Barcelona refused to end their pursuit of Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas after launching a €42 million bid, despite the player appearing to have decided to stay at the Emirates for one more season.
Reports in Spain have revealed that with the lack of a public commitment from the Spanish midfielder, the La Liga champions have taken it as a “come and get me plea” from the player.
Fabregas returned to pre-season training with Arsenal for the first time this summer after the World Cup finals and appeared to be at ease as he shared jokes with team mates, participated in a team photo and warmly acknowledged his adoring Arsenal supporters when they called on him to stay with the club.
But despite his manager’s requests for him to commit himself to the club publicly, Fabregas has instead done the opposite when he was caught telling his hometown fans that he hopes to see them more often in the future – a sign that he still wants to return to Barcelona where he spent his youth as their academy product before the Gunners snapped him up for next to nothing.
Sport.es has since then reported that Barcelona have continued to make moves behind the scenes, and are now hoping to create fresh momentum by returning to north London with an improved offer of €42 million, up from their previous rejected bid of €35 million.
The move will not be welcomed by Wenger after spending the last few weeks making known his frustrations with Barcelona’s public tapping up of his club captain, with several of Fabregas’ buddies insulting the Gunners with references to the Premier League club lacking class by forcing the Spanish international to stay against his will.
The Catalan giants believe that they could still recover a seemingly lost situation before Fabregas plays his first Premier League season game for the Gunners against Liverpool in just over a week’s time, but Wenger has made it clear on several occasions that the midfielder is not for sale at any price, frequently pointing to the five years that Fabregas is still tied to with the club.
Tags: Arsenal, Barcelona, Cesc Fabregas, English Premier League, La Liga, transfer news
