Talk about finding yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place!
Cesc Fabregas, it seems to me, has no choice but to join up with his old friend and Arsenal team mate Robin van Persie as his club seek to cash in on his unrequired services.
Events over the last two days have unfolded like so; United enter formal £25 million bid for Fabregas. Fabregas states his desire to stay at the club. Barcelona’s Head Coach Tito Vilanova gives unconvincing answers to questions about Fabregas’ future.
Asked about United’s bid for Fábregas, Vilanova said: “It’s good for your players to receive offers. I spoke to him and he told me he wanted to stay here and that he didn’t want to go to another club, even though here he’s competing with Xavi, and Sergi Roberto. He wants to succeed here. I’m happy about that.”
To me that sentence could have concluded with ‘but he’s still not in my plans’.
Barcelona are willing to sell Cesc Fábregas to Manchester United because the Spanish champions need the money, that’s according to a highly placed source in Spain.
The recent investment in Lionel Messi’s new £17m a-year, five-season contract will cost the club £85m. Couple that with the £50m acqusition of Brazilian wonderkid Neymar and it’s believable Barcelona could find themselves in a position where retaining unwanted, highly paid players on the periphery of the first team is no longer a viable option.
With Fabregas’ slightly acrimonious exit from Arsenal, it’s unlikely he’d prefer a return to North London as they’re as far away from winning titles now as they were when he left in 2011. Therefore the ‘first option’ The Gunners have is not worth the paper it’s written on.
Only days after being accused of acting like minnows in the transfer market, could Manchester United be about to prove they do in fact have that killer instinct after all?
Barcelona are apparently yet to reply to United regards their bid, but it’s believed the £25m will be strong enough to tempt them into selling although any increased offer would trigger the club to actively encourage the player to make the move.
David de Gea has chipped in with a comment of his own saying he would welcome his arrival at Old Trafford. “It would be great if Cesc came here,” he said. “It would be great to have more Spanish players at Manchester United. He is a great player, very skilful, knows how to win things and you always want those type of players in your team.”
Who says the players hold all the power nowadays.
In this particular case, I believe Fabregas is powerless to resist a move between one club who doesn’t want him and one club who’s smelt an opportunity.
In this case I strongly doubt United would put a formal bid in unless they were sure they could get their man. It also adds another possible reason to why no approach was (apparently) made for Thiago.
Perhaps United are not so toothless after all?!
As usual only time will tell; but there’s something about this Fabregas bid that makes me think it’s 100% serious; a genuine effort to find ‘value in the market’ rather than an empty attempt to hook an impossible target.
