Song says goodbye to Arsenal team-mates.

[Casparian]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...786/Stars-quit-Arsenal-and-win-44-medals.html

Arsenal... 0 Old Boys... 44

ALEX SONG’S £15million switch to Barcelona capped a seven-year exodus of stars who won 44 winner’s medals — with Arsenal flops getting NONE.

While Song and £22m Robin van Persie, who joined Manchester United, have yet to win a gong with their new clubs, they are almost guaranteed to do so.SunSport looked at how many medals ex-Arsenal stars won since leaving. Gunners fans may want to look away now! Since winning the 2005 FA Cup, Arsenal have gone trophyless as they offloaded 17 top players, who won 44 major medals with 11 different clubs.

Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, RVP and Song are some names who left for glory.
Arsenal raked in £163m for those who left, without the £39m they will get for RVP and Song.
In our research, we have not included the Community Shield or national Super Cups.

Ironically, players won medals with PORTSMOUTH (1 FA Cup for Sol Campbell and Lassana Diarra) and BIRMINGHAM (1 Carling Cup for Seb Larsson and Alex Hleb).
No wonder midfielder Song was happy to have joined Catalans a year after his close pal Fabregas, who won three major trophies.
Song said: “I said ‘yes’ to everything Barca wanted. This chance is once in a lifetime. They’re a team of champions.
“My kids are happy. They play in the garden and pretend to be Messi. I’m in a team full of stars.
“The style of play is similar to Arsenal. Cesc will help me adapt.”

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[karennina]

I like this ... Wenger on why a replacement for Song is not neccessary, and how assuming one was is a bit dim.

"If someone really top, top class comes up… I do not need to buy an average midfielder," said Wenger. "If someone top, top class turns up, completely defensive, we will consider it.

"If you look at the numbers you will see that Song was more of an offensive player than a defensive midfielder," he added. "Arteta can play deeper - the kind of Pirlo role - and we have Diaby who is a very strong defensive player.

"We have Coquelin who is also doing very well. I've played many games with Diaby and Wilshere [in midfield] and they were very efficient."

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-my-options-for-deeper-midfield-role

Still, the terrible thought abides that if they basically replace Song with Diaby who was injured all last season, they just might be stronger.