A Torn Cesc Fabregas and an Improving Arsenal

To borrow a line from a favourite show of mine, much like one-hit wonder Natalie Imbruglia, Cesc Fabregas is torn.

Arsenal's captain was speaking about the situation with his proposed move to Barcelona, or rather the lack of it. This is what he had to say: "I'm a Barca fan, I'm a socio, as is my grandfather, my uncle, my cousin...I have felt the colours from a young age. I'm Catalan. 

"However, I'm the captain of Arsenal, I'm a 'Gunner', and I have become a player there and matured as a person."

He then goes on to speak about the influence of Arsene Wenger on his career and indeed his life, saying, "He is a second father for me, the most important person in my life after my father. He has behaved really well with me and taken me in like a son. I am part of his family.

"He doesn't want me to leave. And in my last conversation with him in London, it was one of the most difficult moments I have experienced. I ended up very upset."

Now some fans I'm sure would criticise Fabregas for the first part of those quotes, for seemingly inviting more interest from Barcelona, but I don't see it that way.

I find his comments refreshingly honest, and I believe that he has a genuine dilemma on his mind. 

I've said in the past I think the best thing for Fabregas's career is for him to stay at Arsenal for now. I understand his desire to go and fulfil this lifelong dream of playing for Barcelona, but if he does it now he is going to struggle to play every week, at least in the position where he is most effective.

I doubt all those childhood dreams of being in a Barcelona shirt included a lot of bench time, or of being made to fit into the team wherever there was a gap.

The time is coming where Xavi particularly will be on the wane. He's 30 now and will need replacing, and I'm sure Cesc Fabregas can do that. Until then, though, it would be better for him to stay with Arsenal and keep playing every week at his best. There's still plenty of time for Fabregas to go to Barcelona and have great years there even if he doesn't go this summer or even next summer.

I don't think Fabregas should be condemned for his comments, or accused of trying to grease the wheels of a transfer. I just think he's been honest there.

Moving on, Arsene Wenger   is confident of Arsenal improving this season. He says,  "I am very confident [we'll do better than last season]. We know in England that the Premier League is the biggest league in the world and everybody invests a lot of money. 

"We invest in our work, in our beliefs, in the quality of our behaviour and I am confident that will pay off. 

"We finished third last year and we hope we can improve on that. But the race will be tough."

A pessimist might say that Wenger was preparing the ground for no more signings there, but I don't think that's all there is to the comments.

Obviously, Arsenal don't have the spending resources of some of the other top teams, so things have to be done differently. Arsenal are a club that looks to its academy for new players first before it looks outside for new additions. Sometimes I think some fans expect the club to ditch that policy completely, which simply isn't possible.

I believe the squad has it in them to be stronger than last season. I think we need to be more solid at the back, and one thing that could help that along is if we had a goalkeeper the defence could trust.

Fulham have appointed a new manager, which is good news because there were reports that was holding up any deal for Mark Schwarzer. The bad news is that new manager is Mark Hughes, a man we've had our share of run-ins with in the past. Will he stand in the way of the deal? Time will tell.

The Sun has a piece of sheer speculation linking us with Ibrahim Afellay. He's in the last year of his contract apparently so he might be available on the cheap. I don't expect to see this one go anywhere, but I wouldn't mind being wrong.

It's quite quiet today so that will have to do. I am moving over the weekend, I don't expect any blogs to be missed, but if one does go missing that will be why. Take it easy, and I should be back tomorrow.