On Saturday, Cesc Fàbregas continued to show that he remains a key part of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea team, even if only in a rotational role, with a masterful performance against Swansea City, repaying the coach’s faith in starting him and making good on his own commitment on the training ground as well as when speaking publicly about his situation.

While clearly Cesc could probably feature more often at other clubs, he’s repeatedly reaffirmed his desire to stay at Chelsea and fight for his place (as well trophies), including twice in the last three days. How many more ways can he say that he’s committed to Chelsea ‘100 per cent’?

“I have already made a statement that there is no truth in [those transfer rumours] and I want to stay. I can understand that there is doubt. I know that as a player I like to play with the ball and on the defensive side I'm not like that. But it shows that I have adapted very well to [Antonio Conte's] philosophy and what he wants.” “What keeps me going is that I feel really good, I feel in great condition to play football for a very long time. I know that in my legs and in my mind that I have played many more games, for someone of 29, that I'm supposed too. But I feel young in my mind.” “Sometimes when you have played a long time and won a lot, you think 'ah I've done everything and know it all'. But then you realise in football you never know everything. I'm in a good moment, a good situation.” “Sometimes the easy way is to escape, to say 'I don't play', get upset and say you want to leave, to create a drama. In my mind I decided 'no, I want to challenge myself'. Not everything comes easy in life, you have to fight sometimes against situations that you're not used to or that are against you in a way.” “That's what I'm doing and hopefully I can show the manager that he can trust me in games and in any moment he wants. Hopefully I have reversed the situation a little from the beginning of the season to now. Hopefully I can keep playing like that to keep my place.” -Cesc Fàbregas; source: London Evening Standard

Unfortunately for Cesc, his repeated declarations of intent have done little to stop the ebb and flow of transfer rumors, which have recently starting rolling in once again. The latest is yet another story of AC Milan wanting to whisk him away to Italy.

AC Milan will test Chelsea with big Fabregas bid. Mourinho watching on too. Fabregas ideally wants to stay #cfc https://t.co/5jRQUcSyfL — Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) February 27, 2017

While Matt Law’s report makes it clear that Chelsea do not want to sell Fabregas either, Milan’s wealthy Chinese investors are apparently set to test that resolve with a £27m bid (€30-31m), which is perhaps not coincidentally the same fee that Chelsea paid Barcelona three years ago. Should Chelsea accept that bid, the report claims that Mourinho would consider an offer as well just to complicate things.

But it sure sounds like Chelsea don’t want to sell and Cesc doesn’t want to leave, and while we could see Mourinho bidding just to destabilize the situation, there’s probably not much we have to be worried about at this point.