Manchester United Transfer News: Targeting Cesc Fabregas Shows Reds' Intentions

Arsenal fans: Cover your ears. Manchester United are poised to sign former Gunners favourite Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona.

After Robin van Persie, another Arsenal favourite, decided to leave for Manchester for £27 million, it left them impotent in attack and gifted a 13th championship for Sir Alex Ferguson in his final season with the club.

The champions are hot on Fabregas' heels, submitting a £26 million bid, via Ian Ladyman of the Daily Mail, for the Spanish midfielder three days ago. Whether Fabregas will agree to join United remains to be seen, but shifting their attention so quickly to the Barcelona No. 4 is smart.

Over an eight-year career at Arsenal, Fabregas made 298 appearances and that guaranteed understanding of the Premier League landscape is worth its weight in gold. A class above his teammates for many years in Wenger’s under-performing sides, the midfielder scored 56 times and created 91 goals in London.

The dynamics of the United midfield are titled towards double-pivot players, such as, Michael Carrick and Anderson, but the recruitment of Fabregas would increase the attacking impetus from the middle of the pitch. Expect Ryan Giggs to take a step back as he joins Moyes’ coaching team, leaving Tom Cleverley as the only remotely forward-thinking midfielder at their disposal.

That could furthermore accommodate Shinji Kagawa in an advanced attacking-midfield role, which is where the Japanese star is most adept. Fabregas is an intelligent player, carrying the traits of La Masia’s football philosophy, with excellent technique in passing and breaking late into the penalty area.

Moyes is playing one of his trump cards to dislodge Arsenal’s confidence for this season, leaving Wenger licking his wounds from losing out, again, to United.

With a change of custodian at Old Trafford, the Gunners really ought to have taken advantage, putting their reputed £70 million warchest and leading from the front. Fabregas might have been one on Arsenal’s radar, yet United sneaking ahead of the North London side is significant.

Currently, United are preparing for a match against the A-League All-Stars this weekend, but Moyes wasn’t ruling out some progress in the hunt for Fabregas, as Ladyman reports in the Daily Mail.

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The chief exec has been dealing with it just now and I am in contact with him. I'll hopefully know a little more in the next day or so. I may have a bit more information in the next day or so about how it's going.

As far as players we’re looking to bring in, we're trying very hard to make some additions to the squad. Hopefully there'll be some good news in the not too distant future.

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On his return to Spain, Fabregas played second fiddle to the midfield partnership of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, so the opportunity to regain a first-team slot should be attractive to the Spaniard.

Signing Fabregas would really state the ambitions of Moyes to bring his own identity to this team and swing the optimism back to the Red Devils after some early—and perhaps harsh—criticism of the club’s inability to follow through on transfer targets.