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Official: Cesc Fabregas Leaving Barcelona For Chelsea

The deal had been considered a foregone conclusion for a while, but we now have official announcement. The London-based club will pay 33M + 3M in incentives for Fabregas.

Jasper Juinen

It seems unbelievable that Cesc Fabregas, a La Masia product, diehard Barcelona fan, and a friend of key players, will be leaving.

What's even more unbelieable is that he'd move to Jose Mourinho's Chelsea.

It was a Mourinho player, after all, who tried to spoil his first game at Barcelona.

Fabregas went down after an exceptionally reckless challenge by Marcelo in a 3-2 win over Real Madrid. Marcelo was sent off, spurring a confrontation between the teams.

Fabregas replaces fellow Spainiard Juan Mata, who was sent to Manchester United in mid-season. He joins national teammates Cesar Azpilicueta and Fernando Torres at Chelsea.

Arsenal, his former club, were seemingly not interested in bringing him back in. They did not exercise their right of first refusal.

The #4 leaves Barcelona with a good trophy haul and statistics. He was at times criticized for being inconsistent.

In all likelihood, his replacement will be Sevilla's Croatian midfielder, Ivan Rakitic.

According to Rakitic's compatriot, Luka Modric, the deal is done.

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