In what will further rub salts into the wounds of Arsene Wenger, the Barcelona vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu has said that they had got Cesc Fabregas rather cheap. According to Bartomeu, Fabregas was worth at least €60 million and that credit must be given to the club for luring him to Barca for an amount as low as €29 million.
The 24-year-old midfielder, who played for Arsenal for a period of eight years, is now back with Barcelona, with whom he had played as a young boy.
Bartomeu also likened the transfers to a game of poker. He said that under normal circumstances Fabregas’ price would have been much more, but because he wanted to play for Barcelona only, he had reduced his value. He added that despite nothing being leaked to the media, there were obviously a few loopholes here and there which make it impossible to keep the negotiations within the four walls.
He also added, “The fact that we announced in advance that we would only spend €45m this summer worked to our advantage. Clubs were already well aware of our stance.”
Fabregas has had an excellent start for his new club, Barcelona after helping his side win 3-2 in an ill-fated home win over Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa and then going on to score in both, their 2-0 European Supercup win over Porto and 5-0 victory over the Villarreal club.
Fabregas has, however, also revealed that it was Wenger who managed to convince the Arsenal board to reduce the asking price from Barcelona so that he was able to take the transfer to his dream club.
The star player, who said that he was gutted watching the Gunners lose 8-2 to Manchester United, said, “Without Arsene I would not be a Barca player now. He convinced the owners of Arsenal – who would not sell under any circumstances – to lower the price.”
Crediting the Gunners’ coach, Fabregas said that without Wenger’s presence he wouldn’t have made his EPL debut at a tender age of 16 and nor would he have made it to the final of the Champions League at 18 and team captain by 20.
Fabregas admitted, “I would be nothing without him — what he has given me is priceless.”
Fabregas did say that the reason why he switched to Barcelona is that he was unhappy with the lack of titles that the side won during his time with the club.