Why Chelsea should hold on to Cesc Fabregas at all costs
According to The Sun, Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas is wanted by Serie A club AC Milan and the Italian giants are plotting a cut-price deal to bring the Spaniard to San Siro in January.
The 31-year-old veteran has less than twelve months remaining on his current contract which is set to expire next summer and the Blues haven’t held talks over a possible extension to his contract (h/t The Sun).
The Spaniard missed the first few games of the season due to a knee injury but featured in Maurizio Sarri’s matchday squads for the Europa League and League Cup games. Fabregas has found minutes hard to come by in the Premier League, with the Italian manager favouring new recruit Jorginho to dictate terms in the centre of the park.
Fabregas had an eight-year-long stint with Arsenal before shifting base to Barcelona in 2011. He moved to Stamford Bridge for a fee of £27m back in 2014. Since then, the Spaniard has made a total of 185 appearances across all competition for the Blues, netting on 21 occasions.
The 31-year-old was instrumental in Chelsea’s road to Premier League glory back in the 2016/17 season, where he made 29 appearances in the English top-flight. In that time, he scored 5 goals and set up another 12. He was a regular starter under Antonio Conte as well and registered 32 appearances in the league last season.
Despite stringing together some impressive performances for the Blues over the past few seasons, Fabregas has found himself on the fringes at Stamford Bridge under Sarri. The arrivals of Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic has pushed the Spaniard further down the pecking order at the club.
Chelsea have made a wonderful start to their season and the Blues have enjoyed an unbeaten record under the new manager. Much of Chelsea’s success this season has been down to the stability in their midfield.
Jorginho has established himself as one of the best passers in the Premier League while Kovacic has made a mark with his tackles and interceptions. N’Golo Kante has been deployed in a much more advanced position but the Frenchman still has to work on his game to fill in the role of an attacking midfielder.
Although the midfielders have fared reasonably well, Chelsea have found it difficult to score against teams that opt to park the bus and defend deep. Jorginho and Kovacic have passed the ball around but haven’t contributed much to the attacking play forward.
In other words, they have tried a lot of things but haven’t managed to spark that creativity from the midfield. To sum it up, Chelsea have lacked a creative midfielder who can contribute with goals and assists.
In Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ross Barkley and Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea have only three creative midfielders who are capable of creating chances from the central areas of the park. Ross Barkley has been given ample chances but the Englishman has blown hot and cold in patches.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fabregas have had their playing time cut short to a large extent due to some rigid team selection by Sarri. The 31-year-old Spaniard started in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Liverpool in the League Cup and proved his worth as a playmaker, playing a delightful lobbed pass over the defenders to set up Alvaro Morata, who eventually made a hash of the chance.
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But to be honest, Fabregas is one of the few players in the Premier League who are capable of using their vision and presence of mind to break down tight defences. While the Spaniard is capable of dictating the proceedings in the midfield with his flawless passing, he can also spark creativity with his attacking prowess – which is something Jorginho and Kovacic lack.
He would be the perfect option to link the play with Eden Hazard and Olivier Giroud up front with fine and elegant touches. Furthermore, Sarri’s free-flowing possession-based football, which is characterized by short and quick passes, should suit the Spaniard’s style of play.
Hence, Chelsea should discard the idea of offloading the 31-year-old and Sarri should utilize the former World Cup winner on a more regular basis to sharpen the team’s attacking instincts.
