Arsenal: Is This the Summer Fabregas Is Finally Sold to Barcelona?

For the past two years Arsenal fans have had to face the prospect of their captain leaving in the summer transfer window.

Last year Arsenal did incredibly well to hold back the advances of Barcelona as the Catalans used the media and their players to try and twist Fabregas’ arm into handing in a transfer request.

This summer surely looks to be heading down that same route.

But how likely is it that Arsene Wenger will consider selling his young captain?

There are so many reasons not to sell Fabregas now. In fact, many fans are saying they’d rather see Fabregas’ contract run down over the next four years than sell him now. A fair statement considering the way Barcelona have handled themselves and with absolutely no protection from FIFA.

The way Barcelona have behaved has been nothing short of disrespectful. They seem to think that claiming Cesc to have “Barca DNA” and Arsenal having “stolen” him from them due to Spanish contract restrictions means they should be able to snap him up at bargain prices whenever they see fit.

If Cesc were to be sold, what does that say about Wenger’s youth model he has so adamantly stuck to over the years? What we’d have is a complete capitulation from a man who never likes to admit he was wrong. His whole philosophy of building up a great squad of players based around youth would go out the window.

Its not so much about what Fabregas does for the club and how he makes the team perform to a higher quality—its about what he represents.

There is also the worry that if Arsenal were to receive a transfer fee in the region of £50-60million for Cesc that a lot of the money would go unspent.

How realistic is it that Wenger would take the majority of that money and reinvest it into the squad? The fact is we’re talking about a manager who chose to wait for young talents to mature in order to hopefully replace Patrick Vieira. Someone who never replaced Thierry Henry’s production and who has also forgotten the importance of a Tony Adams or Sol Campbell figure in defence.

There is far more reason to believe that we may be looking at a further period of transition if the sale of Fabregas were to go ahead.

This is not an attack on the ability of the other Arsenal players, especially with talents such as Nasri, Wilshere, Walcott and Van Persie. But Arsenal would need to have a completely different outlook on their attacking style.

Fabregas brings purpose, passing and vision to this Arsenal team. They don’t have flying wingers or a prolific goalscorer so there’s no denying his role in the team and any potential success.

I for one do not see any kind of “agreement” between Wenger and Fabregas to let him go at the end of the season.

The ramifications for the team would be too great to mend, and without any real investment into the squad, the club have a real worry of regressing a few years. 

Despite Cesc’s burning desire to join up with his friends in Catalonia, I cannot believe Wenger would allow anything to happen this summer. It would be far too great a gamble for a club who have set down their marker of how they wish to build their playing squad.

Like I said, Fabregas is a representation of the clubs youth project and Wenger and the Arsenal board need to stand firm against future advances from Barcelona and stress the importance and respect for the four remaining years on the player’s contract.