As always, I maintain that this was never on.
That said, you can pretty much ignore Sun quotes that come from 'an insider' or 'a source'. It's their way of making shit up with no repercussions. Notice how the diction doesn't change at all between 'quote' and article. This in particular -
'It has been a battle trying to dislodge Xavi and Iniesta, or slot in successfully beside them, but he has had his fair share of games and wants even more'
- is written in exactly the same style as the rest of the article. It's clearly the inflection of a sports journalist. Quoted speech never sounds like that, especially when it is from someone not speaking in their first language or being translated (and presumably this Barcelona/Fabregas source would be Spanish). Compare it with the legitimate Martino quotes below, which are broken and grammatically flawed, as speech almost always is.