True enough. Similar happenings with Flamini, just as him and Cesc were starting to get a connection. Good point about us getting Nasri through these departures though.
It's quite remarkable how we have lost so many of our first team players over the past 5ish years yet always remained near the top, even if we've lost our year-in year-out prowess that we had under Adams, Vieira, Henry, Berg and co.