Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas hints at Barcelona return if club fail to improve

Cesc Fabregas has always admitted that it would be a dream to return to Barcelona, but that may happen sooner rather than later unless Arsenal can start winning silverware again.

“I would like to try to win more titles here, although next season we’ll see,” the Spaniard said. “It would be a dream to return to Barcelona one day.”

Fabregas, 21, who is in Spain preparing for their trip to Estonia on Saturday, was particularly seduced by the Catalan club’s 6-1 thrashing of Atletico Madrid last weekend.

The former Barcelona youth player said: “It is wonderful to see so many players from the youth system in the team, so well adapted to the philosophy of the club.”

Fabregas did stress that it was not his intention to turn his back on the Emirates just yet though. “I decided to give my all for Arsenal and I’m not the kind of person to just give up on things just like that.”

His fellow midfielder at the Emirates, Theo Walcott, is benefiting from a new “furious” streak, according to Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

The 19-year-old scored a stunning hat-trick for Fabio Capello’s England in their World Cup qualifier in Croatia last month and has been included for the clashes with Kazakhstan at Wembley and next week’s away game in Belarus.

Theo was too nice maybe in the last two years, but this season you can see that when he gets tackled he gets furious, and that shows you he has changed,” Almunia said.

“When he used to take a tackle he did not reply with anything, he did not say anything to the referee or the opposing player. He would get tackled and stay on the floor, and he would never say anything. Now I like him more on the field.

“I just spoke with him once. I told him he had to be a bit more aggressive, because if people can kill you they will do so.”

The 31-year-old Spaniard feels Walcott can continue to make great strides under Wenger’s expert guidance. Almunia added: “I can only say that Theo is beautiful playing football. To me he is like a machine, it’s unbelievable.

“I enjoy it a lot when I see Theo playing in training, and also because he is a very nice guy. He is by far the most exciting young English player I have ever seen.

“He has a lot of discipline; he is a very complete player. Theo is growing up and I think it’s going to be great for England.”

Walcott's England team-mate John Terry has also noticed the changes in the Arsenal youngster but is calling on calm ahead of their World Cup double header.

"The lads all said that Theo came out of his shell a bit on the last trip with England," Terry said.

"But let's not put too much pressure on him. He is an exciting talent and a really good player for the future and for this campaign.

"But we must not start saying it is all down to him and that he is the only way forward. We have the likes of Theo, Wayne Rooney and Joe Cole.

"Let's tell them all to play their normal game like they are back in the playground."(telegraph)

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