By Pete Jenson Follow @@petejenson It’s fair to say that it’s not exactly car-horns and fireworks on the streets of Barcelona at the news that the club are signing Thomas Vermaelen. ‘Not as good as Mats Hummels’ (who they were never likely to get anyway) and not as young as Marquinhos (ultimately far too expensive) summed up the immediate reaction. This was tempered by the fact that the former Ajax man is a year younger and probably a better option than Liverpool’s Daniel Agger. But the worst thing about the signing is that he joins from Arsenal. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Thomas Vermaelen unveiled as a Barcelona player
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Thomas Vermaelen joined Barcelona from Arsenal for £15million
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Defender is the latest in a long line of stars leaving the Gunners for Barca
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Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas are among the big money signings the Spanish giants failed to get the best from
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Alex Hleb, Alex Song, Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit also among flops
@placeholder at least fared better on the pitch than Overmars and Petit but he still took a year to get going and Arsenal had clearly already long since had the best from him.
Hleb signed a four-year deal in 2008 and @placeholder somewhat optimistically put a £70m buy-out clause on him.