When Cesc Fábregas left Arsenal for Barcelona this week the Premier League lost the finest midfielder ever to play in English football: discuss. Which is roughly what a group of football writers were doing at a pre-season dinner when the subject of outstanding midfield players was raised.

The consensus was that in the 19 seasons since the First Division clubs broke away to form the Premier League the two best midfielders have been another Arsenal player, Patrick Vieira, and Manchester United's Paul Scholes, both of whom have just retired. Fábregas was almost up there with them but he is 24 and now that he is back at the Camp Nou something even better may be yet to come.

That Barça, already blessed with Xavi Hernandez and Andrés Iniesta, have spent a succession of summers pursuing Fábregas suggests that they are of the same mind. Just how good he has been for Arsenal will be gauged by how they cope without him. Even if they were able to hold on to Samir Nasri this was always going to be a problem for Arsène Wenger, the considerable potential of Jack Wilshere notwithstanding.

Selling Fábregas is the footballing equivalent of having a frontal lobotomy. Players of this cerebral quality are about as easy to replace as brains, especially at a time when clubs with serious Champions League ambitions are realising that the standards set by Barcelona are not going to be reached by a reliance on pace and muscle alone.

So this summer has found Chelsea waving ever-increasing millions in front of Tottenham's noses as they try to persuade them to part company with Luka Modric, Manchester United clinging to the hope of signing Internazionale's gifted Dutch playmaker Wesley Sneijder and Manchester City closing in on Nasri. Meanwhile, Liverpool trust they will be able to mount a challenge for the top four by complementing the inspired athleticism of Steven Gerrard, the Great Groin Strain, with the more thoughtful style of Charlie Adam.

This surely represents a spot of revisionism in football thinking. Over the past 20 years, as the game has become ever faster with an increasing emphasis on counterattacks, the more profound players, those who put a foot on the ball and weigh up their options, have been in danger of disappearing amid the rush and bustle. When Glenn Hoddle was England's manager in the 90s he admitted that his style of footballer was becoming a thing of the past.

Relaxing the application of the offside law has had the effect of stretching the play because defenders can no longer push up on the assumption that any stray opponents will be ruled offside. Teams have to cover more ground between the penalty areas and so the coaches' prophecy that easing up on offside would lead to a proliferation of athletes with footballs has steadily been borne out.

Vieira was a superb athlete but he also had an astute footballing brain. In the matter of superlatives, however, a personal choice would put Fábregas ahead of the rest because of his ability to plot a course through the milling throng in front of him and to think several moves ahead. Fábregas played chess for Arsenal when his opponents were concentrating more on draughts.

Scholes has been the best English midfielder of his time and arguably the best footballer to boot. In assessing situations and making the right decisions, all in a matter of seconds, the United man has had few equals. This is not to ignore Frank Lampard, with his prolific scoring record for a midfielder, or Gerrard, the beating heart of Liverpool through some difficult years.

There have been quite a few forwards who have combined the scoring of goals with a rare ability to create them as well. Eric Cantona and Dennis Bergkamp come into this category but they were not midfielders in the strictest sense. Neither is Ryan Giggs. Nor were David Beckham, Paul Gascoigne, Kenny Dalglish or, if it comes to that, Bobby Charlton.

The genuine midfield player spends as much time in his own half as the opposition's and likes to have the play in front of him. Liam Brady and Johnny Giles are memorable examples of the breed, along with Dave Mackay and Duncan Edwards. They were called inside-forwards or half-backs, but did the same job in the engine room as their successors do now, albeit in less frenetic surroundings.