Memo to Arsene Wenger: If Barcelona offer you anything like the sort of money you’ve been saying Cesc Fabregas is worth this Summer, take it. Not only that, but pack his bags and give him a lift to the airport.
Arsenal haven’t even had the relative bad fortune of standing still as a football club over the past few seasons. They’ve gone backwards. Much of this can be attributed to the obsession that the club have in keeping Fabregas.
Fabregas is the tail that wags the Arsenal dog. When he plays, he plays in a team that is specifically selected to give him the free role on the pitch that he craves. That often means that other players have to sacrifice a certain part of their game in order to cater for the whims of Cesc. This isn’t unknown in modern football of course. Wayne Rooney famously stepped into the shadows at Old Trafford to accommodate not only the footballing skills, but the personality of Ronaldo. He wanted centre stage and the plaudits that accompanied it. Rooney, on the other hand, just loves to play. So he would have been fine with that. But his game suffered for it.
Sir Alex Ferguson once famously said he wouldn’t sell Real Madrid ‘a virus’. Yet he was happy to flog them Ronaldo when he noticed how Rooney’s game was suffering because of the formers pre-eminence at Old Trafford. Question: who benefitted the most from that deal? Since Ronaldo’s departure, he and Real have won nothing, where-as Rooney has recently enjoyed another Premier League title winners medal, as well as playing in his third Champions League final. More to the point, however, Rooney has never usurped Ronaldo, never become the star at Old Trafford, the leading light, the centre of attention. No-one at the club has such hallowed status, they play as a team and they win trophies as one.
Ronaldo, of course, has done plenty in Madrid since he arrived there. In the 2010/11 season, he scored 40 league goals for them, a club record. He has shone in a team that has been built around his expensive talents. But, whisper it again, despite all those goals, the glamour and the glory… they didn’t win anything noteworthy.
Neither will they again, I suspect, until he has left the club. Certainly not the Champions League, a trophy that Barcelona can monopolise over the next five years simply because, again, they play as a team and Lionel Messi is part of that team, not the headline act.
Fast forward to Fabregas. If he stays at Arsenal then, despite his porcelain hamstring, they’ll win matches, score goals, headline Match of the Day with a sunny September afternoon performance against Norwich; Fabregas will hop, skip and jump across the pitch and be indulged in the sunshine and Arsenal’s 4-0 win will evoke false hope of a trophy, at last, this season. But it’s too little, too often and it isn’t working, whether he plays or not.
Arsenal lost the 2011 League Cup Final because of Fabregas. Because, once again, Wenger had to pick a side that didn’t include him. And that is the root of the clubs problems. He misses so many games that they are lacking the consistency that all great sides need-consistency of selection, style and performance. He’s in and out of the side so often that there is little chance of them ever putting together a team and way of play that is familiar to all of the players, one that can yield good results, week in, week out, regardless of opposition.
Whether he is playing or not, Fabregas is holding Arsenal back. I’ll say this with confidence, had they sold him to Barcelona last Summer, Arsenal would have won a trophy this season, no doubt about it. Why? Because they would have had a more settled side, players and a Manager whose every thought was not dominated by visions of Fabregas, fit or not, staying or not, playing or not, coming off or not?
Real Madrid and Arsenal both indulge their star men and both clubs have suffered for it. I suggest Arsene Wenger makes the very best use of Cesc Fabregas he can this season by selling him to Barcelona. He’ll forget the pain of doing so when they’ve won something in 2012.
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“ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team!” This article shows clearly why…
Why don’t you apply then, smartass
Good article…although most Arsenal fans will berate you for it. Fabregas is clearly someone who is holding Arsenal back rather than bringing them forward. The team is built around him and his talent alone,, while this was the case with Ronaldo we were actually winning trophies while he was in the team, whereas Arsenal are struggling to do that. United were not a team with Ronaldo, however with his departure we have become much more of a team. It seems Arsenal fans and management are so hung up about Fabegas that they devalue the rest of their team and the other players suffer for it.
i do agree that having a team built around 1 player is a very bad idea but please get your facts straight, Real won the copa dey la rey (carling cup equivalent) ronaldo scored the winner.
the article does say ‘anything note worthy’:P
Firstly, the writer here is forgetting that Cesc came into the season on the back of his WC 2010 triumph, therefore explaining why he was so injury-prone this season. Also, Ronaldo HAS indeed won something at Madrid! He scored the all-important winner against Barca in the Copa del Rey final! Writer clearly needs to do a bit of research or at least re-read his article before posting
xavi, iniesta and pique also won the same world cup..and played prominent roles, unlike fabregas who was the super-sub. Left to me he should stay and keep distracting them, trophiless arsenal.
john, this article is right! Why do we build a team around one player all the time? Before it was henry who, to be honest, had players of better quality around him. I think getting rid of fabregas would force the team to rally together to fill the void. And it is this that will make us stronger as a team. So glad ur not a writer on this blog!
madrid havn’t won nothing, they won the spanish cup this season…
Just as building around Ronaldo isn’t the reason Madrid hasn’t won much, lately, having Cesc as Arsenal’s main act can’t be blamed for our last 6 seasons. Ronaldo has made Madrid a lot more competitive than they’ve been for a while and it is only because Barca are just that good Madrid hasn’t won the La liga and UCL. Cesc makes Arsenal play more incisively and it is a ridiculous suggestion that he is the reason the rest don’t play to their potentials. Utter silly talk!
cesc is not holding the team back, they are holding themselves back, they have the talent, they are just too lazy most of the time. dont you dare blame cesc, he is by far the greatest player arsenal have and we dont want him to go, yes, the team is built round him as who else would be the playmaker?, cesc is there in the thick of the game, he reads the game perfectly, he does everything thats asked of him. we need him to stay, oh and barcelona endulge their star man and how many goals has messi scored for them? and how many trophies has he won with them? exactly!!!!!!!!
Finally someone who has the nuts to come out and say it….. cash in. the time is right. i especially liked ”porcelain hamstring” how many games must it cost us….. those who thought negative of this article, think back and look at the games……
u r spot on. Cesc should be sold immediately! He is too injury prone and hence distorts the flow of the team.