Three and in – not just another football blog

Some weeks back I touched on the subject of Barcelona and their pursuit of Cesc Fabregas. At that time I said that unless they were prepared to pay his full market value then no deal would take place. Arsenal still hold a strong hand – Fabregas has 5 years left on his current deal and Arsenal are not in any kind of financial position that necessitates a sale unless the price really is right.

On the other hand Barcelona’s finances are an absolute shambles. Sandro Rosell has inherited a great team from his old friend Joan Laporta but a club with a mountainous debt. Rosell talks of ‘cash flow tensions’, there are those who would suggest having to seek an emergency loan of €150m to cover unpaid wages to players and staff a little more serious than that.

As well as that there are concerns that the TV deal with Mediapro (Spanish clubs are free to negotiate their own broadcast deals unlike the collective arrangement in the Premier League) is in trouble as the company is in receivership. It’s hard to imagine that a team as successful and pretty to watch as Barcelona would have trouble finding a new partner but it’s another complication.

There’s been some money in through the sales of Yaya Toure to Man City (£24m) and Dmytro Chygrynskiy – although the sale of the Ukrainian back to Shaktar Donetsk has actually cost Barcelona €10m having paid €25m for him just last summer. Yet even City’s millions, a considerable percentage of which is sure to have been up front due to the Abu-Dhabi owners ability to pay that way instead of installments, made little impact. Barcelona went begging to the banks for money to pay their players. That is a club in real financial difficulty.

So, how on earth can they expect to persuade Arsenal to sell their prize asset? If they’re borrowing money just to keep things ticking over there’s simply no way they can afford the kind of transfer fee if would take to get Arsenal to even consider the offer.

Barcelona have known all along they simply couldn't afford the Fabregas fee

And there’s the other angle too – the player himself. It’s clear that Cesc Fabregas would like to go back to his former club. He sees his friends and former teammates playing beautiful football and winning trophies, at Arsenal the closest he’s come to a trophy since the FA Cup final in 2005 was the 2006 Champions League final in which defeat was inflicted by Barcelona. Since then they’ve never realistically challenged for the Premier League, just reached one domestic cup final and have been exposed in the last two seasons by Barcelona and Manchester United in the latter stages of the Champions League.

As well as that any young man who lives abroad for a time gets the itch to move home, to friends, family and familiar surroundings. You can be sure that Barcelona, from players to officials, chairmen and former chairmen, have filled his head with wondrous tales of how great life would be. And I’m sure it would. But are they being fair to Cesc Fabregas?

It’s hardly as if these financial issues have cropped up overnight. Before he took charge Rosell was urging caution about the situation and the club’s spending. Through making their interest so very public Barcelona sought to destabilise Fabregas at Arsenal. It’s a well-worn tactic. If they could drive a wedge between the player and the club and/or the fans then it makes their life easier and a deal at a lower price is inevitable.

Whatever his desires though, Cesc Fabregas has great respect for Arsenal, Arsene Wenger and most of all the Arsenal fans with whom he has a real connection. If he’d agitated and spoken in public about his desire to leave North London Barcelona would have been sitting pretty. He didn’t, despite pressure, I’m sure, from Barcelona to do just that. Arsenal’s response to the Catalans continued pursuit of the player was unequivocal and definitive.

Barcelona have known all along that they simply couldn’t pay what Arsenal would want yet they led Fabregas to believe they would do what it took to bring him back to the club. They used him, unsuccessfully, to try and drive down the price to one they could just about manage provided Arsenal agreed to a long-term installment deal.

The whole thing has backfired, they have little financial credibility and the idea that they can come up with a transfer fee big enough to persuade Arsenal to sell is ludicrous.

Nobody is foolish enough to rule out Cesc’s return to Barcelona at some stage but if the Catalans really have any interest in the player beyond that as a trophy signing they should call the whole thing off now. Apologise for leading him on, tell him a deal is beyond their means at the moment and let him concentrate on his career. He’s still just 23 with plenty of time on his side to go back one day.

Just not now.

Barcelona midfielder, Xavi Hernandez, is getting quite a reputation. Not for his sublime passing or the way he controls midfield for both his club and country, but for incessant comments about the biological make-up of Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas.

He appears to be somewhat consumed by DNA. Look at what he’s been saying:

June 2010 – “He’s a footballer made up of Barca DNA. I don’t have any doubt that Cesc would triumph at Barca”

February 2010 – “Cesc is part of Barcelona’s DNA.”

October 2009 – “He is a football player with Barça DNA and he is showing at Arsenal that he is on another level.”

May 2008 – “Cesc Fabregas has Barcelona DNA”

Perhaps Xavi has ambitions to be a scientist or a CSI once his playing career is over but he really needs to focus on other things. It’s just not healthy for a footballer, who should be concentrating on the World Cup, to worry so much about the nucleotides of a fellow professional. A bit like John Terry knocking up Wayne Bridge’s ex, it is a line one should not cross, one of the great unspoken rules of the dressing room. Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole famously fell out when Sheringham openly mocked the length of Cole’s polymers.

I am quite positive that Xavi has surreptitiously taken samples of Fabregas’s DNA. His constant talking makes that obvious. I can imagine that during one of the Spanish national team get-togethers, Xavi crept into Cesc’s bedroom as he slept and gently swabbed the inside of his mouth. However, it is highly unlikely, despite his enormous wealth, that Xavi has the technology or the know-how to do a full DNA test which would establish Cesc’s genetic make up once and for all.

So the more he talks about Cesc’s DNA the more foolish he makes himself look. He might have patented the two-drag back through pass with the back of the foot (the double heelix) but Xavi is no Watson or Crick.

Not by a long shot.

Barcelona have been very vocal in their pursuit of Cesc Fabregas over the last couple of weeks. So much so you’re reminded of the old adage about a dog’s bark being worse than his bite.

Certainly Barcelona talk a good transfer, they don’t seem too keen on the nuts and bolts of this one though. Outgoing President Joan Laporta seems to be less certain than he was, saying:

We will not sign any players for above market value. We are interested in signing Cesc and Arsenal know that but we will not pay an exorbitant price for any player.

When it comes to market prices, we’ll strengthen where we can but will not pay an unrealistic price.

So what is the market price for a 23 year old, world class central midfield player with 5 years left on his current contract with a club who don’t want to sell him? It’s certainly not the €30m Barcelona keep talking about. That’s what Real Madrid paid for Xabi Alonso last summer. I like Alonso but he’s no Cesc Fabregas.

Last summer Barcelona paid €25m for Dmytro Chygrynskiy. Do they expect us to believe that Cesc Fabregas is only worth €5m more than a Ukrainian centre-half? They paid £28m (with a potential £6m in add ons) for Sevilla’s Dani Alves, who is a fine player but if this is what they’re prepared to pay for him then they’re going to have to get real when it comes to Fabregas.

And isn’t it interesting to note that Barcelona say they won’t pay an unrealistic price for a player less than 12 months after giving Eto’o and £40m to Inter Milan for the mercurial Zlatan Ibrahimovich. Eto’o + £40m for a player who is remarkable on his day but will never produce as much and as consistently as Cesc Fabregas. It’s a bit late to talk about not paying unrealistic prices now.

Looking at what Barcelona are prepared to pay for other players I don’t think Arsenal’s reported £70m valuation of Cesc is too far off the mark at all. There might be a bit of room for negotiation but not much.

What Arsenal are not looking for is not exorbitant. It’s market value and unless Barcelona accept that and put their money where their mouth is – as they have so often in the past – I believe Cesc Fabregas will playing in red and white next season.

I suspect you’ve heard, but there’s a credit crunch on.  As the transfer window swings open, managers all over Europe will make like David Dickinson and indulge in some serious bargain hunting – and they don’t come better than a Bosman.  This summer there are several big names available on a free.  In fact, there’s a whole teams-worth.

Having waived his right to a new deal in order to secure first-team football and a World Cup slot, David James is certain to be one of the first out of the door when the formalities of Portsmouth’s season are completed.  Although he will be 40 by the time next season starts, he’ll still be a viable option for the majority of Premier League sides.

It’s not often that a man who has scored the winning goal in a Champions League Final comes up for grabs, but that’s exactly what Juliano Belletti is.  He’d be my pick for right-back, though at Chelsea he’s shown that he is equally adept as a holding midfield player.  At left-back, Atletico Madrid’s Mariano Pernia has had enough injury problems to make him a significant gamble, but if he can regain some semblance of fitness his rocket-powered left boot would be an asset to any team.

At centre-back, an experienced partnership of Fabio Cannavaro and William Gallas would set you back plenty in wages but nothing in fees.  Cannavaro’s form for Juventus has been poor this season, but his impending retirement from International football might help him cope better with the domestic game.  A switch to Serie A rivals Fiorentina has been mooted.  William Gallas could soon join him in Italy, with a move to Roma on the cards after continuously stalling on signing a new deal at Arsenal.

If you need a couple of wide midfielders, there are two left-footed Premier League menaces for hire.  Martin Petrov has been edged out of the City team by Adam Johnson’s arrival but is still one of English football’s best pure wingers.  Morten Gamst Pedersen, meanwhile, was linked with the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool little more than two years ago.  His diving has made him something of a laughing stock since then, but if he can recapture his former purple patch he’d be a bargain worth snaffling.

In the middle, you can get a two-for-one deal at Stamford Bridge – the deep-lying Michael Ballack sitting just behind Joe Cole.  At 33, Ballack is not the marauding midfield Kaiser he once was, but the more leisurely pace of Serie A might enable him to prolong his career by a year or two.  Failing that, he’d be welcomed back to Germany with open arms – and Bayer Leverkusen are rumoured to be interested.

Joe Cole, meanwhile, seems to be one of the first Chelsea players to suffer the consequences of Roman Abrahmovich’s decision to tighten the strings on his silk purse.  One can understand the hesitancy to pay a player who has started only 14 league games this season £120,000 p/week, but Cole won’t be short of suitors if he decides to look elsewhere.  The most likely destination appears Spurs, where he’d be reunited with former mentor and compulsive wheeler-dealer Harry Redknapp.

Upfront there are a couple of aerial powerhouses to get on the end of Petrov and Pedersen’s crosses.  Marouane Chamakh seems all but certain to turn down Spurs and Liverpool to sign for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.  And with 18 Bundesliga goals and a guaranteed period of rest this summer, Brazilian-born Kevin Kuranyi represents an alluring opportunity to any manager looking to bolster his front-line.

Although the window is not yet open, these players have all been able to discuss moves from January 1st, and may have already agreed pre-contracts.  How many of them are really still up for grabs remains to be seen…