Fabregas' Father Calls on Arsenal to Let His Son Return to Barca

Cesc Fabregas's father put pressure on Arsenal today by calling on the Gunners to understand his son's desire to return home.

Francesc Fabregas Senior, who spoke on Spanish National radio today, said "Arsenal have to respect the decision and the will of the player."

"Negotiations between Arsenal and Barcelona will be very long. Both sides are going to have to sit several times because the issue is complicated."

"Cesc is now focused on the Spanish team but what he wants is to close the signing soon."

"He has always responded to Arsene Wenger with his work, and we are also grateful to Arsenal because they made my son a great player. We just want this to end soon."

"At the moment, he has a contract with Arsenal. I get the feeling that the English club does not want to sell, but in the end they will finally give in and let Cesc go."

This is the latest move from the Fabregas' camp to push through a return to his beloved home town club, F.C. Barcelona.

Fabregas has clearly made up his mind that he wants to join La Blaugrana .

The ball is now in Arsenal's court—but do they want to sell?

The answer is yes.

They know the wishes of the player to return to Catalunya this summer, but they also know they can't auction him. So they're playing hardball with the Catalans in order to get the best fee possible for their captain.

William Hill are offering odds of 1/8 that he'll join Barca this summer and 9/2 that he'll stay with the Gunners. The bookies sometimes get it wrong, but in this case they've got it spot on.