Chelsea reach agreement to sign Cesc Fábregas

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bigredmachine said:
There's a really strong chance that he might have.

He has lived in London before is comfortable in the city, and probably still has a home there. Chelsea can match any wage that we can offer him and top it off with CL from the first season.

Chelsea are in a stronger position to win the league and in Europe than we will be for the next few years.

Easy decision.
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I think that it is far, far more likely that we have been made aware that he doesn't want to come here and prefers Chelsea than the idea we're 'not interested''.

Fabulous, PL proven player at a great age and great price in a position we're desperate to fill (with more than one player!).

No interest from us? I doubt it.
 
I actually don't get why Chelsea need him or even want him. Maybe Fabregas is a different player than what I'm imagining from my previous viewings but my first thought was a bit of confusion given how Mourinho wasn't happy with Mata not tracking back etc.

Is Cesc going to that?! Arsenal didn't play like Chelsea either.

I'm happy to be wrong though, he's a great midfielder.
 
Minimalist said:
I actually don't get why Chelsea need him or even want him. Maybe Fabregas is a different player than what I'm imagining from my previous viewings but my first thought was a bit of confusion given how Mourinho wasn't happy with Mata not tracking back etc.

Is Cesc going to that?! Arsenal didn't play like Chelsea either.

I'm happy to be wrong though, he's a great midfielder.
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They lack any real creativity from deep positions when teams sit back and defend.

Ramires / Matic / Mikel are solid hard working players, but they've also just lost Luiz and Lampard who could play there. IMO central midfield for them is definitely an area to improve.
 
There are a few reasons why Cesc signing suits Chelsea.

1) Mourinho fancies a counterattacking system but also the first half of last season, they were less counterattacking and more proactive offensively. Fabregas helps in both departments due to his creativity and ability to float across the final third and find pockets of space. In the EPL, there seems to be more spaces to exploit in transition and since Cesc developed to be a more direct player with Arsenal, Mourinho can make of use of his ability to play the killer ball on the break or in tighter spaces when Chelsea elect to push up on the opponent.

In a counterattacking situation, Mourinho can allow Fabregas to stay higher to help spring counterattack while Oscar and Ramires work to maintain Chelsea's shape in midfield. Something like this picture for academic purposes:
BpUWrpXIIAA9kDA.png


2) it takes some of the creative burden off the likes of Hazard, Oscar and Willian and gives license for latter two to have more balanced roles. Also another player the opposition have to take into account.

3) Rotation and variety. Chelsea already have a good amount of attacking mids but Cesc is different compared to the other attacking players Mourinho likes to use. He's definitely not as defensively sound as Willian or Oscar and isn't that great of a presser either. Nonetheless, he does give Chelsea options/combinations that werent as effective as before. We know Mourinho likes to be very specific about certain scenarios in a match and for some matches, he will switch up the roles and formation. Having Cesc means Mourinho has a few more attacking options he can make use of
 
Summit said:
One strange thing about that convo for me is the fact the del bosque didn't ask the obvious question. When someone is giving you inside info of a deal, the first question you will ask is which club is he going? He didn't ask which is making me think it was a staged convo tbh.
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Agree.
It reminds me a bit of the time I think the Polish manager came out with some bizarrely strong comments about how Lewandowski was definitely coming to us!
 
FCBarca said:
I thought he was poor in key matches regardless of the stats but the most telling, for me, is that two coaches who knew him as well as a Catalan midfielder can know him and as long as they have for what is needed at the club, in Tito & Pep, sat him in the key stretches. Plus, if you believe the rumour that the bad apple Tata told Zubi about on his exit was indeed Cesc then his exit was virtually assured

Great rant on Cesc's time at Barcelona
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The rant was very damning. I think there are bigger concerns facing Barcelona, such as the lack of a proper defense, the decline of Alves and Xavi... but that was surprising to read.
 
Carrick, Fabregas, Mata is not strong enough defensively. Carrick is not the reason. Fabregas and Mata are the reason. We want to fix the midfield and have a strong midfield. Not swap a midfield that lacks creativity for a midfield that lacks defensive strength. We want attack AND defense in our 3 man midfield. So we need 1 or 2 players who are good defensively and at least 1 of those to be strong attacking.
 
I like Fabregas, he will be one of the best midfielders in the league for sure next season, but we simply don't need him any more. He became kind of obsolete after we signed Mata in January. Fabregas can definitely play in a 2 man midfield but a lot of the time we would just get over run in that area.

I would rather we sign 2 well rounded box to box midfielders and play Mata(Who I think is superior to Fabregas in the final 3rd) just in front of them, something like this..

-------CM----------CM--------
------------Mata-------------
 
SonnyTheHaloPro said:
I like Fabregas, he will be one of the best midfielders in the league for sure next season, but we simply don't need him any more. He became kind of obsolete after we signed Mata in January. Fabregas can definitely play in a 2 man midfield but a lot of the time we would just get over run in that area.

I would rather we sign 2 well rounded box to box midfielders and play Mata(Who I think is superior to Fabregas in the final 3rd) just in front of them, something like this..

-------CM----------Cm--------
------------Mata-------------
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Me too. If we hadn't have signed Mata, then Fabregas to replace Kagawa or Kroos to replace Kagawa would have been very good target to go after
 
Didnt know Arsenal had a 50% sell on clause inserted when they sold him. And we actually made a bid for 25m? knowing that Barca would only take 12.5 of it? Last summer was such a disaster.
 
RedStarUnited said:
Didnt know Arsenal had a 50% sell on clause inserted when they sold him. And we actually made a bid for 25m? knowing that Barca would only take 12.5 of it? Last summer was such a disaster.
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Where did you read that?
 
RedStarUnited said:
Didnt know Arsenal had a 50% sell on clause inserted when they sold him. And we actually made a bid for 25m? knowing that Barca would only take 12.5 of it? Last summer was such a disaster.
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Well isn't he only being sold for £27m now if you believe the rumours? So its not as if the price was way off. Fact is Fab didn't want to leave last year and now he does.
 
These sell on clauses, they are almost always on the profit made from the transfer. So Arsenal would have received nothing had Barcelona accepted our bid last summer as Barca would actually have made a loss on the transfer.

Edit: What BlahBlahBlah said.
 
Cesc for me is a strange one, it would be good to get him, but at the same time if he went to Chelsea I wouldn't be too bothered.
 
hebegebe said:
Cesc for me is a strange one, it would be good to get him, but at the same time if he went to Chelsea I wouldn't be too bothered.
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A side we're directly competing with may add another world class player and you aren't bothered?

Them signing Fabregas may further widen the gap between us depending on who we sign.
 
Orc said:
A side we're directly competing with may add another world class player and you aren't bothered?

Them signing Fabregas may further widen the gap between us depending on who we sign.
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If we sign a better midfielder than Cesc I'll.....doesn't matter...as we wont! The lad we chased and stalked 12 months ago all summer is now not on our list....Brilliant.
 
RedorDead21 said:
If we sign a better midfielder than Cesc I'll.....doesn't matter...as we wont! The lad we chased and stalked 12 months ago all summer is now not on our list....Brilliant.
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Is there even a midfielder in his class that's actually available? Can't think of one.

I still refuse to believe that the likes of Vidal and Schweinsteiger are available despite rumors.
 
RedorDead21 said:
If we sign a better midfielder than Cesc I'll.....doesn't matter...as we wont! The lad we chased and stalked 12 months ago all summer is now not on our list....Brilliant.
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Different manager new ideas or would you rather have Moyes back so we can "try to make it difficult for Newcastle" again? LVG will know who he wants we will proberly have to wait till after the world cup though.
 
Orc said:
Is there even a midfielder in his class that's actually available? Can't think of one.

I still refuse to believe that the likes of Vidal and Schweinsteiger are available despite rumors.
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Schweinsteiger is older, injury prone, past his best. He's not a creative mid either. Thats what we need.
 
Macabre Wolf said:
Different manager new ideas or would you rather have Moyes back so we can "try to make it difficult for Newcastle" again? LVG will know who he wants we will proberly have to wait till after the world cup though.
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Er
Macabre Wolf said:
Different manager new ideas or would you rather have Moyes back so we can "try to make it difficult for Newcastle" again? LVG will know who he wants we will proberly have to wait till after the world cup though.
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Cesc was Fergies choice also....
 
RedorDead21 said:
Schweinsteiger is older, injury prone, past his best. He's not a creative mid either. Thats what we need.
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Is it? With Mata as our number ten, I think most would prefer more defensive midfielders in a double pivot. If Fabregas did come in, I don't think him next to Carrick (with Mata in front of them) would work very well. I think Jones and Fabregas would make a better pairing tbh. I guess the point I'm making is that we'd still need another midfielder to come in to pair with Fabregas.
 
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Kazi said:
Is it? With Mata as a number ten, I think most would prefer more defensive midfielders in a double pivot. If Fabregas did come in, I don't think him next to Carrick (with Mata in front of them) would work very well. I think Jones and Fabregas would make a better pairing tbh. I guess the point I'm making is that we'd still need another midfielder to come in to pair with Fabregas.
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I think that's a little dangerous as Fab does lack some positional discipline. I'm not sure you can have Fab and Mata and then one defensive player, unless that defensive player was an absolute beast
 
Cassidy said:
I think that's a little dangerous as Fab does lack some positional discipline. I'm not sure you can have Fab and Mata and then one defensive player, unless that defensive player was an absolute beast
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That's the point I'm making. We'd have a better balance with two more defensive midfielders in there with Mata. But still, not taking advantage if Fabregas' availability will be a mistake, knowing he'll go to one of our rivals.
 
Kazi said:
Is it? With Mata as a number ten, I think most would prefer more defensive midfielders in a double pivot. If Fabregas did come in, I don't think him next to Carrick (with Mata in front of them) would work very well. I think Jones and Fabregas would make a better pairing tbh. I guess the point I'm making is that we'd still need another midfielder to come in to pair with Fabregas.
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Dont get too greedy...If we bring in Cesc, Shaw and we have one other player coming in I'd take a winger or a CB anyday.
 
Kazi said:
That's the point I'm making. We'd have a better balance with two more defensive midfielders in there with Mata. But still, not taking advantage if Fabregas' availability will be a mistake, knowing he'll go to one of our rivals.
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Ah I see, yeah maybe, however it depends on who we are talking to and who we think we can get. There are always more players available than we the public know about.
 
You do realise that the penalty for pointing out my mistakes is a thread ban don't you? ;)
 
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