Jamie Ireland
Louis van Gaal confused many by seemingly ending the Manchester United pursuits of Toni Kroos and Cesc Fabregas, but I think he has an ulterior motive.
Spanish paper Marca reports that it is Chelsea and Manchester United who are the two clubs in the lead to sign Fabregas, not his former club Arsenal.
There was talk of a buy-back clause in the midfielder’s contract, which would give Arsenal first refusal on their former Captain if he ever tried to leave the Camp Nou.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, they don’t need a Fabregas anymore, they require more players with pace and power. This leaves the door open for United to take advantage.
It came as a quite a shock when it was reported that Barcelona were willing to let Fabregas go, only three years after his return from Arsenal.
It is clear that new boss Luis Enrique is trying to re-vamp Barcelona’s tiki-taka style and perhaps Fabregas is just too direct compared to Xavi in centre midfield.
The former Arsenal Captain wants to return to England, where he is appreciated, after a season which saw him booed by his own supporters.
A harsh reaction considering he was statistically Barcelona’s most influential midfielder, scoring eight goals and contributing 13 assists in La Liga this season. (Squawka)
I think, the reason that van Gaal ended their pursuits of Kroos and Fabregas was because he believed that the two would say no and he didn’t want to go through the same trouble David Moyes has the previous summer.
So he essentially ended the transfer talk with Kroos, before Kroos had the chance to reject the move, but now that Fabregas may not be needed at Arsenal could he join his former teammate Robin van Persie?
Anything is possible in football nowadays.
