The Reyes Appreciation/Good Riddance Thread

[kanonier]

Well, Reyes to Atletico (http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=News&article=479499&lid=NewsHeadline&Title=Reyes+completes+transfer+to+Atletico+Madrid) is official.

Jose, I'll miss you for your footballing ability. I'll always remember the high hopes I had for you when you came on and scored those stunning first goals against Chelsea.

And you were part of the Untouchables, and I can't begrudge you that. Your signing helped us achieve the improbable.

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At the same time, you're a whiny, spoiled git, and I'm glad to be rid of you at last. I'm sorry we spent so much on your sneaky ass, and I wish we'd sold you somewhere where it was always gray, always sleeting, and where the shops always closed at 2 p.m.

[Skizz]

Jose, I can look past the whining and wonder why we never really saw the best of you at Arsenal. We saw it in fits and spurts, and if you played to your potential the whole time, you would have been more of an asset to the team than you were.

Best of luck wherever you end up in future.

[Skizz]

Looking at that vid, that quote..."If Thierry Henry is the King of Highbury, there's a new prince now"...thought it was going to be the start of something massive. :(

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[maskito]

JAR - you have loads of talent, and I wished you would march onto the pitch at Emirates for us again. We didn't give up on you - you gave up on us (and the weather in London).

Best of luck in the future: hopefully you can channel your abilities into somehow sticking it to ManU, Chelski, LFC, and Scum in Europe.

[alain_9510]

At the same time, you're a whiny, spoiled git, and I'm glad to be rid of you at last. I'm sorry we spent so much on your sneaky ass, and I wish we'd sold you somewhere where it was always gray, always sleeting, and where the shops always closed at 2 p.m.

Or where there are no shops perhaps :p.

JAR - you have loads of talent, and I wished you would march onto the pitch at Emirates for us again. We didn't give up on you - you gave up on us (and the weather in London).

Best of luck in the future: hopefully you can channel your abilities into somehow sticking it to ManU, Chelski, LFC, and Scum in Europe.

Scum in Europe :eek:? That'll be the day :D.

[ASkergonan]

In a lot of ways I'm glad JAR was unprofessional enough to constantly complain. If he simmered in his discontent over a number of years, he would have inevitably turned into a horribly inconsistent player.

[goonsquad]

Jose could have been an absolute star for us. I think where it really went downhill was when the Aragones comments came out and Reyes chose to defend the Spanish manager's comments as "not serious". After that the tension between him and TH14 was evident, which was a shame since they had worked together really well for the first couple months of that season. Add that to Reyes' hatred for the weather, and his refusal/inability to learn English, and he was never going to work out.

[wwnyc]

article about JAR from espn soccer:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=448865&root=england&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2&cc=5901

he showed flashes of brilliance (thanks for the youtube vids - great clips) and he is actually a winger, which arsenal could use right now. it's too bad he couldn't get over the weather/being homesick/his love of spain/whatever. best of luck to him in spain.

[topcatcole]

Well, I'm going to be one of the ones who is genuinely sad to see him go. Without our former so-called "captain" glaring at him constantly, he might have developed into a fine player, and as one of the few natural wingers we had, that would have been a good thing.

[Shen-O]

Well, I'm going to be one of the ones who is genuinely sad to see him go. Without our former so-called "captain" glaring at him constantly, he might have developed into a fine player, and as one of the few natural wingers we had, that would have been a good thing.

Exactly how I feel! Oh well... :(

[yossarian]

Well, I'm going to be one of the ones who is genuinely sad to see him go. Without our former so-called "captain" glaring at him constantly, he might have developed into a fine player, and as one of the few natural wingers we had, that would have been a good thing.

I'm disappointed to see him go. Or.....more accurately, I suppose, I'm disappointed that he so badly wanted to go. As you say....we could use a wide player of his abilities right now.

[kanonier]

I'm disappointed to see him go. Or.....more accurately, I suppose, I'm disappointed that he so badly wanted to go. As you say....we could use a wide player of his abilities right now.

That pretty much sums it up. He's EXACTLY the player we need, but he won't play for us.

How good was he shooting from the left channel? Goodness.

[GoonerMan]

reyes was never cut out to play in the premier league. he was scared off by the bully boy tactics and im sure he will have a great career in spain

[fari]

reyes was never cut out in the premier league. he was scared off by the bully boy tactics and im sure he will have a great career in spain

yeah, who remembers gary neville kicking him up and down the field.


best of luck to him though...atletico madrid look to be building a great side

[cisko]

He's quality but was not going to make it in England. You can see it in his stats: great in August and September, then sludge until April or so. I will say this, he always worked hard, he just was ineffective for the heart of the season.

Ah well. Now my wife will have to pick someone else to moon after.

[marakana11]

For me the partnership Henry and Reyes exhibited in the first couple of months during the 2004/2005 season was some of the best football I've seen in my life.

That being said, he is Spanish and just couldn't handle England.

Fabregas had adapted from a tougher background, but maybe it was exactly that, he was younger. Reyes had already gotten used to being a star in his home club, Sevilla and seemed like he couldn't take it no longer.

I wish him the best, as I consider him natural talent wise the best left midfielder in Europe, which says a lot about his attitude.

But it must be said, at Real Madrid he pretty much single handedly along with Van Nistelrooy took care of the Spanish title.

He had a goal and an assist in 15 minutes in that vital 4-3 win over RCD Espanyol, and then scored twice against Mallorca on the last day of the season. If I was Reyes I would feel a little bit betrayed for not to be staying at Real. He was magic for them in the last 10 games of the season.

As for Atletico de Madrid.. jesus. They're going to have one helluva line up.

Who cares about Torres? It might be a good thing that he left.

How many great players do they have? Let's see...

Forwards: Diego Foraln, Sergio Agüero, Mista, Luis Garcia.

Midfielders: Maxi Rodriguez, Jose Antonio Reyes, Raul Garcia, Simao Barbosa, Costinha, Maniche, Peter Luccin.

Defenders: Pablo Ibáñez, Antonio Lopez, José Manuel Jurado, Giourkas Seitaridis, Luis Perea, Ze Castro, Mariano Pernia, Fabiano Eler Dos Santos.

Goalkeepers: Leo Franco, Christian Abbiati.

This is a rough schematic. Many of the mids can be wingers, as well as sometimes forwards.

As for the defenders, there are some that play defensive midfield as well. The options they have are very good. It's going to be interesting how they fare in the La Liga chase as well as the Uefa Cup.

--------Forlan------Luis Garcia------
Simao-------------------------Reyes
--------------Raul Garcia------------
------------------------------------
--------Maniche--------Costinha----
------------------------------------
------Lopez----Pablo----Perea-------
----------------Leo-----------------

That would be an amazing system if one could get it to work, but I'm sure they'll have 4 in the back, with 2 wingers providing width like they did 2 years ago with Petrov, Galletti, and Maxi Rodriguez.

[KevTheGooner]

He is a player of immense talents.

This included a talent for sitting on his arse holding his hands up in the air at the ref...a talent best displayed in Spain. So long Juan Antonio.

[PsychedelicCeltic]

Jose could have been an absolute star for us. I think where it really went downhill was when the Aragones comments came out and Reyes chose to defend the Spanish manager's comments as "not serious". After that the tension between him and TH14 was evident, which was a shame since they had worked together really well for the first couple months of that season. Add that to Reyes' hatred for the weather, and his refusal/inability to learn English, and he was never going to work out.
I was going to say thanks to Henry for playing a strong role in forcing Reyes out by being a shit to him, but I forgot that Reyes was the player Aragones was mouthing off to.

Henry didn't help but at the end leaving Spain wasn't for him. He bought over his family and six months into his career talked about recreating Andalucia in Bedfordshire. If six months in you're home sick, that's bad news.

[RealMadGunner]

Too bad he refused to try a second stint in England .. Good luck to him .. And i think he's probably as talented as Torres .. So i think AtMad will do pretty well ..

[akindele12]

Good luck to him, he's going to the Newcastle of La Liga.