Signed for pennies, (soon to be) sold for pounds, and with plenty of good memories in between. One of my favourite ever players at the Arsenal, with fire and passion as well as quality, who single handedly won us game after game at his peak, and scored *that* goal against *them* from up the road. And yet, and yet. The events of this summer have tarnished my memories of a player I thought would write himself into Arsenal history as a legend, as “Cesc Fabregas, AFC”.
No, the sad truth is, he will never receive the kind of warm welcome afforded to players such as Henry, Bergkamp, Píres et al. And it didn’t have to be this way.
I don’t pretend to have an inside view of the Arsenal board room, but as far as I can see, having decided we would be prepared to sell, we would have set Barca a fee, a deadline, and when they failed to meet it (because, essentially, they can’t afford what they want, and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to have it) we could have told them to, er hem, go away.
As it is, we are selling a world class player for well under his market value, to a club who have behaved in a deplorable fashion (from board room and coach right down to the little midgets of their midfield) because Cesc Fabregas must have told someone at Arsenal that he is determined to leave. When a selling club has a prized asset, the buying club usually has to pay well above market value to prise him away, and yet quoted offers for Cesc have all been below the £35m mark, when even £40m would be an absolute steal. On recent form, he is twice the player that Fernando Torres is, and yet is being peddled for a fraction of the cost.
I don’t wish to labour the point, as we are all aware that we are underselling a quality player because we just want an end to the situation, so we can all move on. I just find it a little depressing that a player portrayed as highly professional has forced a move through, when to my mind, it is not the best time for any party involved.
There are reasons why Arsenal could benefit from this sale, but no one would have been unhappy if Cesc had stayed – his quality is undeniable. From a Barca perspective, they cannot afford him nor do they have room to regularly accommodate him in their side, and from Cesc’s own perspective, it’s hard to imagine that a player with such a competitive instinct will be content to be a squad player, rotated from the bench. He and Barca have the least to gain (apart from a cut-price fee, it seems) yet they have been the ones to force through the transfer.
My head said that Cesc would leave eventually, my heart hoped that he would stay longer, and that success would make him stay forever. Time appears to have rushed past, somewhat, and now both head and heart have to adjust to the idea that he won’t be here next season. Yet I find that the prospect of facing a Barcelona side containing Fabregas would simply add to the desire to win, in contrast to the feeling when we play against sides containing Gunners who served their time, and did right by the club. Remember when we beat Shakhtar 5-1, and we celebrated all 6 goals as scored by one of ours? Be aware, Cesc, that kind of reaction will now never be afforded to you.
Personally, I don’t believe the player is desperately unhappy earning €6m a year, captaining a team he loves, with the respect (and frankly, idolatry) of fans and teammates alike, so I would have kept him until Barca could afford to scrape together his market worth. However, it seems that the powers that be have decided the time is right, instilling anxiety into many Arsenal fans. So just how bleak does the post-Cesc era look?
We all know what he brings to the team – class, consistency and that little bit of magic – but what he gives with one hand, he takes with the other. Because of his consistency, his magic, he could usually make the difference at crucial times, yet it has led many of our players to pass the buck and let responsibility for driving this team to success fall upon the shoulders of the Spaniard. Sharing this responsibility will allow each player more freedom, but also force them to mature, and be able to put in a shift when it really matters.
It is widely accepted that our formation the last few years has been designed to get the best from Cesc, but as a result, it has had the downside of being less dynamic through the middle. In many ways, it has split the team into attack and defence, whereas the best sides attack and defend as a team. At present, defending is largely done by the back five and Song, occasionally Wilshere, while the forwards have little or no defensive responsibility. In Cesc’s first season at Arsenal, he was up and down the pitch like a Jack-in-the-Box, making tackles and adding great energy to the team. In the last couple of years, it’s difficult to remember Cesc making a tackle or chasing back. I would go so far as to say that van Persie probably makes more of an effort to close down opponents than a player who is ostensibly a midfielder. Certainly according to WhoScored, Fabregas makes only 1.6 tackles per game, lower than Song, Diaby, Wilshere, and (believe it or not) Denilson, amongst others, and makes less interceptions.
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It’s difficult to know how much of that is down to his injuries, and how much is just laziness – I would suggest that it is mostly the former, but in any case, having greater energy and drive in the team can be no bad thing. We have been signing more and more pace this summer, and having midfielders with the energy to support both attack and defence will be of massive bonus. Both Ramsey and Wilshere are young, hungry and talented. Yes, there are doubts about their consistency, but I would rather have players who are a little less talented but have a little more heart. And neither of these two lack talent.
The final point with regard to Cesc is he has started just 22, 26 and 22 games respectively in the last three seasons, due to his injury problems, and even when he has played, he has often looked a long way short of fitness and form. Compare that to the 06/07 season where he started 34 of the games, and came on in the remaining 4 games. At 24, it is unlikely that we have had Cesc’s best years, but over 300 games isn’t a bad return from a player who we have made a substantial profit on, and who appears to have no hamstrings left.
The day he leaves Arsenal will be the day I no longer refer to Cesc, but to Fabregas instead, and a sad day it will be. Yet the nature of a great club is that the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts. If you don’t want us, Cesc, nothing will please us more than to show that we can manage without you.
The badge of the front is bigger than the name on the back.
Article courtesy of Helen Trantum from the excellent Arsenal Mania
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