Last night we told you that Cesc Fabregas would be having tests today to determine whether or not he will be able to play against Birmingham in the Carling Cup final. Cesc picked up a hamstring injury early on in the game against Stoke last night, and was brought off after only 15 minutes.
Fabregas still has a chance of playing in the final and revealed to his Twitter followers that he is intent on doing whatever it takes to make sure he is able to lead the team out at Wembley Stadium.
“I dont know if I’ll make Sunday or not, but all I know is that from this moment to Sunday I won’t sleep if it’s necessary. I’ve waited too long to captain a final for Arsenal and I won’t give up till the last second.”
“I have a lot of friends and family coming over for it [the Carling Cup final] – I know that I can become the first Spaniard to lift a major English trophy as captain and that would be something special.”
The news is much worse for Theo Walcott, who picked up an ankle injury that will definitely rule him out for the game on Sunday.
Wenger snaps up another Barca talent
Last night, Barcelona president Sandro Rosell branded Arsenal “immoral” after the club confirmed a controversial deal to sign 16-year-old Spanish defender Jon Toral from the La Masia Youth Academy. We had been scouting Toral for a while, and the deal was finalised yesterday.
Barca are clearly not happy with the way in which they have lost the services of Toral. The club have lost the likes of Cesc Faberegas, Fran Merida and Ignasi Muquel to us in similar circumstances over the past few seasons.
La Masia is without doubt one of the best academies in the world, so I am sure he will be a brilliant signing with huge potential. Wenger has an eye for spotting young talent. For example, we paid around £700,000 in compensation for Fabregas, now worth more than £50 million, when he joined the club in 2003.
Wenger has taken advantage of the rule that footballers cannot sign a professional contract with a Spanish football club until they are 17. Recent reports suggest that we have agreed to pay Barca around £300,000 to compensate for Toral, who is due to join us on July 1st.