ED NOTE: I reached out to the writers at totalBarca just before the end of the EPL season to see if they would interested in a summer series that tracked the Cesc Fabregas story from the other side’s perspective. The article you see here is the first in the series and comes courtesy of Mike Watton of totalBarca.
As I said, over the course of the summer we will track the story as it develops and until it is resolved one way or the other. So without any further fluff on my part – Cesc Fabregas – the Barcelona Side of the Story:
by Mike Watton of totalBarca
How do Barça fans feel about the modern day Star Wars saga that is Cesc Fabregas’ employment situation? It’s complicated. There’s a few different angles that it has to be considered from. There’s on-the-pitch issues, what he means to the club as a figure away from it, and less importantly, how nice it would be to not have to talk about it anymore if he would just get it over with and come. On the whole, there’s probably no standard perspective that Barça fans share. Which makes the topic all the more interesting.
This is probably obvious, but serves as a good starting point: midfield is not a place that Barcelona needs help with at the moment. Xavi and Iniesta have the creating duties on lock in that part of the pitch. Busquets, while probably more well-known to the general public for other reasons, has quietly improved a great deal in his position at the back, and that’s not really where Cesc belongs anyway. This means that Cesc would often find himself on the bench, like he did at the World Cup. Would he be OK with that? It might be impossible to know how he’d react until he’s in that situation for a whole season, and beyond. Occasionally, Iniesta has been moved into a forward position because of injuries, and he and Xavi both are bound to need time off themselves at some point. It would be nice to have Fabregas to fill in when that happens. But that’s not what you typically buy a player of Cesc’s quality (and price) for. At the same time though, Xavi will be turning 32 during the coming year. It remains to be seen how much longer he will be able to maintain his current level. Having Cesc on hand to take his place wouldn’t be terrible.
But there’s another side to that argument. It’s not as though Cesc is the only option on hand for that role. 20 year old youth academy product Thiago continues to make a solid case for being next in line whenever he gets a chance to show his skills with the first team. In fact, a very popular answer among cules when asked about buying Cesc is to say “We don’t need him, we already have Thiago.” No one sees Thiago as a better player today, but many believe he has the potential to get there, so why not have him do it with us? Buying Cesc would block his progress and possibly force him to move to another club. Maybe that’s irrational, as Cesc has already shown what he can do. But on the other hand, believing in the potential of younger players and getting excited about them is one of the great things about being a supporter. It’s not easy to give that up. This is especially true at Barça, where pride in the club’s youth academy is extraordinarily high. Many would prefer to stick with Thiago rather than buy back a player who elected to leave the club when he was 16.
But don’t take that to mean there isn’t a great deal of pride in Cesc being Catalan and a product of La Masia. This is without a doubt the biggest factor that has people hoping to see him in the blaugrana shirt. To fully grasp it, you have to understand the regionalism in Catalonia. This isn’t a political lecture, so I won’t go too deep into it. But when there’s a Catalan player who is making a name for himself as one of the world’s finest, fans will have an extremely difficult time accepting him doing so for another club. It’s a completely different story from seeing Fernando Torres having success in England. The Catalan mindset is an entirely different worldview than the Spanish perspective. They have their own language, their own traditions, and many Catalans feel persecuted by Spain, and that Catalonia should be its own state. Out of that comes the “one of us” mindset. Being Catalan is a special thing, Catalans stick together, and FC Barcelona is an absolutely massive part of that. It doesn’t matter that Xavi and Iniesta are already in his position. Cesc is a great Catalan player, and great Catalan players should be playing for Barça. A lot of foreign supporters of the club don’t give this much thought, but make no mistake, it’s what’s driving the movement to bring Cesc back to Barça.
Of course, no one likes to talk about money unless it’s someone else’s money problems. But it certainly comes into play here. Sandro Rossell, the club’s president for about a year now, has made fiscal responsibility the centerpiece of his reign. Some would say to the detriment of his reign, but that’s another story. The main thing to understand is that Barça won’t be breaking any transfer records this summer. Arsenal, understandably, won’t be giving Cesc away for cheap. Is it really a good idea to spend most of the relatively small transfer budget on a player who will often find himself among the substitutes? Most Barça fans will admit that it would probably be smarter to spend elsewhere, or even hold onto the cash. Having a player of Cesc’s quality certainly would help the club, but again, he doesn’t fill a need. If we’re so hard up for money that we have to sell sponsorship for the club’s shirt, what are we doing spending a large sum of money on a player who plays the position that needs help the least?
So, there’s no easy way to go here. It’s probably fair to say that if one thinks with their head, it’s best to leave Cesc in London. But when thinking with the heart, he’s a difficult proposition to resist. Just ask a Barça player. And since no one is going to stop asking them until Cesc does return, since these stories will never stop until that happens, maybe it’s best to bring him back. It’s like a child who badly wants a toy having a little bit of money, and his parents trying to explain that the money would best be spent elsewhere. You know the kid will be buying that toy, and as for me, I’ve grown tired of resisting him.
Tomorrow: The Arsenal side.
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