BARCELONA ARE urging Cesc Fabregas to state publicly his seven-year Arsenal career has run its course and he wants to move to the Camp Nou in the hope of speeding up a deal for the midfielder.
Fabregas has told Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, the time has come for him to return to his Catalan roots but he has not been as explicit in public. Barcelona feel comments by the 23-year-old could help to force the issue after being informed Wenger is ready to dig his heels in.
Whether the tactic would work is unclear because Wenger and his directors are steadfast in their refusal to sell the club's leading player unless Barcelona make an offer to rival the world record €93 million with which Real Madrid secured Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United last summer. The struggle over the player could be a protracted one.
Barcelona are convinced they have their man, with Fabregas having set his heart on joining them. Joan Laporta, the outgoing Barcelona president, wants to add Fabregas to the signing of David Villa from Valencia to gild his legacy. But Barcelona have ground to cover if they are to sign Fabregas and the fear for them, and their target, is that, if they cannot make serious inroads by next Saturday, the pursuit could drag on into the World Cup and provide an unwelcome sideshow for both Spain and the midfielder.
Vicente Del Bosque, the Spain coach, has said he hopes any domestic transfer activity does not affect his players.
Fabregas caused concern at the Emirates Stadium last week when he said he wanted his future to be resolved before the start of the World Cup; Spain kick off their Group H campaign against Switzerland in Durban on June 16th.
Senior figures at Arsenal were bemused. To their minds there was nothing to resolve. Fabregas is under long-term contract, earning €128,000 a week.
The only way Wenger would consider a sale is if Barcelona were to make an extraordinary offer, which would give him the leverage to add three or four world-class players to his squad. Arsenal's robust finances mean he is under no pressure to sell.
Elsewhere, Alex Ferguson has admitted Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and several other United players will miss the start of the season because of their involvement in the World Cup and said there will be a review at Old Trafford to investigate why the club has suffered so many injuries over the last year.
Ferguson is so alarmed by the injury record he has held a series of meetings with the club's medical staff, their conclusion being several players, Rooney included, are being overworked because of the gruelling demands of combining domestic football with representing their countries. "The big area of concern for us is that we had 16 players who missed more than six weeks through injury," Ferguson said, reflecting on the season just gone and United relinquishing the Premier League title to Chelsea. "We have been looking for the reasons for that ever since the season ended."
His decision is that those members of the squad returning from South Africa this summer - United could have eight players involved, including three-quarters of their usual defence in Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic - will be given almost a month to recover before even starting their pre-season training.
Ferguson, speaking in Toronto while promoting the club's pre-season tour to Canada, the US and Mexico, reiterated there were no plans to offload Dimitar Berbatov. "We definitely won't sell Berbatov," he said.
Of possible incomings the United manager argued that the Glazer family were being unfairly accused of not making money available for him in the transfer market. "They have been great owners . . . They have supported me every time I have asked them and we have already spent £20 million on young players. Chris Smalling cost us £10 million, (Mame Biram) Diouf was £4 million and the Mexican (Javier Hernandez) was more than £6 million. Because we are not signing signature players people think we are not moving forward - but we are."
Guardian Service
