Fabregas has sly dig at Arsenal’s silverware prospects
Published:For a player possessing the quality of Cesc Fabregas, going six seasons without winning a domestic trophy certainly represents underachievement and this is the dominant reason he decided to finally leave Arsenal.
The Spanish international has quickly justified his decision to return to boyhood club Barcelona as he has already collected two trophies in the matter of weeks.
Although the Spanish equivalent of the charity shield and the European Super Cup are not the trophies that Fabregas was ultimately leaving for, it is a start and the way he has wasting little time settling in at the Nou Camp suggests that others may follow this season.
Yet while Fabregas dreams of lifting the Champions League, his departure has heavily influenced Arsenal being in their biggest spell of trouble since Arsene Wenger took over at the club in 1996.
Winning the Premier League looks impossible with the current squad, while fourth is seemingly the best they can hope for, although just qualifying for a 15th successive Champions League campaign is looking like a major challenge.
Fabregas believes he knew the writing was already on the wall and that it would be a long time before the club regained its perch of being serious challengers to win either the Premier League or Champions League.
He told Sport magazine: “If you look at them this season I can’t see them finishing in front of Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea.
“I fear they won’t be able to push the other big clubs in England away. It was part of my decision to leave.”
Arsenal’s odds are now 25/1 to win the Premier League, 6/5 to finish in the top four, 10/11 to triumph at Blackburn next and 28/1 to lift the Champions League for the first time this season.
