What Is Cesc Fabregas Worth? Arsene Wenger Makes His Best Guesstimate

After seeing talismanic captain Cesc Fabregas leave Arsenal for a rumored fee of £35 million, Arsene Wenger had a choice on his hands.

He could forgo replacing Fab through the transfer market and forge on ahead with the players he already had.

Or he could splurge on a replacement.

Initially, he elected for the former course of action.

He had enough players, he reasoned. And hadn't Arsenal recovered from the departures of midfielders Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb in past seasons, anyway?

At the very worst, a door had now opened for 20-year-old Aaron Ramsey—one of Wenger's golden youngsters—to step into the attacking midfield role vacated by the Catalan.

Had it just been Fabregas that had left, that policy might have worked.

Losing a world-class player is never an easy transition, but Manchester United survived in the wake of Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer to Real Madrid in 2009—it can be done. While the Red Devils took a dip in performance, by their lofty standards, in 2009-10, they were right back to their trophy-winning ways in 2010-11.

In the end, things transpired against Wenger remaining inactive in the transfer market.

The first: Arsenal have not come close to rivaling United in their silverware haul over the past six seasons. Whereas Sir Alex Ferguson's previous rampant success allowed him a pass in 2009-10 for missing out on the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup titles—and United still won the Carling Cup that season—Wenger doesn't have enjoy the same luxury.

Lack of trophies will do that to a manager of a top four side.

When Arsenal's current season started quite poorly, with an opening-match scoreless draw against Newcastle, followed by two home fixtures—a narrow victory against Udinese and a shocking 2-0 loss to Liverpool—it became evident that the Gunners were in dire need of something in the way of attacking intent.

Merely days after that Liverpool match, Wenger realized it was not going to come from Samir Nasri, whose only real intent was to get the hell out of North London.

Now, with two of his most important players gone and mired in a dismal start to the season, it appeared Wenger's hand would inevitably be forced. He would have to go to the transfer market to find replacements.

A 2-1 win in the second leg of the Champions League play-off against Udinese, sealing up the aggregate at a comfortable 3-1 clip in favor of the Gunners, calmed the growing rip tide of dissent against the French skipper.

Yet it would prove to be nothing more than a band-aid over a gushing wound. Something drastic was needed if it was ever going to be cauterized, before the season slipped too far away.

An 8-2 dismantling at Old Trafford by Ferguson's Red Devils brought those critics back stronger than ever. And this time, they weren't just calling for Wenger to spend some of the money he'd made in the Fabregas and Nasri transfers, they were calling for his job.

Stubborn to the last, Wenger has resembled a broken record in recent seasons, imploring patience from Arsenal supporters and critics alike. Patience that he has promised will be rewarded, since his Arsenal squad is good enough to achieve greatness without infusions of older, more experienced players.

After the Manchester destruction, however, even Wenger looked at a loss for words to defend himself. There was, as he put it, "nothing to say."

Like an acclaimed director who sees his passion piece unmercifully slammed by critics, this Arsenal squad he had built from the ground up—his great pari ("bet")—seemed to have come crashing down around him, undone by the very principle it had been founded upon: the promise of youth.

It was time, finally, to do what he'd never wanted to do: strengthen his squad with veteran transfers.

Considering that Cesc Fabregas cost Barcelona £35m, the fact that Wenger recruited five players in the past week-or-so—Park Chu-Young (rumored to have cost £10m, but more likely to have been around £2m), Andre Santos (£6m), Per Mertesacker (£10m), Yossi Benayoun (season-long loan deal) and Mikel Arteta (~£10m)—for around £30 million, once Benayoun's weekly wages are paid, is an absolutely marvelous bit of business.

For a man who seems so against the concept, Wenger is quite the deal-maker when he chooses to be.

Despite dragging his feet until the last few days of the window, he got a host of additions on the (relatively) cheap.

Per Mertesacker is 26, has already played in two World Cups for Germany and has been capped 75 times with Die Mannschaft—a number which should increase this weekend, during his call-up for their next round of Euro 2012 fixtures.

While Phil Jones and David Luiz—to give two examples—may turn out to be better players, they cost Manchester United and Chelsea £16m and £21.5m, respectively.

Replacing someone of Fabregas's transcendental talent was always going to be impossible. It will be a long time before another Arsenal player graces the pitch with such commanding presence and immaculate skill as the Catalan.

So, responding to this riddle in a rush of cleverness, Wenger "replaced" him not with one player, but with five—and these new additions will provide much-needed treatment beyond the midfield area.

Park Chu-Young, the captain of South Korea's national team, brings a wealth of experience and a knack for scoring goals. Whether he'll be paired with Robin van Persie up top remains to be seen, but at the very least Wenger finally has a suitable replacement on the bench.

Andre Santos, a regular with the Selecao on international duty, shores up the left-back position and allows Bacary Sagna to move back to his preferred position on the right. Off-season signing Carl Jenkinson now can develop in the reserves, free of the burden of first-team responsibility that he clearly was not ready for.

At 6'6", Mertesacker brings steely resolve and a commanding presence. Thomas Vermaelen finally has a suitable partner in central defense, with a proven player at both the domestic and international level.

Benayoun looks the most likely replacement for Nasri. The Israeli winger has played extensively on the left flank for Liverpool in the past and featured there for Chelsea at the start of last season, before succumbing to a nasty injury. He was a brilliant performer during the 2009-10 season for the Reds, netting six goals in 19 Premier League matches and looking industrious and shifty in attack.

In Arteta, Arsenal have another Spanish creator in the middle of the park.

After six seasons with Everton, Arteta finally arrives at the Emirates, after having first appeared likely to make the switch way back in the summer of 2008. While he will never be as dynamic going forward as his compatriot Fabregas, Arteta is a technical wizard who will give Arsenal another option, besides van Persie, when it comes to free kicks in the attacking third.

Whether these players—and don't forget, Arsenal have their other summer signing, Gervinho, coming back from a three-game league suspension after the next match—can help Arsenal shake off this dreary start remains to be seen.

But credit Wenger for realizing that his side was threatened to endure a dreadful campaign without large-scale changes to its constitution.

As the deadline clock finally struck midnight, he could finally rest easy for the first time in months. He had done very good work. Now he has a week to relax during the international break before he heads back into the fire.

But this time, he'll have some help.