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"The supporters of Premier League club Arsenal take to Twitter to have their say on defender Thomas Vermaelen joining La Liga outfit Barcelona.  &amp;nbsp; #491774797 / gettyimages.com  Thomas Vermaelen is no longer an Arsenal player. The Belgium international has joined Barcelona on a five-year deal for a reported transfer fee of &amp;pound;15 million (click here to read more). The centre-back will go down in the Gunners&amp;rsquo; history as one of their best players despite an underwhelming final season on a personal level at the Emirates Stadium. The 28-year-old made the move from Dutch giants Ajax to Premier League outfit Arsenal in the summer of 2009 and quickly made himself a first-choice at the heart of the team&amp;rsquo;s defence. Following the departure of Netherlands international striker Robin van Persie to Manchester United in the summer of 2012, Vermaelen was made the team&amp;rsquo;s captain by manager Arsene Wenger. However, last season Vermaelen struggled with injuries and eventually lost his place in the starting line-up, although he did help his side win the FA Cup. United were also interested in securing the signature of one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League when fit, but their advances were rebuffed by Arsenal. It was then announced on Saturday that Vermaelen will join Barcelona from Arsenal, leading the club&amp;rsquo;s fans to take to social networking site Twitter to have their say on the departure of their captain. Here is a selection of the 13-time English champions&amp;rsquo; supporters&amp;rsquo; tweets:  Wish you best of luck at Barcelona, Thomas. Thank you for all those years at Arsenal. Once a gunner, always a gunner! #goodluckthomas &amp;mdash; &amp;bull; Angela Tsaturian (@i_Angela_) August 9, 2014   vERMA I'm gonna miss him, my fellow Belgian #GoodLuckThomas &amp;mdash; Anneee (@AnneeeAFC) August 9, 2014   It's all a matter of how you leave a club #vermaelen #cesc #vanPersie &amp;mdash; DailyAFC (@dailyafc) August 10, 2014   #Vermaelen should do well at #Barcelona bec they need FCB &amp;amp; will soon get him in2 the starting XI. He's 29 &amp;amp; healthy, #ManUtd should be :( &amp;mdash; John Ferra (@xiape) August 10, 2014   Farewell to our #captain #vermaelen... Have a bright start at nou camp #afc #arsenal &amp;mdash; SuMit AmIn (@LilCorzy) August 10, 2014   #GoodLuckThomas.. Wanted you to stay... &amp;mdash; SuMit AmIn (@LilCorzy) August 10, 2014   Sad to see this guy go I knew that was bound to happen cuz he barely played a match last season #GoodluckThomas pic.twitter.com/3uw6fK2ukh &amp;mdash; Opeyemi-#TFB-Arsenal (@opexzy4reelAFC) August 10, 2014   SEE ALSO: Thomas Vermaelen underlines a similarity between Barcelona and ArsenalWhy do we sell our captain every season this is why Arsenal lack a leader and direction @Arsenal #GoodLuckThomas &amp;mdash; Emil (@EMILROUSSEAU) August 10, 2014   It was inevitable that Vermaelan was leaving so happy he chose to go to Barca over United. #GoodLuckThomas &amp;mdash; Briella (@briellabush) August 10, 2014 How will Arsenal cope with the departure of Thomas Vermaelen?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2014/08/10/arsenal-fans-react-on-twitter-to-thomas-vermaelens-barcelona-mov/>