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Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas blames Arsenal's instability for lack of trophies
Former Gunners captain insists he had "given everything" for the club before he departed to join his boyhood club in La Liga, but wishes he had delivered a Premier League title
Dec 8, 2011 8:29:00 AM
By Oliver Platt
Getty Images
Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas has expressed his sadness at leaving Arsenal without having won a Premier League title, and feels the chopping and changing at the Emirates was the reason why they failed to keep up with their rivals.
Fabregas's only trophy with the Gunners came back in 2005, when they beat Manchester United to win the FA Cup. But the Spanish midfielder conceded that the Red Devils, along with Chelsea, raced ahead of Arsene Wenger's team after that defeat due to having a spine of players that remained largely unchanged.
"I’ll always have that thorn in my side, that sadness," Fabregas told FourFourTwo. "I wish I had gone having won something, at least to leave with a title.
Fabregas's only trophy with the Gunners came back in 2005, when they beat Manchester United to win the FA Cup. But the Spanish midfielder conceded that the Red Devils, along with Chelsea, raced ahead of Arsene Wenger's team after that defeat due to having a spine of players that remained largely unchanged.
"I’ll always have that thorn in my side, that sadness," Fabregas told FourFourTwo. "I wish I had gone having won something, at least to leave with a title.
"We never had a team like Manchester United or Chelsea, who have always had a base of seven or eight players together for years.
He continued to explain, "We were always changing; one would come in, another would go, another wants to leave… in the end, it makes a difference."
The 24-year old insisted he did not regret leaving the Emirates Stadium, however, and that the time was right for a move back to the club with which he began his career.
"I thought it was the right moment," he said. "I'd given everything for Arsenal.
He added, "I played with a broken leg, I played when my grandfather died. I gave everything but you reach a moment when you say: 'I can't give any more'."
Fabregas also dismissed suggestions that he took the easy way out by leaving Arsenal for a star-studded Barcelona team in search of trophies.
"I think I took the hardest option," he says. "I will have to work twice as hard to win a place as I did in London."
"I’m not guaranteed a starting position. I'm competing with the best central midfielders in the world, some of the best in history."
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