Barcelona have slammed their departing player Cesc Fabregas and claimed the midfielder’s performance dropped in the final season.
The 27-year-old joined his boyhood club after spending eight years at Arsenal in 2011. The Spain international has agreed terms to join Chelsea and will return to the Premier League next season.
“There has been a downward trend in his stats every season at the club,” Barcelona issued a statement.
“He slipped right back into the FCB system as if he’d never been away. But despite glowing starts to each campaign, Cesc’s contributions to the cause gradually decreased as each season drew to a close.”
“From being someone who joined in with the attack, supplying and scoring goals, the magic tended to fade later on in each season,” the statement continued.”
“He only scored one, six and one goals in the last 24 games of each season. For some reason, he was never as good in the second half of a season as in the first,” it added.
During the 2013-14 season, Fabregas scored eight goals and managed 13 assists from 36 league appearances. The former Arsenal skipper was the third highest player to make for the Catalan club last campaign.
If the reports are to be believed, Barcelona wanted to offload Fabregas in order to raise funds to bring in players in the summer transfer window.
Before he agreed to join the Blues, the Spanish midfielder reportedly attracted interest from Manchester United and Liverpool, while Arsenal rejected a chance to re-sign him.
If his performance was so poor as Barcelona claims, it is unlikely that he would have been subjected to interest from top clubs in England. His addition to Chelsea squad will be a major boost for the Stamford Bridge club.
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