Cesc Fabregas playing for Chelsea will be a betrayal Arsenal fans will find hard to take

Barcelona are happy for the Spanish midfielder to leave the Nou Camp



Fabregas has been linked with a move to Chelsea to replace Frank Lampard



Played for Arsenal for eight years before leaving in 2007

‘He asked me if I had played for Barcelona and when I said yes, he shook his head as if in disbelief and said, “Well, that wasn’t Barcelona football”.’

That’s Mark Hughes reflecting on a unsavoury spat with Cesc Fabregas in 2007 after the Welshman’s Blackburn side had parked the proverbial bus and ruffled a few feathers in the Arsenal ranks on the way to a 0-0 draw at Emirates Stadium.

And then there’s this from February 2014 when Barcelona travelled to Manchester City in the Champions League, a match won comfortably by the Catalans with Fabregas operating as a false No 9.

Below par: Fabregas has struggled to win over the Barcelona fans since his move

‘Some people were talking a bit too much before the game and now they have to shut up for a few days,’ Fabregas told ITV. The dig aimed squarely at Jose Mourinho who had earlier referred claimed the team travelling to Manchester were the worst Barcelona for many years.

The very idea then that the summer’s biggest transfer could well involve Spanish football’s prodigal son and The Beautiful Game’s bête noire seems deeply uncomfortable, not least to Arsenal fans.

To the rest of the world, having Barcelona on your CV would be considered a high point. To Mourinho, it seems the spell as ‘the translator’ he spent under the tutelage of the late, great Sir Bobby Robson is a blot against his copybook of footballing ideals. These two aren’t just unrealistic bed-fellows, the argument could be made that they don’t play the same sport.

Spot on: Fabregas was a vital part of the Arsenal team before leaving in 2007

It’s been argued that Fabregas’ shortcomings in Spain are due to the fact his much-fabled ‘DNA’ had changed. He was certainly a more developed player physically than his colleagues, relying a blustering will to burst into spaces and exploit whatever tiny gaps could be found by the movement of those around him.



However, touting him as a replacement for Frank Lampard seems wide of the mark. The Englishman was a master of timing without the ball – arriving late, finding a yard - Cesc was very much in his element with it as his feet.

One remembers the lung-busting run from the halfway line against Tottenham in the ‘11-second derby’ or the neat exchange with Thierry Henry in order to pick the lock of the Juventus defence in 2006. Whenever he did send one crashing in from range, it was the result of his own hard work. Fabregas thrives on freedom.



His genius simply wouldn’t flourish in the restrained world of Jose Mourinho.Of all the exits from the Emirates Stadium in the last half-decade, only really that of captain Cesc has passed without the vitriolic out-pouring familiar with the departure of star names.



Crunch: Lampard tackles Fabregas during a Champions League game between Chelsea and Barcelona in 2012

The young tyro had given eight years – three as captain, leader, legend - of his life and career as the heartbeat of a project whose foundations were now at their weakest.

His departure to Barcelona for a knockdown $35million stuck in the throat only because of the behavior of his captors – ‘Barcelona DNA’ anyone - not through any angst towards the man himself. The Spaniard had conducted himself admirably throughout his time in north London – the odd throw of a pizza aside – and was now yearning for a return to a team being feted as perhaps the greatest we had ever seen. The fans had sent him on his way with their blessing, they had dusted themselves down and admitted defeat to a higher power.