By Chris Wright
Barcelona claim to have entered ‘official’ talks with Arsenal over the transfer of Cesc Fabregas.
Quotes on the Barcelona website seem to confirm that talks have begun between the two clubs;
“An informal conversation with Arsenal became formal on 1 June and now an official approach has been made to the club”
Arsenal are yet to comment.
* * * * *
UPDATE: The initial rumours circulating are that Barcelona have submitted a written offer for Fabregas of somewhere around the €40 million (£33 million) mark.
There are also some further quotes from the Barca camp, this time from Barcelona vice president Rafel Yuste;
“We have made the first offer for Cesc. We hope that he will soon be a Barca player [but] as of yet we have not had a response.”
* * * * *
FURTHER UPDATE: The news eminating from Arsenal this afternoon is that they have rejected Barcelona’s offer for Fabregas and basically told them to pack up and jog on.
A statement has been posted on the club’s official site that reads;
“Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is under contract with the Club until the summer of 2015. He is a highly-valued member of the team and part of our future plans.
We have followed recent speculation linking Cesc with a move away from the Club but as there has never been any official approach for him, only two informal exchanges, in which we made it abundantly clear that we have no interest in transferring Cesc, we have refrained from publicly passing comment.
However, yesterday evening we received an offer from Barcelona for Cesc and in response, we immediately and resolutely told them once again that we have no intention of selling our captain.
To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word.”
Sounds pretty definitive to me!