Cesc Fabregas says two Arsenal stars prompted him to leave for Barcelona

21 October 2023 , 05:45

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Cesc Fabregas left Arsenal in the summer of 2011 (Image: Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

Cesc Fabregas felt compelled to move on from Arsenal in 2011 because he had out-grown the underperforming club.

Fabregas spent eight years with the Gunners, joining the club as a 16-year-old from Barcelona. The midfielder contributed 57 goals and 95 assists in 303 appearances for Arsenal, but the FA Cup in 2004/05 was the only trophy he won with them.

By contrast, Fabregas spent five years at Chelsea, where he won two Premier League titles and the FA Cup. He was a leader on the pitch for Arsenal, captaining the side from 2008 to 2011, but the final years in north London were not always happy ones for Fabregas. He struggled with the sense of responsibility and found himself annoyed by the performances and attitudes of his team-mates, with the exception of Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri.

“I was the captain, I always felt so much pressure on myself,” he said on the Arsecast podcast in March 2020. “I had to lead this team to win something. I gave everything. Sometimes, I used to go home after we lost and I used to cry, I used to suffer, I used to spend sleepless nights suffering.

“And then you lose a game, you’re in the bus like this destroyed and then you hear some players laughing, thinking about where they will be going out later. This was going on for a few years. Yeah, we were playing beautiful football and I enjoyed that side of things but I was putting pressure on myself to lead, to do everything and at one point I felt kind of lonely.

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“Especially in the last two or three years, I felt Robin and Samir were the only players – it’s not an arrogant thing to say, it’s how I felt at that time – I felt they were the players who were at my level mentally and technically.”

Fabregas left Arsenal to return to Barcelona in August 2011, with the Spanish giants stumping up £25m for his signature. The move put an end to a long-running transfer saga, with Barca long courting the midfielder.

Cesc Fabregas enjoyed playing with Samir Nasri and Robin Van Persie (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

He won silverware in his first season at Barcelona, helping win the Copa del Rey, as well as the Super Cup and Club World Cup. They won La Liga the following year in 2012/13, before moving back to the Premier League with Chelsea.

Unsurprisingly, Fabregas’ comments about his Arsenal team-mates did not go down well with his former colleagues. Bacary Sagna, who was at the Gunners from 2007 to 2014, told Goal: “I was surprised to read this. From him I was surprised because he was supposed to be one of the leaders of the team.

"He was one of the great prospects and as a leader and a true player, you don’t speak like that about your club. Arsenal made him so saying that some players were not at his level was a bit harsh because I’m not sure out of all the seasons he was playing at the club, he was always an exemplary player.”

Felix Keith