Torn Fabregas set for Gunners return
ARSENAL captain Cesc Fabregas admits he is torn by his love for Barcelona and a sense of duty to the Gunners as he prepares to return to north London.
Fabregas has seldom spoken about his desire to move back to his native Catalonia during a summer of uncertainty over the 23-year-old’s future.
But he is set to come face-to-face with Arsene Wenger again in the next few days, possibly even at this weekend’s Emirates Cup, which he is likely to attend as a spectator.
And amid suggestions he will ask Wenger for a second time to let him leave, having seen Arsenal reject Barca’s opening £30m offer, Fabregas has revealed why he yearns to rejoin the blaugrana.
“I’m a Barca fan, I’m a socio [club member], as is my grandfather, my uncle, my cousin,” the midfielder told a Spanish magazine.
“I have felt the colours from a young age, I’m Catalan. However, I’m the captain of Arsenal, I’m a Gunner, and I have become a player there and matured as a person.”
Wenger is expected to address the situation today when he holds a media conference ahead of the Emirates Cup, but made his frustration at Barca’s relentless public pursuit of Fabregas plain this week when he dismissed the Spaniards’ latest overtures as “noise”.
And his skipper admits he owes a debt of gratitude to the Frenchman, adding: “He is a second father for me, the most important person in my life after my father. He has behaved really well with me and taken me in like a son. I am part of his family. He doesn’t want me to leave. And in my last conversation with him in London, it was one of the most difficult moments I have experienced. I ended up very upset.”