How exactly can we evaluate Cesc Fabregas’ worth to Arsenal?

His estimated value to Arsenal is quite rightfully high, for he is one of their only two genuine world-class players – the other being Robin Van Persie. His worth to them is around the £45m mark, but this is a market completely distorted by Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid in 2009.

Ronaldo is a freak of nature. A one-man team wherever he goes it appears. A colossal talent only surpassed in the last 20 years or so by Lionel Messi and possibly even his Brazilian namesake. In short, he may have cost £80m, but could you honestly argue that he isn’t worth it? Of course you couldn’t. Fabregas being worth £45m and upwards though is another question entirely.

The fact that a preposterously rich President was willing to pay such an astronomical sum of money for him does not mean that this is the barometer by which all future transfer activity should be conducted by. It appears that the current market now measures all future transfers of world-class players by the fee paid for Ronaldo and this is simply the wrong way to judge things.

Xabi Alonso moved to Real Madrid for £30m in 2009 and you could argue that Fabregas is a player of similar quality and should therefore command a similar fee to that of the former Liverpool man. Of course that is not quite how the market works, but that seems to be the way that things are done these days since the Ronaldo deal.

Arsenal are well within their rights to drive a hard bargain for a player that they wish to keep. However, it has become clear that Fabregas’s heart is not completely attuned to the Arsenal cause anymore. His head has been turned. Barcelona will be perfectly willing to play the waiting game for another season and with it drive the potential price down even further.

The time to sell Fabregas for a huge sum has passed – his stock has fallen somewhat and if Arsenal truly wanted to cash in on their prized asset, then the time was last summer, not this one.

Barcelona have no pressing need for Fabregas, despite his undoubted quality. They are supremely well-stocked in the areas where he is most comfortable and a move for Alexis Sanchez makes more sense at the moment for them. They seem to revive their interest out of nothing more than routine these days.

Barcelona and Arsenal have been dancing this dance for one summer too many. As a result, Fabregas’s market value simply isn’t as much as either it was last year or Arsenal hope it is now. Until Arsenal realise that the ship to cash in on their skipper has rather unfortunately sailed, they’ll simply have an unhappy player on their hands whose value continues to fall every passing year he spend at the club.

A deal around the £30-35 mark would appear to be a fair price for all those concerned; if Arsenal continue to rather unrealistically ask for more though, then they’ll only be hurting themselves in the long-run in the century’s most inevitable transfer.

Written by James McManus for FootballFancast.com: http://twitter.com/#!/JamesMcManus1

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