The quotes this morning from the Mail of Cesc Fabregas talking to Real Madrid and turning them down to stay on at Arsenal are quite interesting:
On his conversation with Calderon and sporting director Predrag Mijatovic, Fabregas said:
“I have talked with them because they seem to me like spectacular people and they made a great effort to get me to sign.
“It was a very difficult decision for me but with Thierry Henry leaving Arsenal, I feel that I can’t leave the club that has done so much for me. I have a great responsibility this season and I can’t wait to get started and try to win things.
“It made me very excited that a club as big as Madrid were interested in me and that made it a very difficult decision. It’s a chance that doesn’t come around very often but I am only 20 and I have to keep improving and I want to do that at Arsenal.”
Addressing fears that Wenger may not commit himself to Arsenal beyond next summer, when his contract ends, Fabregas added:
“I have every confidence that the manager will sign a new deal.”
Did Wenger (and Arsenal) actually allow Fabregas and his agent to talk to Calderon and Predrag Mijatovic? If that actually happened, then two things come to mind:
- Real Madrid must have been offering an amazing amount of money to Arsenal to get that sort of access.
- Is it possible that the extra-long contract Fab has signed with Arsenal has a buy-out clause that Real Madrid triggered and thus were allowed ‘official’ access to his agent and him?
What do you think?
thanks to Arseblog for pointing me to the story.
