Not only Cesc Fàbregas has left Arsenal, today Emmanuel Eboué is finalising his move to Galatasaray and Carlos Vela is about to join Real Sociedad on loan. The news of Pedro Botelho being loaned to Rayo Vallecano was confirmed in Spain last week.
The sale of Eboué wasn't unexpected. He was never a first choice, but still played more than 200 official games. The Ivory Coast international was the last remaining player from the squad representing Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League final.
The move was first mooted as one of many in this Press Association article by Jim Van Wijk, written before the end of last season. The link to Galatasaray was first mentioned by the People and their reporter Tom Hopkinson.
Eboué came to the club from then feeder club Beveren, where he had spent enough seasons to get a EU citizenship. His background was, like the Touré brothers, the ASEC Mimosas football academy in the Ivory Coast. At Arsenal, he was both ridiculed and fêted. His love and gratitude for Arsenal and his teammates has never been in doubt. Best of luck to him!
Vela's move to Real Sociedad is hard to interpret in any other way than his last loan move. With Marouane Chamakh woefully out of form and Nicklas Bendtner peddling himself to any and every club with a green field, Vela should be higher in the pecking order of Arsenal strikers.
Instead, he goes to Spain for a season long loan on the same day as Gervinho gets a three game suspension. It doesn't bode well.
However, my headline is meant to be sarcastic. So many have vented their fury at Arsenal for letting Cesc and (perhaps) Samir Nasri go. The departures of two other squad players looks to pass in silence, even if squad depth may be the greatest threat to Arsenal's trophy credentials this season.
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