CESC FABREGAS is on the verge of completing his dream move to Barcelona and
bringing an end to one of the longest transfer sagas of recent years.
But after such a long wait, things were never going to run smoothly on a day
which began with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger saying in his morning press
conference: “Nobody will be leaving Arsenal.”
The influential midfielder, 24, had originally been expected in Spain this
weekend to complete a £36million move and commit to a five-year deal.
But although the Gunners had given the green light for talks to go ahead,
negotiations were still on-going when Barcelona stars began announcing news
of the transfer being done on their twitter accounts.
Gerard Pique declared “He’s finally here!” while skipper Carles
Puyol sent a “welcome home” tweet to Fabregas’ official account.
But as the afternoon progressed, it became clear that the Arsenal favourite
was still in London and would not sign in time to make his Barca debut
against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup on Sunday.
Keeper Victor Valdes then spent much of a scheduled press conference talking
about Fabregas’s impending arrival rather than his club, angering boss Pep
Guardiola who was mindful of upsetting the Londoners having just got
agreement to sign the player.
Fabregas is now expected to travel to Spain after the weekend to finally put
pen to paper.
He had been a long-term target of the Catalan giants and as Spain celebrated
their World Cup win last summer his team-mates teased him by pulling a
Barcelona shirt over his head.
