Joan Laporta firmly says Xavi is not up for sale. Arsenal says firmly Fabregas is not for sale. Xavi is not going, Fabregas is not leaving. Simple really.
It would be a Utopian dream to bring Cesc but the fact is that without Xavi leaving Barca, the Arsenal captain will play tiddlywinks on the bench. Which is what he does not want.
So after all that Fabregas wants to leave for Barca which maybe all true but it is a coronation in waiting, not now. The Guardian fell for it, I fell for it, but there are those who did not. I am glad some live in the reality based community otherwise the world would be a very, very dark place.
Arsenal has denied any approach and Txiki Beguiristian, Barca’s sports director had to check his words.
” It’s great news that he wants to come here and I think that one day Cesc will have to come to Barca. But what matters is Arsenal and what their decision is. They think he is a very important player for them. We have to respect that. At times the wishes of players do not come true because they are under contract.”
Its seductive because Barca has become the undisputed Mecca of football. Cesc spent his time recuperating there and the sight of those players going berserk and wearing jerseys which said, “No penses en una temporada, penses en la historia” must have made him stir crazy. Its been a long time since he saw those celebrations. And he is at a stage where these things make so much more difference.
2014 maybe inked on paper but it is not etched in the heart. This is where Wenger needs to step in. To stop this cognitive dissonance nonsense. He has to make serious good faith efforts that he is serious about winning a title. This rationalization about third place being good enough or making the Champions League quarter finals. Arsenal fans have had the patience of Job.
He has to give Cesc a reason to hope that he is not fighting 100 years of solitude on the pitch, carrying the game all by himself. At 23 years, Cesc has experiential progeria because of the responsibilities he has undertaken.
Give him a team that lightens this load. Get him a trustworthy midfield partner. A goalkeeper that stops goals. A striker that scores goals. Above all get him a team that believes rolling up their sleeves and scrapping for every ball in every match is one way to win a title. Five years of deja vu is too much and Cesc has seen every one of them.
It’s your move, Arsene.