Cesc Fàbregas is perfect. I knew this before meeting him as Sir Trevor
Brooking, the FA director of football development, named the Arsenal
midfield player the ideal role model, albeit wistful that he is not English.
But Fàbregas is not remotely like your average English player. As the debate
rages over whether an Italian should manage the England team and whether the
England team need a foreign manager only because there are too many foreign
players stifling English talent, Fàbre-gas pointed out something that has
been too often overlooked. English players lack the bravery to go anywhere.
“I don’t see a lot of English players taking the risk to go out of the country
to try to fight for their chance,” Fàbregas said. “It looks like they are
comfortable where they are and that is it. For me, I had to leave my country
to fight for my life and my chance and my dream. Sometimes that is what you
have to do, but I don’t see a lot of English players going to Spain or
Italy. Sometimes you have to take a step back to go one forward and
sometimes they are just comfortable with what they have.”
But would English players be welcomed in Spain or Italy? “Definitely, why
not?” he said. “There are amazing players and amazing talent in England. If
they had the chance to go to another country and they could do it; there
would be more English players who are great.”
Fàbregas knows all about taking the plunge. He went to London aged 16 and was
shown the tourist attractions as part of his introduction to Arsenal, but he
did not let it influence him. “I didn’t think about London for those
things,” he said.
It was just as well he didn’t as he stayed cooped up in his landlady’s house.
“I was training and I was enjoying what I was doing but not London really,”
he said. “But I started to live on my own. I did more things because I was
older, I started to know more people, get on better with my teammates.
“I go to Parliament or the Tower of London when my grandparents come because
they want to see things. My grandad tells me about history, he knows more
about it than me.”
His friends back home are not convinced. “People in Spain say to me ‘ah, you
must be eating bad food or the weather is not good,’ ” he said. “I really
like the food in London, maybe they go to McDonald’s every day.”
Fàbregas is extremely close to being fit enough, after a hamstring injury, to
feature in Arsenal’s match against Chelsea tomorrow. “It’s just another
weekend but an important one,” he said. “One of Liverpool or Manchester
United will lose points, which is a good thing. We will still have to fight
even if we win.”
He’ll catch half an hour of the game at Anfield on the team bus tomorrow and
takes a particular interest in Liverpool because of the Spanish connection,
often chatting to Xabi Alonso. “They are very intelligent, very strong,” he
said of the Spanish contingent. “They know how to play in England. They
don’t go crazy. They are calm, they know what they have to do as they have a
very good manager and I think they are very intelligent.”
But just how mature is this player who, at the age of 20, is still young
enough to be called a prodigy? For a brief moment it seemed he was
desperately childish. Asked to sum up Arsène Wenger in six words, he chose,
as one, “Smelly.” But he meant intuitive. For the record, Wenger is,
according to Fàbregas, talented, sacrificial, intelligent, intuitive,
patient and a winner.
Fàbregas was obviously a smelly – or, rather, intuitive – player from the
minute he made his Arsenal debut aged 16 in 2003. But he has progressed from
looking like a cultivated playmaker to an all-round goalscoring star. He
scored four goals in 49 appearances last season, but has been on target 11
times this term. What is the secret? “It depends on the type of midfielder
you are; if you are a defensive midfielder or an attacking midfielder,” he
said.
“Sometimes you score goals but don’t really get into the game, but sometimes
it’s the opposite; you get into the game but don’t score. I am working to be
both things. I try to get into the box, I try to score goals, I try to
assist my teammates, I try to be creative, to make them play. That’s what I
am trying to do. I am working to be a more complete player.
“When I was young, my dad was the coach and he always put me in midfield, but
when you are so young you don’t know what is midfield or right back so you
just go and try to score goals. But then I joined Barcelona and they show
you how to play tactically and it helped me to be calm and play for the
team.”
So it was inevitable he would choose Arsenal. “Their philosophy helped me to
adapt because it is the type of football I love to play,” he said.
Fàbregas makes ambitious statements but delivers his aims with a twinkle in
his eye. Asked to draw a picture of himself on a white board at the Arsenal
academy, he depicts himself scoring against Chelsea so that his team win
1-0. He behaves almost as an eager fan. “I ask the supporters to cheer and
help the team even if we are behind,” he said. “It’s very important.”
And he appears to have genuinely enjoyed meeting the autistic children at the
TreeHouse school in Muswell Hill, North London, that both The Times
and Arsenal are supporting in a charity appeal this Christmas. “We played
with the kids and enjoyed the time and made them smile because this is what
it’s all about,” he said.
Was he nervous about meeting children who might not respond as others he has
met respond? “Maybe a little bit, but we were very happy because you could
feel they were having a great time,” he said. “We said ‘give me five’ and
they were playing with us so we were very happy, William [Gallas] and I, at
the end of the day.”
In all likelihood the kids did not know who Fàbregas was. “It’s not about
famous people, it’s about being happy and trying to help them,” he said. “We
don’t do it to get the publicity. We want to help these children. We don’t
do it because we will look good. I know all my teammates do these things
because it is the right thing to do.”
His family will fly over for Christmas and his grandmother will cook Christmas
lunch. “My house is going to be packed,” he said with a laugh – and you can
tell it is bound to be fun.
Stat attack
Arsenal v Chelsea Arsenal home and away v Chelsea
P 140 W 57 D 44 L 39
Arsenal home v Chelsea
P 70 W 34 D 19 L 17
Past two meetings Arsenal 1 Chelsea 1, May 6, 2007 Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1,
League Cup final, Feb 25, 2007
- Chelsea are unbeaten in ten meetings with Arsenal in all competitions: won
five, drawn five
- Arsenal are the only club who have scored in every Premier League game this
season – 16
- Chelsea have kept more clean sheets than any other team – ten
- Arsenal have never lost when Emmanuel Adebayor has scored
- Kolo Touré has played every minute of every Arsenal Premier League match
this season
- Chelsea have won only one of the past 17 league games away to Arsenal - 2-0
on December 18, 2005, with Arjen Robben and Joe Cole scoring the goals
Liverpool v Manchester United
Liverpool home and away v United
P 148 W 49 D 43 L 56
Liverpool home v United
P 74 W 35 D L 18 L 21
Past two meetings Liverpool 0 United 1, March 3, 2007 United 2
Liverpool 0, October 22, 2006
- José Manuel Reina has played every minute of every Liverpool Premier League
match this season
- Liverpool have eight more points than at this stage last season
- Liverpool have won their past five matches at Anfield, with an aggregate
score of 20-2
- Liverpool have been behind at half-time only once in the league this season
– away to Everton in October
- United were the only club to beat Liverpool home and away last season
- United are trying to beat Liverpool for the fourth time in a row in the
league
