Fabregas is yet to gain a Premier League winner's medal
Cesc Fabregas was introduced to Arsenal fans across the country during a League Cup tie against Rotherham United in October 2003 at the tender age of sixteen, making him Arsenal’s youngest ever player to appear in the first eleven.
He also became the London based club’s youngest ever goal scorer in a later round of the same competition.
He also became the London based club’s youngest ever goal scorer in a later round of the same competition.
Although this was the season Arsenal went unbeaten in the league, Fabregas was not awarded a Premier League winners medal due to not having played a single league game for the club. Arsene Wenger must have been extremely happy though when he signed his first professional contract at Arsenal in 2004 committing his long term future to the club.
Since signing this long term deal, Fabregas has made a total of 308 appearances for club and country alike. During this time he was awarded the captaincy by Arsene Wenger after William Gallas was stripped of the captaincy in 2008, but this news swiftly became bitter-sweet for the young Spaniard as, shortly after this, he was ruled out of action for four months with a knee injury sustained in a league game against Liverpool.
Throughout the many appearances Fabregas has made for Arsenal he has assisted a total of 104 goals throughout his time in the first team. Not only is Fabregas a fantastic passer of the ball but not long after establishing himself as regular first team player he began to show his goal scoring ability by netting a total of 62 goals from midfield.
So how does Fabregas compare to the already formidable midfield duo of Xavi and Andres Iniesta?
Well, seeing as Fabregas came into the Arsenal team in the 2004/05 season, that is where we shall start the comparison. From 2004 until present, Xavi has made a total of 295 appearances for club and country scoring a total of 43 goals making 81 assists.
From 2004 Andres Iniesta has made a total of 372 appearances for both club and country scoring a total of 31 goals with 39 assists.
So, even though Iniesta has made more appearances for club and country, most famously scoring the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa, he has still assisted 65 less goals than Cesc Fabregas and scored half as many as the Arsenal midfielder.
And how does Fabregas compare to the midfield maestro that is Xavi?
Well, even though he is younger than Xavi by 7 years he has made more total appearances, assisted more goals and more importantly scored more goals from midfield than both players.
So this leaves one question: Why haven’t they tried harder to sign him in the past?
Michael Simpson
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