Cesc left when he had 3 years left on his contract, and had just signed an extension a year before he joined Barca. Contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on, but players will stay as long as we win things. If we don't, it will be a repeat of the 2007-2010 exodus
He is a very good player for Arsenal, but both way too expensive and not a sure fit/level-match for us, therefore it has always been a stupid (possible) target.
As we proved with Umtiti we don't need to break transfer-records to get good players, although Laporte look like the obvious (50M)-target.