and has one of the best assist records from set-pieces. And because he’s free if he does start to become a disruptive influence then Arsene can always throw him into the reserves.

It would be crazy but it could be just about crazy enough to actually work.

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It looks like Gael Force Clichy will be moving to Manchester City, as they try to collect all of our back four from The Invincibles season. Sol Campbell is a free agent so the only stumbling block would be his outrageous wage demands, and there are rumours going around that they are trying to coax Lauren out of retirement with a very lucrative pay-as-you-play deal.

All kidding aside though, will Arsenal fans miss Gael Clichy?

There’s no doubt that he always gives 110% but he is prone to making fundamental mistakes. He gets up and down the left flank well but as everyone knows his crossing is awful. The whole point of an attacking fullback is that they either have an eye for goal of that they can at least cross a ball. Clichy has neither of those qualities.

Sagna’s contribution in the final third is not much better but he has made some assists over the course of last season and he is a much more solid defender.

But who will Arsenal use to replace Clichy?

The press are talking about Jose Enrique from Newcastle (who I don’t rate at all) and Everton’s Leighton Baines. Baines would be a fantastic acquisition but the problem is he’s English and actually a decent footballer so his retail value will be close to around £14 million which is well out of Arsenal’s spending league.

Predictions?

Arsene will not spend any money and hope that Kieran Gibbs doesn’t get injured. The poor kid will get injured two games into the new season and then we will use Thomas Vermaelen as a make-shift left back for the rest of the campaign, while Squillaci will contribute to Arsenal’s worst goal-difference in 30 years.

It’s the same old story every summer.

Will he, won’t he? I’m sure every Arsenal fan is sick to death about the same old rigmarole every single year.

The major difference with Arsenal (and we always have to be different don’t we?) is that the player in question has behaved impeccably. Cesc Fabregas is a sensational footballer, one of the brightest talents in world football. Yet he has always said the right things, respected Arsenal and never – publicly at least – tried to force a move away from Arsenal.

And that leads to a very strange and unique situation – Arsenal fans actually want him to leave. With any other football club they would be desperate to keep on of their prize assets. But the Arsenal fans know that for the last 7 seasons, we have failed him.

Every time he has put on the Arsenal shirt he has given 110% and been consistently our best player, by a country mile. Yet season after season we have  brought in players which are not up to standard. What other Top Four team would capitulate in such spectacular fashion after being 4-0 against Newcastle United? What other top team would concede a last minute goal in such a ridiculous manner like Arsenal did against Birmingham City in the Carling Cup Final?

This Arsenal team has proved to lacking in key areas year after year.

And yet, despite being one of the best midfielders in football today, his market value is severely reduced because every man and his dog knows that he will only go to Barcelona. Ideally we could get Europe’s top clubs to bid for his talents but that will never be the case here, unless Manchester City decide to make things interesting, which is hugely unlikely.

So the figure touted is around £35/£40 million.

The argument for selling Fabregas would be to rebuild the side but we’d need a figure close to £65/£70 million to do that. And when you consider Cristiano Ronaldo was £80 million and Kaka, who has failed spectacularly at Real was around £55 million then you see how ridiculous £35 million for Cesc really is.

So this summer it will be a case of Arsenal keeping an unhappy Cesc and scraping fourth place in the league again next season.