Barcelona sign Arsenal reject
Cesc Fàbregas’s protracted transfer to Barcelona, completed today, is a complex one for Arsenal fans. Personally, I feel a myriad of conflicting emotions. On the positive side I see his departure as something of a weight lifted, a nagging matter finally settled after years of distracting talk, and if I’m really scraping the barrel, the departure of a talisman and icon of a team which ultimately failed to win a single trophy.
I can’t kid myself, though, I am disappointed about a number of things. It’s a shame how little Cesc, one of Arsenal’s few (only?) world class players of recent years, has won with the club. The 2005 FA Cup final, which he started as a 17-year-old alongside Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires, yielded the Catalan’s only medal of his eight-year spell in North London. Although claims of wanting to join a club that can win trophies seem ludicrous from error-prone disaster-zones like Gael Clichy, I don’t think Cesc can be blamed for Arsenal’s failure to win trophies during his Premier League career. Arsenal have had the opportunity on several occasions, helped by some fantastic football by the midfielder himself, but either as individuals or as a collective, they have contrived to snatched defeat from the jaws of victory every time. His teammates – or his manager for identifying those teammates as worthy – can be blamed for that drought, but not Fàbregas. His commitment and work rate on the pitch never dipped, even last season when he was at the club against his will.
I won’t pretend I don’t feel a little resentment towards the player himself, though. Perhaps it’s brought on by Barcelona’s behaviour throughout the whole saga, that by joining them he’s letting them win, and he has vindicated the unedifying gloating of Gerard Pique and Xavi. Despite the fact that I’m aware it’s irrational, I wish he’d have got tired of their games and decided to stick around here instead. And while I can understand the badge-kissing as he is unveiled as a Barcelona player, no matter how much I try to reason that it’s what we always knew he wanted, it still hurts.
There’s also a real feeling of frustration that at 24 years old, Fàbregas is unlike the other apocalyptic departures from Arsenal, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. He is not past his best, his best is yet to come, and for the first time you sense that his best will come at another club. Fàbregas can be expected to play for another ten years; a decade of one of the world’s best midfielders, and for about the same amount as Liverpool paid for Andy Carroll.
Captain Cesc celebrates against Spurs
And that brings us to the fee. A structured deal worth an immediate £26m, with a further £10m dependent on Barcelona winning two league titles in the next five years (an inevitability which surely can’t even be nixed by the Special One). Around £36m in total, then, for a decade of football from one of the best players in the world. It’s a bargain for Barça, no doubt, and a chastening experience for Arsenal, who generally get such good value from outgoing players.
Overwhelmingly, though, I look back on Cesc’s time at Arsenal without much satisfaction. Each season was disappointing, from his emergence as a 17-year-old in the pizzagate campaign of 2004-05 (Arsenal finished second and won the FA Cup; it was the highest point of Fàbregas’s Arsenal career), through the losing Champions League finalists of 2005-06, the bitter collapse of a side who looked destined for glory until Eduardo at St. Andrew’s in 2007-08, and all the way to the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, almost mirror images in the way the team was suddenly abandoned by belief in the home straight to the title. There were plenty of vintage Fàbregas moments during each of those seasons, but the only title he won was that single FA Cup winners medal in 2005 as a 17-year-old, surrounded by seasoned winners. A team which was built around him achieved nothing; it’s time for Arséne Wenger to change tack, and he must do it quickly before the atmosphere in home games is one of outright hostility from fans who are becoming as disillusioned as the former captain.
There’s still plenty to remember, though. Let’s have Cesc’s top five goals in an Arsenal shirt, in no particular order.
1. A decisive cameo (vs Aston Villa, 2009)
With Arsenal firmly in the title race but struggling to keep Chelsea and Manchester United’s pace in the busy Christmas schedule, the Catalan was ruled unable to start at home to Aston Villa due to his continued battle with a hamstring injury. With the Gunner huffing and puffing against Martin O’Neill’s dogged side, Fàbregas was introduced on 57 minutes. On 84 minutes he was withdrawn after his injury recurred, and by that stage Arsenal were 2-0 up thanks to his brace. The first, a perfect, curling free-kick from 25 yards, was a cracker.
2. Cesc sinks the giants (vs Milan, 2008)
After failing to break down Paolo Maldini’s venerable defence at the Emirates in the Champions League 1st knock-out phase first leg, Arsenal could have been forgiven for thinking their chance to progress was gone. A sturdy defensive display at the San Siro, though, meant the return leg looked destined for stalemate as well, until Fàbregas’s 84th minute intervention. Cesc’s low drive from 35-yards eluded the goalkeeper’s despairing drive, and gave Arsenal a priceless away goal. Emmanuel Adebayor added a second in injury time, and the 2-0 win marked the first time an English club had ever beaten Milan in their famous stadium.
3. Spurs knock-out blow, part I (vs Tottenham, 2007)
With Arsenal trailing at half-time to a goal from the at-that-time-still-comical Gareth Bale, the Gunners equalised through Adebayor, before Cesc’s moment came. Picking the ball up 40-yards out, Fàbregas advanced without challenge and crashed a lethal shot past the hapless Paul Robinson to put the visitors in front. Martin Jol called Arsenal ‘clinical’ after the game, not an adjective you hear too much about Arséne Wenger’s side these days.
4. Spurs knock-out blow, part II (vs Tottenham, 2009)
Two years later, with Tottenham’s long run without wins over their North London rivals now almost taken for granted, they went into the game as equals in the table. A turgid first 41 minutes was ended by a poacher’s goal from Robin Van Persie, and the second, too quick for the cameras, came 11 seconds of play later. Fàbregas drove forward to win the ball from Wilson Palacios, nicked the ball away from two challenges and rifled the ball in the bottom corner. 2-0 in the blink of an eye, and Spurs’ inferiority was confirmed; for another few months, at least.
5. Fàbregas keeps Arsenal unbeaten (vs Liverpool, 2007)
Two and a half months into the 2007-2008 season, Arsenal traveled to Anfield yet to lose a game. With ten minutes left of a game they had largely controlled, and his side trailing to an early Steven Gerrard free-kick, Fàbregas’s surging run invited an inch-perfect through ball from Alexander Hleb. Off-balance at the crucial moment, the Spaniard managed to get his toe on the ball and diverted it past Pepe Reina, before bundling into the crowd by the corner flag in celebration. Look at the scenes of joy. Ah, so much promise.
Arsenal without Cesc Fabregas is like beach without sand.