Cesc Fàbregas, 2005
August 15, 2011: The great plan that Arsène Wenger, manager of Arsenal Football Club, began 6 years earlier comes crashing down. And the worst Summer of his tenure with the North London soccer team would get even worse.
Francesc Fàbregas Soler was born on May 4, 1987 in Arenys de Mar, Catalonia, Spain. "Cesc" was the midfielder that his hometown club, F.C. Barcelona, didn't want, and Wenger bought him dirt cheap. He built his team around Cesc, dismantling the 2004 "Invincible" team in the process. He built a team of very young players, with the idea of "If you are good enough, you are old enough." He took this young team from the old stadium, Highbury, built in 1913, and moved it into the new Emirates Stadium in 2006.
This transition from veterans to youth, and in particular building around Cesc, was the biggest mistake of Wenger's career. To borrow words Wenger likes to use, Cesc had "the quality" to be one of the greatest players in soccer, but he did not have "the mental strength."
Although he put on some spectacular moves and scored some great goals -- such as an absolute stunner against arch-rival Tottenham on Halloween 2009, just 45 seconds after a Robin van Persie goal -- he got hurt frequently, probably costing Arsenal the 2007 and 2011 League Cup Finals.
He and van Persie helped Arsenal win the FA Cup as reserves in their 1st full season, 2004-05, and they reached the 2006 Champions League Final, but losing to Barcelona. But, between the two of them, they won nothing more for Arsenal: They finished 2nd in the League in 2008, and reached the Semifinals of both the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 2009, but got no closer to significant honors.
Barça, always media-savvy, had articles and columns printed suggesting that Cesc was merely on loan to Arsenal, was homesick there, and that it was his destiny to return to his hometown, to his original club -- which had gotten rid of him without realizing what he could be, much as Feyenoord of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, had done with van Persie.
Cesc was a member of the Spain team that won Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup, and Euro 2012. But at the celebration for the 2010 World Cup in Madrid, the Spain team's Captain, Carles Puyol, also Barcelona's Captain, put a Barcelona jersey on Cesc, over his Spain jersey. And another of Spain's Barça players, Andres Iniesta, called him "The future of Spain, the future of Barcelona" at that ceremony -- in Madrid, where Barça are despised.
And he let them, even though his contract with Arsenal ran 2 more years. In a 2011 Champions League match, he passed not to an Arsenal teammate, but to a Barcelona player, setting up their winning goal.
It was not his last piece of treachery, not his last gift to his once-and-future teammates. Accusations of secret meetings between Cesc and Barça, a.k.a. "tapping-up," abounded. At the dawn of the 2011-12 season, he went on strike, pretending to be injured until he got sold back to Barça. He turned up at a tennis tournament in Spain, appearing not to be injured. For this poisoning the atmosphere at the club, I called him "Cesc Mustardgas."
On July 4, left back Gaël Clichy was sold to Manchester City for £7 million. He was supposed to be the successor to Ashley Cole, after "Cashley" had whined his way across town to free-spending West London team Chelsea. On August 15, Arsenal bowed to the seemingly inevitable. After getting Fàbregas from Barcelona for free 8 years earlier, he was sold to them for £35 million.
More was to come. The next day, popular but inconsistent right back/winger Emmanuel Eboué was sold to Galatasaray of Istanbul, Turkey for £4 million. On August 24, Samir Nasri, a French winger who seemed to play well with Fàbregas, but listlessly without him, was sold to Manchester City for £25 million. Arsenal now had an extra £71 million, but were missing 4 key players, 5 if you count the occasionally effective Eboué.
Arsenal's start to the season couldn't have been much worse. They opened the Premier League season with a 0-0 draw away to Newcastle United. Liverpool came into the Emirates, and beat them, 2-0. And then, on August 28, Arsenal went to Old Trafford to play Manchester United, who were coming off a season where they won the Premier League and reached the Champions League Final. United were at full strength.
Arsenal were not. Fàbregas, Nasri and Clichy had been sold; while goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, usual starting right back Bacary Sagna and centreback Thomas Vermaelen were injured. With 6 players who should have started either sold or injured, Arsenal fell behind 2-0 in the 1st half-hour, allowed 3 goals in a 6-minute stretch in the 2nd half, had emergency right back Carl Jenkinson sent off with a 2nd yellow card in the 77th minute, and lost, 8-2, their goals coming from Theo Walcott and van Persie. The jokes immediately followed: "I'd 8-2 be an Arsenal fan now."
Wenger had brought in reinforcements. The aforementioned Jenkinson had been brought in from Southeast London team Charlton Athletic for £1 million, and turned out to be a good backup. Left wing Gervinho, of the African nation of the Ivory Coast, came from French team Lille for £10 million, although his early promise did not pan out. Winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had been bought from South Coast team Southampton for £12 million, and he became a good backup. Striker Joel Campbell came from Costa Rica for £1 million.
On August 31, the final day of the transfer window, Wenger brought in 4 players, in what was largely seen as a "panic buy." Midfielder Mikel Arteta was signed from Everton for £10 million, affecting the club in ways that couldn't yet be guessed. Israeli midfielder Yossi Benayoun was brought in on loan for the season from Chelsea. These acquisitions would shore up the losses of Fàbregas and Nasri.
Needing size in central defense, the 6-foot-6 Per Mertesacker was signed from German team Werder Bremen for £8 million, and "the Big Fucking German" proved very popular among Arsenal fans. Left back André Santos was brought in from Istanbul team Fenerbahçe for £6 million. He would not prove to be popular.
So, 4 players out, 7 players in, and Wenger made a profit of £23 million. Given that the debt for the new stadium had not yet been paid off, this was clever management. But would there be the necessary results on the pitch?
After a week off for an international break, or an "interlull," Arsenal beat Swansea City at home, 1-0. But they lost 4-3 away to Blackburn Rovers. They beat Bolton Wanderers at home, 3-0, then lost away to arch-rival Tottenham, 2-1. Played 7, won 2, drawn 1, lost 4. They were in danger of being relegated.
But they only lost 1 of their next 12 League games, including winning their next 5. A 3-game losing streak in January was followed by a 7-game winning streak. That put them back into a chance for the PL's CL places. A run of a loss and 3 draws put that back in jeopardy, but a hard-fought win away to West Bromwich Albion on the final day preserved a 3rd-place finish and a place in the 2012-13 Champions League.
Back to August 2011: Once the sale of Fàbregas to Barcelona happened, his injury was magically cured. He reported to the Catalan club, and played in their next La Liga game. With them, he won Spain's Copa del Rey in 2012 and La Liga in 2013.
But by 2014, having got what they wanted from him, Barça had frozen him out. Many Arsenal fans begged Wenger to take him back. He refused: Loyalty matters, and Cesc had stabbed him in the back. So Cesc went for the money, signing with Chelsea. He won 2 Premier League titles in 3 years with the corrupt Stamford Bridge club.
More than Ashley Cole, Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Alexis Sánchez, Cesc Fabregas is the great unfaithful servant of Arsenal's history.
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August 15, 2011 was a Monday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. A.J. Burnett was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter went 3-for-4 with a stolen base and 3 RBIs. Alex Rodriguez did not play.
* The New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at Petco Park in San Diego. The winning run was scored in the top of the 10th: Scott Hairston grounded to short, and the fielder's choice allowed Jason Pridie to score.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-4 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-6 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-0 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Randy Wolf pitched 8 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and John Axford finished the 7-hit shutout.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Florida Marlins, 7-4 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-4 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum).
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.
* And the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Washington Nationals were not scheduled.
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