Football Transfer Rumours: Henry hopes Fabregas would do the right thing
Arsenal’s former striker and a legend at the club Thierry Henry has said that he would not be surprised if Cesc Fabregas decides to join Barcelona.
Henry recently joined the American club New York Red Bulls and also called it a day from international football, after the dismal world cup campaign of France.
Henry said that a player like Fabregas deserves to win some trophies and at Arsenal, he has not been able to. The French Striker said that Fabregas has grown immensely as a player and has had a great learning process at Arsenal. He added that a manager like Arsene Wenger was probably the best man to guide him through his early years, but now maybe it is time for him to move on and take on bigger challenges.
The Spanish world cup winning midfielder has long been linked with a move to Barcelona. The Spanish giants made a bid of 35 million Euros but Arsenal declined it. Arsenal has insisted that Fabregas is one of the most important players in the team and they would not want to let go of him.
3 years ago a similar transfer battle took place between Arsenal and Barcelona, the Catalan team were determined to sign Henry and Arsenal knew he was their most influential player and did all they could to keep hold of him. Henry was brought to Arsenal from France by the French manager Arsene Wenger and he became the leading goal scorer for the club for number of years. He was such an integral part of the team that when Wenger sent out a team to play, the formation and strategies were based on Henry. Therefore, there was no surprise that the Gunners were desperate to keep him at the club. The reasons were also quite similar, Arsenal had not won silverware in a while and more than that, there was the question of success in Europe.
Arsenal did make it to the final of the Champions league the same season when Henry was linked with a Barcelona move, and ironically, it was Barcelona that beat them in the final. There was one more similarity in the transfer saga.
Recently there were pictures of Fabregas all over the tabloids when he was forced into a Barcelona jersey after the win in the world cup final. In Henry’s case, he did not put on a Barca jersey but during the final of the champion’s league between Arsenal and Barcelona, a fan ran onto the pitch wearing a Barcelona jersey with Henry’s name on it. That made the headlines alongside the result of the final. Many were prompted to say maybe that fan knew something more than what we do. Henry told media in a light hearted interview before the final that his good friend at Barcelona Ronaldinho texted him and asked should he bring Henry’s Barcelona shirt to the final. Well finally all the speculations ended and along lasting saga was put to rest by Barcelona getting their way and Henry signed for a move to Camp Nou.
Henry said that there is immense pressure on Fabregas, as he is a Barca boy and I know he would love to return to his homeland and win trophies, but yet he does owe a lot to Arsenal. Henry said he would not like to trade places with the 23 year old and hoped he made the right decision in the end.
Henry added by saying that if he starts thinking as an Arsenal fan, he would want him to stay. Henry said that Arsenal still remains in his heart and if Fabregas stays, there it would be great for the club. He went on to say that if one thinks in general terms then yes a player like Fabregas deserves a team that can win trophies regularly, he added that a player’s career is over very quickly and he would not want Cesc to look back and wonder what could have been.
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