How Cesc Fabregas came to FC Barcelona

For fans of FC Barcelona the news of the summer was that Cesc Fabregas was finally joining the club, after a year or more engaged in a phoney war with Arsenal in which time he was predicted to move but stayed strongly put.

“Cesc” – short for Francesc – Fabregas started his football career at Mataro as a younster and it's claimed that his coach was so afraid of Barça signing him that he wasn't played against Barcelona. In the final analysis they went and did see him and signed him into Barcelona’s youth academy at the age of 10 and played alongside Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi.

Nonetheless because of limited opportunities at FC Barcelona he left and instead joined Arsenal’s youth academy aged 16 and made his debut for the London club in 2003. It wasn't till the 2004/05 season that he changed into a first team regular and played in league matches though.

Making a name for himself, he played against FC Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final, while Real Madrid tried to allow him to go from his Arsenal contract. Replenishing a long-term contract with the Gunners, Cesc played in all the league matches and continued to build his name for creative play and in June 2007 gained 60 % of the votes to be named Arsenal’s Player of the year; he also won the award a year later on.

In 2008 Cesc was made Arsenal’s captain; nonetheless Cesc was sidelined for four months with a knee injury sustained against Liverpool. He also suffered a leg fracture in 2010 against FC Barcelona while playing in the Champions League quarterfinal.

At the end of the 2010 season after playing alongside 1 or 2 Barça veterans in the Spanish squad that took the World cup there had been intense conjecture surrounding his future and in the parties that followed Spain’s win his colleagues pulled at Barça shirt over his head; However , a 35 million bid was rejected by Arsenal.

A year later the 2 groups once again entered into protracted negotiations. Eventually Cesc was permitted to stroll away from the London club and into the arms of his boyhood team – FC Barcelona.

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