EPL News - Part 3: Fabregas saga ends, Barcelona attempts towards Fabregas fail, Andoni Zubizarreta says Arsenal transfer impossible
In the final against Spain, Fabregas assisted the goal that Iniesta scored, which essentially helped Spain lift their first ever World Cup trophy. With all this glory the team returned home to celebrate, with Fabregas being hailed as one of the saviours of the nation.
In the celebrations a couple of Spanish team members who played for Barcelona forced a Barcelona shirt on Fabregas which created an uproar from London as rumours travelled that Fabregas might not be returning back to London to play for Arsenal.
After the World Cup vacations, the fiasco continued with Fabregas and Barcelona demanding the transfer from Wenger. And by now the Spanish club had upped their bid to 30 million pounds but Wenger reiterated what he had said before.
Fabregas was outraged at Wenger’s lack of commitment and for him not keeping his word so they negotiated a deal once again and though the results of the conversation have not been revealed, it is predicted that Fabregas will be leaving the Gunners next season.
Barcelona was not satisfied with this and pursued the midfielder till the last moment. They even increased their bid and took it up to 33 million pounds. Nevertheless Wenger was adamant on not letting Fabregas leave and in the end Fabregas too admitted that for now his future was with Arsenal. But this said, surely the next season would see another bidding war over him.
Fabregas was not only in demand by Barcelona, but Italian clubs Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus were also interested in signing the star. The technical director of Barcelona said that one of the reasons Nou Camp was unable to recruit the star midfielder was their failed strategies and mediocre negotiating tactics.
It can be said for certain that the new president of Barcelona Sandro Rosell who has replaced his rival Joan Laporta is disliked by many. One of the reasons for this is of course his failed attempts to bring the midfielder back home, other reasons include the massive changes he has brought to the club. For instance he has quite literally changed the whole administration of the club along with signing he chosen personnel at important positions.
However Andoni Zubizarreta has said that the main reason he is so infamous at the beginning of his term is his failure to acquire Fabregas. Zubizarreta also explained the reasons why the signing of Fabregas could not take place.
He clarified that the price Barcelona were offering was simply too low. He stated that by the end of the summers though Barcelona had increased their offer to 40 million Euros or 33 million pounds it was still not enough to attract the French manager.
He also stated that Wenger’s reluctance at letting the player return to Barcelona was a big reason. He commented that at the moment Fabregas is the 11th hour Samaritan for the club, therefore the saviour of the club has to rejuvenate his club before his return.
Wenger realizes this and is trying to find a replacement for him, but so far he has quite predictably been unsuccessful. Never the less there are couple of interesting options such as the French player, Samir Nasri.
In a press statement Zubizarreta articulated, “Both the club and the player did as much as possible. Our second offer was €40m. However, from the moment Arsenal said they didn’t want to negotiate, we respected their position."
He added, “We would have liked to have signed him but we weren’t able to negotiate. It wasn’t a disappointment, as it was simply impossible."
Zubizarreta concluded, “Thanks to the conversations, we have re-established contact with Arsenal though," concluded, hinting a future deal may yet be discussed”.
Barcelona on the other hand bought Javier Mascherano after much controversy to strengthen their midfield and be prepared against the Jose Mourinho led Real Madrid this season.
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