This hurts a lot. Cesc Fabregas was Arsenal. Even when he left, he was always a Gunner. While his exit back in 2011 was messy, there was some solace from knowing that he still loved the club that gave so much to him. Unlike Samir Nasri and Robin Van Persie, Fabregas departed with some dignity. He wasn’t leaving to win trophies necessarily. He was leaving to go home. And you can never fault someone for that.
But today, Cesc has left home to return to London. But not to his beloved Arsenal. He is going to Chelsea – the antithesis of Arsenal. Mourinho’s style of soccer will see the end of the Fabregas that grew up in La Masia and developed at Arsenal. Gone will be the beautiful, graceful player that we all love. In its place will be a shadow of our captain – a player no longer driven by love for his club but rather by greed.
To a certain extent, you can’t fault a player for wanting to win trophies. But Barcelona will always offer that. Even in a down period, a team with Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and a slew of other stars will compete for every trophy there is. I would argue that in the sense of potential to win trophies, Chelsea does not top Barcelona. So why is Fabregas leaving?
He is quoted today as saying: “I do feel that I have unfinished business in the Premier League and now is the right time to return. I considered all the other offers very carefully and I firmly believe that Chelsea is the best choice. They match my footballing ambitions with their hunger and desire to win trophies.”
So much about what he said there annoys me. For one, the unfinished business was at Arsenal. Winning anything at Chelsea will not complete anything he failed to do for the Gunners. And second, his saying the desire to win trophies drove this move is ridiculous. As I said above, Barcelona is still a top club. It seems that he is hiding his real reasons. I’d like to hear him speak about why his dream return to Barcelona didn’t work out. Was it because they lacked ambition? Or was it because he just wasn’t good enough to get in the side?
I won’t fault Arsene Wenger for not resigning Fabregas because clearly he has changed from the boy who loved his clubs for what they meant to him. But I will fault the man himself. You made the wrong choice, Cesc. You could have done great things for Arsenal, restoring them to the top of the Premier League. But instead, you were greedy.
I hope when Chelsea visits Arsenal next year, Fabregas sees the error of his ways. I don’t want the crowd to shower him in boos, because our former captain deserves better. But I hope nobody acknowledges him as a hero. Because this is not the same Cesc Fabregas that loved Arsenal and Barcelona. Goodbye, Cesc. You were once a hero of mine. But now, you are just another unlikable Jose Mourinho pawn. I don’t wish you luck. You made the wrong choice. And you just broke my heart.
Wild American Gooner 
June 12, 2014 at 1:52 pm
I’m not an Arsenal fan by any means, and perhaps that’s why I’m inclined to disagree with your assessment of his transfer. I think it’s rather misguided to say that he’s gone to Chelsea for greed; instead, I think he’s gone for a much more basic reason – he wants to play. Isn’t that what all professionals (and really, all of us) want to do? To be on the field, to play the game? And I think it’s fair to say that he never really fit at Barca, both because of the players blocking him from the starting eleven, and simply due to the fact that his playing style did not fit that of Barca’s. Watch how he played at Arsenal – even within the passing patterns of Arsenal, there’s an anarchy and a directness to Fabregas that mesh perfectly with the tempo of the Premier League, but that is in direct opposition to the philosophy and attitude of Barcelona’s possession play. I think he left because as a player, he is much more suited to the EPL than to La Liga, and because he is essentially guaranteed a starting spot in any Premier League side.
The words that you quoted above are just words – they’re the words that every player says when they join any team. For me, the more damning words that Fabregas said today were: “Yes, everyone knows that Arsenal had the first option to sign me. They decided not to take this option and therefore it wasn’t meant to be.”
Clearly, he wanted to re-join Arsenal, but Wenger declined, even though he could easily have walked into the side. For one, he could easily have replaced Arteta as the anchor of the midfield; though he plays mostly as an attacking midfielder now, he started his career at Arsenal in a much deeper position, replacing Vieira (whose skills as a destroyer no sane person would question). Thus it would seem that Wenger is the one who chose not to bring Fabregas back, and instead let him join Chelsea.
Personally, I can’t fault him for joining a team where he gets the chance to play more soccer, and to play in a manner that suits his talents – that’s the dream for any soccer player, from amateur pick-up players all the way up to the veterans of the professional game.
June 12, 2014 at 2:22 pm
If only it were that simple. Much more goes into this decision than we will ever know. But while much of what you said is true, he still choose to play for Jose Mourinho. Yes, I take this more personally than I should. But for someone who said, “Once a gunner, always a gunner,” he joined the wrong team if he still wants to be a “gunner.” As long as he is wearing blue, I will not be a fan of his any longer.
June 12, 2014 at 3:07 pm
Yes there’s a lot that we don’t know. And yes, he chose to play for Mourinho, but it’s very possible that Chelsea was the only top-tier PL team that lodged a bid – in which case, it’s not so much that he chose Mourinho, but that he went to the best possible situation for him. And though Mourinho as a person has some serious flaws, Mourinho the manager is still a serial winner – and one whose “defensive” Madrid teams scored over 100 goals for three seasons in a row.
Also, the only EPL team that he could’ve joined to remain a “gunner” is the one that reportedly chose not to bring him back even when he wanted to…