Arsène Wenger has not made contact with Cesc Fabregas since the midfielder’s return to England with Chelsea.
There was no good-luck message when he first came back from Spain, Wenger did not speak to Fabregas at Stamford Bridge when Arsenal lost to Chelsea in October and there have been no calls or texts since.
Cesc Fabregas left Arsenal in 2011 to join Barcelona
It may be that Wenger is waiting until after Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday to share a handshake and a catch-up with Fabregas.
Wenger, the Arsenal manager, may also feel there is no need to make a special effort to speak to Fabregas, just as he would not contact any other player from a rival club.
The silence has not altered the fact that Fabregas remains grateful to Wenger for bringing him to England as a 16-year-old and making him Arsenal captain at the age of 21.
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But Wenger’s stance over the midfielder has been baffling since he was first offered the opportunity to re-sign the Spaniard the week before last season’s FA Cup final.
Arsenal made a big play of the fact they managed to negotiate a first-option clause in the deal which took Fabregas back to Barcelona in 2011.
It was agreed that Arsenal could re-sign Fabregas for the £30 million they sold him for, should the player tell Barca he wanted to return.
Wenger said publicly more than once that he believed Fabregas would one day return to north London and potentially finish his career with Arsenal. So there was more than an element of surprise when Wenger did not jump at the chance to re-sign Fabregas when he was first offered back to Arsenal a week before they secured a first trophy in nine years.
Fabregas's Premier League stats at Arsenal and Chelsea
| Team | Games Played | Goals | Assists | Goals & Assists | Mins per Goal | Mins per Assist | Mins per Goal/Assist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 212 | 35 | 70 | 105 | 479.4 | 239.7 | 159.8 |
| Chelsea | 29 | 3 | 16 | 19 | 833 | 156.2 | 131.5 |
Wenger did not give an immediate non. He instead did not give a definitive answer, allowing Barcelona to look elsewhere for buyers. The Spanish club approached Chelsea, Manchester United, who had tried to sign Fabregas a year earlier, and Manchester City.
Within a couple of days of being offered Fabregas, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho informed his son that he would have to miss his final game of the season so he could meet the player personally.
The Spaniard has had an excellent first season at Chelsea
While Wenger had made no attempt to contact Fabregas, Mourinho sat in front of him and told him how he could be the heartbeat of a trophy-winning team.
Mourinho wanted to change the way Chelsea played and told Fabregas that he would effectively be the man to signal a shift in style.
But that did not have to be the end game for Arsenal. When Chelsea put in a firm £27 million bid, Barcelona gave Arsenal and Wenger a seven-day window in which to match the offer and stop Fabregas joining their rivals.
Jose Mourinho was a key factor in Fabregas deciding to join Chelsea
That week expired the day before Spain kicked off their World Cup against Holland and Fabregas was told his move to Chelsea had gone through while he was in Salvador, Brazil. Again, Wenger did not contact Fabregas during those seven days to explain his position or why the timing may not be right. He simply just let the week pass and watched him hold up a Chelsea shirt.
Fabregas realised that joining Arsenal’s rivals would not be accepted by a section of his old fans and he will no doubt be booed on his return to the Emirates, despite Wenger’s request for him to be treated respectfully.
But Fabregas felt he had been given no choice but to consider the best alternatives to the Gunners and was taken by Mourinho’s personal touch.
On Thursday, Wenger refused to divulge his side of the story. Instead, he claimed it was the playmaker who should have to justify why he stopped playing for Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger has made no contact with Fabregas since he left Arsenal
“The regret I have is that he wanted to leave here,” Wenger said. “This club and myself had a very positive influence on Cesc’s life, so I would be a bit uncomfortable to have to justify today why he is not here. I believe I would rather it was the other way around.”
Fabregas had an FA Cup winner’s medal and a Community Shield to show for his time at Arsenal when he first brought up the subject of returning to Barcelona in 2010.
Wenger convinced him to stay by promising that Arsenal would be title challengers the following season and agreed he would be allowed to leave should the club fall short.
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That summer, Arsenal signed Marouane Chamakh, Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci and went on to lose the League Cup final against relegated Birmingham City and finish fourth in the table – one place and one point worse off than the previous season.
Fabregas wanted to win trophies and he did that by claiming La Liga, Copa del Rey and Club World Cup winners’ medals during his second spell at Barcelona.
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It is easy to think that Fabregas must have failed at the Nou Camp to have returned to England so soon, but the figures suggest otherwise.
Last season was his best in La Liga for assists, with 13, while only goalkeeper Victor Valdes started more league games in 2012-13. During that campaign, Fabregas was second in the Barca scoring charts behind Lionel Messi and third behind Andres Iniesta and Messi for the player with the most assists.
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His form at Chelsea has been even better. Fabregas has made 16 Premier League assists, three more than the combined total of Arsenal duo Santi Cazorla and Mesut Özil, and has been one of the players of the season.
Having won the World Cup and two European Championships with Spain, Fabregas is now desperate to complete his set of domestic honours.
The Champions League may be out of his and Chelsea’s grasp this season, but a successful return to the Emirates will just about clinch a first Premier League winners’ medal for Fabregas. It remains to be seen whether or not Wenger will congratulate him personally.
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