Cesc: Catalan by Birth, Gooner by Trade, but for how long?
Arsenal, clearly one of the “Big 4″ in the English Premiership, but is being merely a perennial side that plays to enter the Champions League and not win any trophies for the past 5 seasons good enough for the 22 year-old, Spanish midfielder?
Cesc Fabregas, Catalan born and raised, a FC Barcelona youth product, may give his all for The Arsenal Football Club of North London and the loyal Gooners worldwide, but his longing to raise his game to the next level should cause concern that he may be on the way back to Liga BBVA. Cesc has 47 Caps for Spain in the past 4 years and has over 180 appearances for The Gunners; his footballing education has been rather advanced compared to most 22 year-old players. Arsenal has limited funds and may not be able to ignore a large transfer fee from the Blaugranas. The North London club having been once again dropped from the FA and League Cup and sliding further down the English Premier League table with such a young captain wearing the emotional weight of the club upon his shoulders. Perhaps, Cesc wants to be one of many stars instead at FC Barcelona, instead of being The Star for Arsenal FC?
Barca supporters believe in the Midfield Maestro, but also realize that two world-class, Spanish National side players already run the creative Midfield engine for the Catalan giants. Xavi, 30 years old and Andres Iniesta, 25 years old, seem to do quite well playing with each other. So why would Cesc leave The Arsenal Captaincy to play Copa Del Rey matches, and relieve Xavi for the last 10-20 minutes of many matches?
Perhaps, Xavi, Pep Guardiola (Manager), and Joan Laporta (Club President), all realize that Cesc is the future of Spain, FC Barcelona, and at 22 years of age hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface of his footballing abilities? Cesc Fabregas returning to his family and native land may be the final step the young Spaniard needs to realize this midfielding magician’s mark on the global stage.
It's an interesting idea. If you have the best midfield tandem in the world, why would you spend the last 5 years trying to resign their backup? For the same reason that Pep Guardiola values Zlatan Ibrahimovich over Samuel Eto'o. Would they risk Iniesta as a left winger to bring in Cesc as Xavi's partner for the next 3 years? Imagine Cesc, Andres, Xavi, Zlatan, Messi heading the attack. If you ask me, I'd rather have Cesc as the next major signing rather than Ribery
Cesc it is then! The EPL is on the decline and the shift to La Liga has already happened. There are those of us unwilling to admit it and I hate to think of what response the British media will present once Italian Serie does the same. Everything is cyclical.
i think barcalona should offer ibra for cesc and save the money for ribbery, it's a fair trade if you ask me, ibra will be good for arsenal who desperately need a physical forward, clearly he's not doing well in the spanish game where defenders are smaller and a lot quicker, a change of scenery might just be what the football doctor ordered for him to find his magic back, as for fabregas, a return home is going to happen no matter what, the sooner the better for every one, and i don't think his return will limit iniesta to play on the left espacially if they get ribbery, barca can play the 4-4-2 with toure xavi iniesta and cesc in the midfield, messi and ribbery in attack, now that's what i call a dream team
@ Anonymous,
Ibra not doing well in La Liga? I think he has scored into double digitsand I also believe he has been recently quoted as saying It's easier to score to Spain then in Italy. Lets see how the rest of the season pans out mate before claiming he's not doing well in the Spanish game.
By the way Eto'o is not on a rampage in Italian Serie A scoring only 8 goals and sitting outside the top 10 on the goalscoring charts. It looks like Barca made a good deal for Ibra
I agree with Kevin. Zlatan may not be what we expect in a center forward, but he is right with the Ajax 3-4-3 that Pep learned from Cruyff. Barca don't play on an island, their players aren't individuals, but integral parts of an organic system. Just look at Messi who because of Ibra has factored into close to half of Barca's offense so far. Plus he offers double digit scoring? I'm still not seeing the Cesc deal yet, though