Filed under: Football, Transfer News
The Cesc Fabregas saga has taken a new twist, it seems - and boy did it need one.According to reports in Italy, the Gunners have lined up Argentinian midfielder Ricardo Alvarez to replace their captain, although Barcelona are still refusing to meet Arsenal's asking price so that deal is progressing at a snail's pace for the second successive summer.
Alvarez, 23, has been playing in a number of advanced positions for his club Velez Sarsfield, including the midfield play-maker role that Fabregas has made his own at the Emirates Stadium.
Palermo have also been on his trail for a while and president Maurizio Zamparini even went as far as claiming on a Naples radio station that the player, who is valued at just under £11 million, had already pledged his future to Arsene Wenger and Co.
He said: "We had a concrete interest and had the matter in hand in January. But we may have made a mistake in moving so quickly because he has now given us the slip and signed for Arsenal."
That now appears to be a little premature, although an Arsenal source confirmed to The Sun that the Gunners were indeed keen on the man himself but no so enamoured with the fee, although as Alvarez has an Italian passport, as so many of his compatriots do, there will be no work permit problems.
So what, then, of Fabregas and his move to the Nou Camp after Barca's opening gambit of £27 million was inevitably rejected? According to the Guardian, Wenger will allow his captain to leave but only if Samir Nasri signs a new deal.
That suggestion only confirms the belief held by many of the Emirates Stadium faithful that it is the Frenchman, not the Spaniard, who is the single most important individual on the pitch these days and should Nasri also engineer a departure that would go down extremely badly with supporters who have gone six seasons without a trophy.
The big centre half with Premier League experience has yet to arrive, be it Bolton's Gary Cahill, Chris Samba of Blackburn or Everton's England fringe man Phil Jagielka, but at least the picture is becoming a little clearer as far as Fabregas, who is now back in England following a holiday in Bali, is concerned.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/06/25/have-arsenal-lined-up-cesc-fabregas-replacement/
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