Spanish press say Fabregas to Barca for Xmas

Like children spending Boxing Day wondering what Santa will bring next year, the Barcelona-based Spanish daily Sport has begun the speculation as to who'll be going where in the next window, and stirring the pot while they're at it.

"Cesc will come in June, but it might be in....December!" trumpets their headline, much to the vexation no doubt of Arsene Wenger, who was mighty bothered by Barcelona's interest in his captain this summer and had presumably hoped to enjoy a Barcelona-free autumn.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta appeared on Sky Sports to declare his affection for Barcelona-born Fabregas and (sort of) apologise to Wenger "Sorry to bother you, " he said, "but Cesc is a special case for us."

According to the paper, Barcelona are convinced Fabregas will join them at the end of the season, unless Arsenal have a disastrous group stage in the Champions League, in which case he might be persuaded to bail out in December.

The weakness in the plan is that Arsenal are in a group with three teams that Arsenal ladies could probably take a few points off (AZ Alkmaar, Standard Liege and Olympiakos).

Alternatively, Barcelona are also hoping that Arsenal have a miserable start to the season, leading Arsene Wenger to screw up his plans and start building a new team for next year by, say November. Even the most fanatical anti-Arsenalists are unlikely to have forecast such early disappointment for the Gunners.

More interestingly, how will Barcelona contain their excitement with only 119 days to go before the window opens up again?

Tags: Barcelona, Cesc Fabregas, Joan Laporta