Fabregas to Barcelona? The Arsenal chairman doesn’t think so

We’ve all heard of these pre-contract agreements whereby everybody knows a transfer is going to take place at a certain time. The most famous case involved the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid. When the move fell through in Summer 2008 it was a badly kept secret that a deal had been made for the transfer to go through in Summer 2009.

Planning

There have been other examples of this forward planning and agreement between players and clubs, but I have never before heard of a club agreeing not to try to buy a player in the future! That is exactly what the Arsenal chairman claimed yesterday speaking to ESPN Soccertnet.

He was talking about the possible transfer of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona and claimed that the two clubs had spoken when they played each other on 6th April.

“There was a private conversation in the boardroom and assurances have been made at the highest level. Arsenal do not expect those to be broken. They said they are not interested this summer. Subsequent to the conversation, if they are interested at any time in the future, they would come to us direct. However I’m not sure they are going to do that, because they told us they are pretty happy with what they have got and are pretty happy with their current players.”

I’m not sure if Mr Hill-Wood was being serious or not. He surely can’t believe that because they denied an interest in him they definitely won’t be making a bid in the Summer?

Meaningless

Even if these assurances were given, they could prove meaningless depending on the results of the Barcelona club presidential election in the summer, which could bring in a new management at the club.

The chairman then went on to talk about Fabregas in a way that must have absolutely thrilled the young Spanish midfielder.

“If you want my opinion, I’m not sure he would even get in their team. Do they need him? I’m not sure that they do. And they said to us they are not interested.”

Gee, thanks Mr Chairman!!

In an interview with the Daily Express yesterday Barcelona’s top man, Lionel Messi, talked about playing again with Fabregas, who he played with at the club’s youth academy.

“Cesc has a place for Arsenal in his heart but he has Barcelona in his blood. He will want to win the biggest prizes in football and I expect him to do that at Barcelona. I don’t exactly know when that will be, but I expect him to be my Barcelona team-mate again at some point. I am sure that Arsene Wenger and Cesc have a father-son relationship and I know that he has a very special relationship with the Arsenal fans. When you grow up at a club, it is more than just a club. The coaches, the players, the people in the club will be like family. But Barcelona is his city and it is the club of him and his family. There are only a few players in the world who can improve this squad we have but Cesc is one of them.”

It seems that Messi rates Fabregas a little higher than his own chairman does!

There will be a huge amount of speculation about this in the next couple of months. Fabregas is signed to Arsenal until 2014 and has consistently announced his intention to stay with the club. Despite that, the rumours about a move back home to Barcelona just won’t go away.

Frightening

Barcelona with Fabregas may be even better than they are now although that is a frightening prospect for everyone else. Arsenal without Fabregas would not be as good as they are and they will be desperate to keep him.

Maybe there is already a deal in place for Cesc to go to Barcelona in the Summer of 2011. Who knows?