Arsenal's Fabregas Hopes For a New Partnership

(Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Because of recent comments from Fabregas there has been renewed speculation over the transfer of Liverpool's Xabi Alonso to Arsenal.

Fabregas said "We need someone in the middle to make competition and make a difference, plus give us a new dimension. 

"Xabi would be great. He's experienced and can score goals. I'm sure the boss is aware of that fact."

Due to the superb season Alonso has just had, and Cesc's national team ties to the player, it's obvious to see why Fabergas would want to play alongside him next season. This does not seem likely to happen though.

Last summer it seemed as if this was a move that would happen, with Barry replacing Alonso at Liverpool. In the end Barry stayed committing himself to seeing if Villa could break into the Champions League, and the Alonso move ended dead in the water.

In the year that followed Alonso proved himself as one of the world's best midfielders. Benitez now sees him as a vital part of the team, and in the follow up to their strongest league run under the Spaniard, he's very keen to keep his best players and build on that success.

Benitez' conviction on this matter has already been tested by reported interest from Real Madrid, to which he replied "The situation is clear, we do not want to sell our best players and that includes Xabi.

Fabergas' comments about bringing in a "competitive" midfielder seem well founded, as this is an area where Arsenal have at times struggled this season.

After the departure of Viera in 2004 a lot of people believed that Arsenal would struggle without the strength of their talismanic skipper playing in the middle. While over the course of the season he was clearly missed in the league, the increased fluidity of Arsenal's build-up play saw the Gunners make their furthest ever progress in the Champions League, reaching the final after a record CL shut out run.

In the years that followed the departures of Edu, Gilberto and Flamini have left this area severely weakened. The failure to sign Alonso left Wenger relying on youth in this role for the last season.

Diaby, Song and Denilson show great promise for the future, but did not have the required experience or consistency in the role this past season. What's more pertinent is that none of them appeared to sufficiently "click" with Fabregas in the middle of the park.

During Fabergas' absence, through injury, we saw various pairings of this trio put in strong performances. Working in a shared role of two holding midfielders allowed their combined strength to add up to something more substantial.

Despite their development, there is still a strong case for a more experienced player to be brought in to pair with Fabregas, in the 4-4-2 system that Wenger prefers. As Fabregas pointed out, Alonso would be the ideal man for this role.

With Benites' determination to hold onto him and his £20 million+ price tag proving a stretch for the currently tight Arsenal budget, it would seem that he will not be coming to the Emirates. So who could be Wenger's potential targets for this role?

Gareth Barry

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