Cesc Fabregas is the exact kind of coach Man Utd need after proving himself with Como

Fabregas' final season at Monaco was the most difficult of his entire career. He was blighted by injury issues and managed just 36 minutes of game time across the entirety of the 2021-22 Ligue 1 campaign. It felt like time had caught up with a 35-year-old, who was just 16 when he made his professional debut at Arsenal.

However, while Fabregas was frustrated, he didn't feel finished. He just needed "a fresh start" to reinvigorate him, "a new project" with a clear pathway into the world of coaching, and he had plenty of offers, the most intriguing of which came from Como.

Fabregas had previously visited the city on a couple of occasions to see its world-famous lake. But he didn't actually know they had a football team. Few people did, in fairness.

Current Como president, and former Mola TV CEO, Mirwan Suwarso recently admitted that he only stumbled across the club by chance while exploring potential venues in Milan for "a sort of football documentary" set in Italy, and it was that "happy coincidence" that led to the Djarum Group buying the Lariani in 2019.

It's obviously important to point out that without the financial backing of the Indonesian conglomerate, and the excellent work done by another former Chelsea midfielder in Dennis Wise, Como simply would not be where they are today. However, it is impossible to overstate the importance of Fabregas' role in the club's remarkable rise to prominence. Como may have already secured promotion to Serie B when he came on board in 2022 - both as a player and a shareholder - but he was absolutely integral to everything that happened, on and off the field.

"I was practically given the keys to the football side of things," he told DAZN Italia after securing qualification for the Champions League with a 4-1 win at Cremonese on the final day of the 2025-26 Serie A season, "and there was practically nothing when we started.

"Earlier, I was talking to two physios who were with us four years ago when I came to play and were talking about how we didn't have a training ground, so we'd have to do massages on tables in the back room of a bar! Now, we are in the Champions League!"

Fabregas is unquestionably the main reason why.

For all the money pumped into the team by the Djarum Group - and it is a lot by Serie A standards - Como haven't got into the Champions League by signing superstars, with the emphasis instead on unearthing hidden gems. Nico Paz is the perfect case in point.

The Argentine may have been on Real Madrid's books when Como signed him in 2024, but he'd only made four appearances for the first team. As the man himself told UEFA, "I was essentially a reserve-team player in a lower division. So, coming to Como allowed me to grow and improve a lot, both as a player and as a person.

"And it's all thanks to Cesc, who brought me here and believed in me. From the first day, he let me play the way I wanted and gave me a lot of freedom. He taught me a lot. I think the player I am today is all down to him."

Fabregas has said himself that when it comes to signing players, character is just as important as quality to him - which is why Lucas Da Cunha, who has just broken into France's stellar squad at 25, is Como's captain.

"I prefer a player with supposedly less talent, but more hunger, who wants to have an incredible career, rather than someone who has already earned his money and done his dues," Fabregas explained at the Festival dello Sport. "And Da Cunha has an incredible mentality, so he deserves all the credit for his achievements."

There's simply no denying, though, that Fabregas is the face of the entire project, Como's "CEO of football", as Suwarso puts it.

"He is crucial for executing the plan that the board has given him," the Indonesian told the Gazzetta dello Sport. "Unlike other teams, we don't just rely on the coach and sporting director. We have an expanded football board that includes Cesc and his staff, as well as all other components of our football management, plus our CFO and myself representing the ownership. We try to make decisions as a committee, using the DNA we have built as a guideline. But Cesc has been fundamental in building that DNA."

It helped that Suwarso told Fabregas that he wasn't under pressure to win, but instead "create an identity" that would help the club build a brand that they could sell to the entire world. Como had always attracted a lot of celebrity visitors because of its magnificent lake, but it's telling that A-listers are now turning up at Sinigaglia to see the best footballing side in Serie A.

"For instance, James Righton, Keira Knightley’s husband, wanted to come to a game after reading about how Cesc Fabregas was building an exciting team," Suwarso revealed in an interview with Calcio e Finanza last year. "From there, everything else followed naturally."

If that makes it all sound easy, it really shouldn't, as it would be desperately unfair to Fabregas to discount just how much time and effort he's put into turning Como into a Champions League team. He has proven himself a diligent and flexible coach.

There remains a perception that he is obsessed with possession football - and it's a perception that he has occasionally contributed to himself by admitting that there are certain fundamentals that he simply will never abandon. For example, after a 4-0 defeat at Inter, he was asked if it had been a mistake for Como to play their usual aggressive pressing game against a clearly superior side.

“I did think about it, but my head said no, and while it might make me seem stupid or sound like a loser, I am pleased with this, to be honest," he told DAZN Italia. "I do feel that there was growth from my team today, which doesn’t happen when you win and people call you a genius. After a heavy defeat, you learn more, you appreciate everything a little bit better. “You can then approach a game defending with a 6-3-1 formation, or 5-4-1, but I prefer to lose like this than do that."

However, Fabregas is by no means bound to one way of playing. This is a competitive and incredibly meticulous character who, with the aid of his backroom team, built a database designed to help him figure out how to break down "every tactical structure in football".

"I don’t want to be the coach that always has the same way of playing, the same way of attacking and defending," he insisted. "Yes, you have principles and structures. But I want to be as dominant as possible, and nowadays to be dominant, you need to have as many solutions as possible."

And, in fairness, this is the kind of tactical fluidity that one would expect from a midfielder that played under coaches with wildly contrasting football philosophies, from Arsene Wenger to Jose Mourinho, and Pep Guardiola to Antonio Conte.

"I won as a player with every different style of play, so you'll never hear me say that one works and another doesn't," he wrote in The Coaches' Voice. "Also, on the day I arrived, the club, the owners talked to me about Lake Como, lifestyle, people who want to see a front-footed play-style. That’s what I was asked for. They didn’t say: 'Win, win, win.' They said: 'Win, but create an identity.'"

He has unquestionably achieved that goal, which is why it feels like only a matter of time before he's snapped up by one of Europe's elite. It's even been claimed that there's a specific release clause in his contract relating to former clubs Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona.

It's United, though, who are much more likely to be on the look-out for a new manager right now, and there's every chance that they're starting to focus on Fabregas - who, unlike Michael Carrick, really is starting to look like an even better coach than he was a player.