Fabregas lifts lid on first coaching role after advice from Arteta and Guardiola
Cesc Fabregas admits he fell out of love with football nearing the end of his playing career but the former Arsenal and Chelsea star has rediscovered the fire as he takes his first steps in coaching as under-19 manager of Italian second-tier side Como.
The World Cup winner, 36, confesses that the Serie B club’s academy is a stepping stone towards what he hopes is eventually a job on the biggest club stage. Yet the most important thing for Fabregas is finding a new lease of life after his injury-interrupted final two years as a player meant turning up to training became a chore.
“It’s the best thing that could have happened to me,” he says. “Retiring after 20 years is not easy and I’ve never thought I’d love anything as much as playing football. But I don’t miss it thanks to coaching. It takes up 88 per cent of my life, 10 per cent is sleeping and I try to do what I can for my family.
“But it’s definitely a step. I didn’t have a preference for [a first job] but I knew I wanted to do it right. Timing is really important and I’m still very young and I don’t want to rush anything. Every new experience will be welcome. I’m enjoying and learning 1,000 new things every day.”
Fabregas performed for some of the game’s most decorated managers - from Arsene Wenger to Pep Guardiola via Jose Mourinho and Vicente del Bosque. And he has not just absorbed every possible detail from their methods but jotted all he can remember down in a notebook that he calls his “trophy.”
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He added: “I am very lucky, blessed, to have worked with so many great coaches with different ideas. They all made me a better player and all these different ideas have helped me.”
He has also been picking the brains of Premier League managers, including Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Brentford boss Thomas Frank, who last week spoke to him about the merits of man-to-man marking. And on top of developing his own team, Fabregas watches two or three games a day on TV to pick up hints and tips in much the same way that Wenger would during his time in north London.
Cesc Fabregas pictured with Marc Bircham, who is on the Como coaching staff (Andrea Butti)Yet as he develops his own formula, Fabregas wants to apply elements from a host of managers rather than focus on a single blueprint. The one non-negotiable is for his team to be “proactive, not reactive” despite recognising the need to “always understand how an opponent is playing.” The rest will fall into place in time.
He adds: “I’m a very curious person. I like to watch, I like to speak to so many people - especially the top people, the ones with most knowledge, but also the people not at the top who have other knowledge and experience.
“It’s not about copying. It’s about getting ideas from different coaches. I’m not talking about myself here, but every top coach. They’ll all say they’ve stolen ideas from coaches they had or others they like. It’s about trying to be more complete every day.”
But the transition to coaching has not come without its challenges. Conveying his ideas to a group of young players has not been straightforward.
“I’m very demanding but if I make a mistake or do something that’s not right tactically, I’ll think about it and put my hands up,” he says. “We’re a family. They know I’ll be very demanding but they appreciate that.”
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