Cesc Fabregas

As interest from Barcelona seems to have cooled, albeit momentarily, reports are emerging that José Mourinho may be looking at the possibility of bringing Cesc Fabregas to the Santiago Bernabéu.

ESPNSoccernet have quoted Arsène Wenger as saying:

“There was an interest from Barcelona last year which I won’t hide. This year there hasn’t (yet) been an interest.

“My no. 1 wish is to keep Fabregas – for me he is the best midfielder in the world and we naturally built the team around him.”

Reports emerging over the last few days in Spain suggest that Fabregas is unhappy at the lack of trophies at Arsenal and could try to force a move back to his childhood club (Barca), not to Real. I would imagine that if Cesc really wanted to leave he would almost definitely force a move back to Barcelona rather than move to Real Madrid.

El Mundo Deportivo reported that Jose Angel Sanchez (Technical Director at Real Madrid) has been told that in the event that Fabregas does try to force a move, Arsenal would only consider selling him abroad – ruling out the possibility of a move to Manchester City or Chelsea.

In my opinion, if Cesc were smart he would not leave Arsenal until he has won another major trophy. He has played for 7 years in North London, but has little to show for it. Even if he did move this summer, a move to Real would be stupid. They already have a plethora of technically gifted midfielders, so much so that Kaka struggles to keep a regular place in the starting line-up (although this could be argued that it is due to injury).

A move to Barcelona would seem much more likely. Barcelona’s midfield are getting older and (at only 24 years old) Fabregas could walk into their team in a few years. However, if he were to join this summer, he would spend a lot of time on the bench because he is unlikely to displace Xavi and Iniesta.

My thoughts are almost parallelled by Arsène Wenger, who made it clear that he will not let Cesc go without a fight:

“I expect him to be here, and I will fight very hard to keep him here. You have always to fight when you have a player of that quality. You must always fight to keep your players.

“A player who changes his club every time he is frustrated or when he doesn’t win a trophy, goes nowhere. I believe the quality of sports life is to be committed to your club and not just to move out when it does not go as well as you expected.”

Likeliness Rating: Real Madrid 1/5, Barcelona 3/5