Cesc Fabregas to FC Barcelona: Football's longest running saga is coming to an end...maybe

According to several reports (ESPN, Sky Sports, Daily Mail, USA Today) the usual cautious Pep Guardiola has indicated that Arsenal FC and FC Barcelona are engaged in negotiations for the transfer of Cesc Fabregas. Furthermore, Mr. Guardiola has also claimed that FC Barcelona had set aside funds for the capture of Arsenal’s captain, apart from the announced €45 million transfer kitty available to him. The former Camp Nou idol is not known to publicly discuss potential transfers, much less Cesc Fabregas. Although he stated on many occasions that Arsenal’s no. 4 is a wonderful player, he always maintained that Cesc Fabregas is their player. Therefore his latest revelations come as a surprise to many, me included. Can it be? It is possible that one of football’s longest running transfer sagas is coming to an end? According to Pep Guardiola, he and the club are prepared to fight for his signature until the very last day of the transfer window. And if we have learned anything from the past – Pep Guardiola usually gets his wish. In 2009 he wanted to get rid of Samuel Eto’o because of a feeling, which prompted then-president Joan Laporta to sanction the worst transfer in history of football.

With Pep Guardiola’s blessing FC Barcelona shipped off Samuel Eto’o and €49 million (more than Barca’s official budget for this summer) for the services of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Just a year later the volatile Swede was deemed unfit to play for FC Barcelona and once again the club granted Guardiola yet another wish, David Villa for €40 million. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Even among the illustrious big money failures of FC Barcelona one player stands out, Dmytro Chygrynskiy. Signed at a whopping €25 million even I can’t spontaneously recall if he made any first team appearances at all. Pep Guaridola pushed for his signing even though Chygrynskiy was cup tied and no one else in the market for him. Thus it is safe to say that if Pep Guardiola indeed made those remarks, FC Barcelona’s board will make their best efforts to please him.

FC Barcelona’s transfer campaign has just become interesting again.

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