Rafa Benitez: “Xabi Alonso had an agreement with Arsenal to join them in summer 2008. Before our UCL qualifer game, I told you [Carragher] & Gerrard that Xabi didn’t wanna be UCL cup-tied, but he must play. In the warm-up, you said ‘Poor Xabi.’ Not poor Xabi, he’s playing for our club at this time”

by TheBiasedSportsLover

11 comments

  1. Imagine how huge having Alonso would have been for the second half of the Wenger era.

    Alonso and a young Fabregas would have wrecked the league.

    Obviously I’m happy he didn’t go there but it’s a fun “what if” moment I guess.

  2. Typical Arsenal, we always nearly signed great players and missed out in that time.

    We ‘nearly’ had Ibra, Yaya Toure, Xabi Alonso, Suarez etc

    Alonso alone would have carried our midfield for years.

  3. Crazy the amount of Arsenal deals that were so close to getting done that you’d say in hindsight would have completely transformed the fortunes of the club at those times. Perception is we couldn’t do a lot because of financial restrictions etc and whilst true, it wasn’t for lack of trying either.

    That Suarez deal as another example. Even had a massive bid accepted for Mbappe. Until psg arrived with an even more massive one no one could match.

    A lot of luck and timing in football when you break it down.

  5. Selling Xabi Alonso away to replace him with Gareth Barry, I can somewhat understand.

    But to be willing to sell him off to a direct title rival at the time is just stupid. I know the club weren’t financially stable then, but it’s still a dumb idea.

  6. The reason why despite being a great manager with a great career, he’s always the tier below the best ones because his man management and communication skills are fucking terrible.

  7. There’s too much coverage of these guys now.

    I’m actually getting tired of hearing them.

    The mad exaggerated cackling is annoying too.

  8. Arsenal’s record transfer in up until 2009 was £13m for Arshavin.

    So spending £18-20m would’ve been a huge investment with them still paying off their stadium debt.

    I understand why Wenger didn’t budge. In hindsight it’s always easier to judge, but Alonso was coming off a so-so season iirc.
    – then that season he was amazing, and Madrid signed him for £30m

  9. 2004 – 2010: We could have won more titles with Rafa if we were able to spend.

    2015 – 2024: We could have won more titles with Jurgen if we were able to spend.

    2024: We could have ….. with Arne….

    Oh well. I just wish that one day, we have the spending power of a proper title winning premiership club. I cannot accept that top 6 clubs are outspending us season after season.

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