SOCCER:ARSENAL HAVE rejected a formal bid from Barcelona for Cesc Fabregas and told the Catalan club they will not enter into negotiation for the midfielder. A strongly-worded statement released by the club amounted to a warning to back off. "We have no intention of selling our captain," it said.
Barcelona were last night considering a follow-up offer, despite Arsenal insisting both publicly and privately they do not intend to sell.
It is understood their opening bid to have been fractionally short of €40 million, rather than the €35 million fee that was reported.
Barcelona officials have twice made contact with the Arsenal’s chief executive, Ivan Gazidis. On each occasion, they were told Arsenal did not want to sell – the first time politely, the second more firmly. Barcelona sought to move things along with a formal bid, which was faxed to the Emirates on Tuesday night. But Arsenal yesterday insisted they had immediately and unequivocally rejected the offer. “We had made approaches to Arsenal but yesterday, 1st June, the date of the official opening of the transfer window, a formal, written, concrete offer was made, which was sent very late last night,”
Barcelona’s director general, Joan Oliver said yesterday. “We have opened a formal process of negotiation with them.”
Arsenal remain determined not to discuss a sale. A statement on the club’s website confirmed emissaries from Barcelona had spoken to Arsenal and they had received a bid for an undisclosed fee, but reaffirmed their intention to hold on to Fabregas. “Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is under contract with the club until the summer of 2015. He is a highly-valued member of the team and part of our future plans” the statement said. “Yesterday evening we received an offer from Barcelona for Cesc and in response we immediately and resolutely told them once again that we have no intention of selling our captain.
“To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect they will keep their word.”
Fabregas, who joined Arsenal from Barca at the age of 16, had fuelled speculation over a possible return to the club he supported as a boy at a promotional event in the Catalan capital last month.
Fabregas will get a run-out in Spain’s World Cup warm-up against South Korea today but Fernando Torres must wait a little longer, coach Vicente del Bosque said yesterday. Fabregas has been recovering from a cracked bone in his right leg and has not played for two months. The European champions play fellow World Cup competitors South Korea in Innsbruck looking for an improved performance from their lacklustre 3-2 win over Saudi Arabia last weekend.
“Cesc is fine, he has been training better every day and tomorrow he will be one of the ones to play,” Del Bosque said in Austria yesterday.
