ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:THE ARSENAL chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, has reinforced the club's resistance to Cesc Fabregas's proposed transfer to Barcelona, insisting the board would not welcome a bid for the player and criticising the Spanish champions for courting him through the media.
Barcelona are convinced that Fabregas will join them this summer, after he met Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, to tell him of his desire to leave. The issue appears to have been forced and Barcelona believe that it is only a matter of time before they agree a fee for Fabregas, in the region of €40-€45 million.
On the day that Arsenal completed the signing of the Morocco striker Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux, Barcelona’s technical secretary Txiki Begiristain says that he has attempted to open “respectful” negotiations with Arsenal, in the wake of Fabregas making plain his desire.
“As he (Fabregas) has the will to return (to Barcelona), we contacted Arsenal to ask them if they are ready to negotiate,” Begiristain said. “We are waiting for an answer.”
Arsenal’s answer is certain to be “No”. Wenger will not sanction the deal that Barcelona want – any offer from the Catalan club would have to be of record-breaking proportions for Wenger even to consider it and he retains the hope that Fabregas can be talked round.
Hill-Wood has now gone on record with the club’s stance and he expressed the confidence that Fabregas, the captain and midfield talisman, would remain an Arsenal player next season.
“We haven’t had any official approach from them (Barcelona),” Hill-Wood said. “We have made it perfectly clear we don’t want to lose him. The message has been given to them we don’t want to lose him and we will do our damnedest to keep him.”
Hill-Wood was asked whether Arsenal could thrive without Fabregas. “Yes, I think so,” he replied. “We have done pretty well without one or two other star players. I would like Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Tony Adams back but they are 10 years too old. Anyway, Cesc hasn’t left yet, remember. We very much hope he stays with us and we’re confident he will.”
Hill-Wood said at the time of Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final with Barcelona towards the end of this past season that “assurances have been made at the highest possible level” that the Catalans would not move for Fabregas when the summer transfer window opened.
“Arsenal do not expect those to be broken,” Hill-Wood added. What then has Hill-Wood made of Barcelona’s courting of Fabregas through the media? “It’s a funny way of doing business,” he said.
While Arsenal completed the Bosman signing of Chamakh yesterday on a long-term deal, William Gallas is expected to leave, together with another defender, Mikael Silvestre, who is to be released as a free agent.
Wenger has been willing to break his policy of offering only one-year contract extensions to players over the age of 30 by granting Gallas two years on significantly reduced wages. But Gallas is not prepared to accept this and Paris St-Germain are at the head of the queue to take him away on a longer-term deal.
Samir Nasri, the Arsenal midfielder, told French TV that plenty of his team-mates no longer speak to Gallas and it appears that the 32-year-old has reached the end of the road at Emirates Stadium.
Sol Campbell continues to mull over Wenger’s offer of a one-year contract. Campbell would be happy to be a back-up but he must consider where he would rank in the central-defensive pecking order. Wenger will have Johan Djourou available after injury and he is certain to add fresh blood in the position, in which he already has Thomas Vermaelen.
But Campbell needs to know whether Wenger will sign two new centre-halves and how that would affect him, in what could be his last season as a professional. The 35-year-old has lucrative offers from elsewhere in the Premier League but he is happy at Arsenal.
GuardianService
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