Arsenal to relent to captain's exit requests

The optimism of a few months back and talk of quadruple challenges are long gone at the Emirates, where it's impossible to find any good-news stories right now.

The latest tabloid murmuring about Arsenal comes courtesy of The Sun, who claim that the north Londoners are ready to accept defeat in their lengthy attempts to convince captain Cesc Fabregas that his future with the top-four regulars, who haven't won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup.

The Spanish midfielder has his heart set on a return to Barcelona and at one point looked set to get his way last summer, before Arsene Wenger eventually persuaded him to stay loyal to the club that he was still contracted to for another five years, however it is claimed that their stance is softening.

Another campaign without any silverware is expected to be enough on Fabregas' part to justify asking for a move away, having agreed to commit for this season in the belief that their wait for medals might finally end, and it is suggested that Wenger is willing to grant his skipper's request.

The French tactician would of course demand a significant fee to convince him to part company with his 23-year-old star, thought to be in the region of £35 million, though and there are doubts over whether Barcelona would be willing to spend that much on a player not guaranteed to start.

Real Madrid are said to also be interested in bringing the World Cup winner back home, but opinion is divided as to whether he would consider such a switch given his obvious ties with Barcelona.

If he does leave the Premier League this year, he will look to do so on good terms and the obvious way of achieving that is to salvage a first top-two finish in six years for his current employers despite their latest spectacular collapse.

Think they can overhaul in-form Chelsea to achieve that goal? They are [6.6]...

Published: 27 Apr 2011

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