Cesc Fabregas is vital for Barcelona both now and in the future

Manchester United have bid for Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas twice and are preparing a third. So far, each advance has been immediately rebuffed by Barcelona and not just that, but both they and Fabregas have made statements saying he will be at the club by the end of the summer.

Whether or not United believe they can get Fabregas, or whether they are breaking their long rehearsed practice of completing transfer deals in absolute secrecy merely as a smokescreen whilst they pursue someone else, Fabregas’ future is once again being questioned, as it pretty much has been since he first arrived in Catalonia. Much of this speculation has come from the English press and the utterly unfounded belief that Fabregas has been stuck on the bench ever since signing for Barcelona.

The assumption, for which there is absolutely evidence, is that with the big name duo of Xavi and Iniesta as midfield king pins, it’s Fabregas who has missed out and is therefore buy-able. But this is quite simply not the case. Not only has Fabregas been a key man at Barcelona in his two years at the club already, but he promises to be a lynchpin in future years.

In two seasons in Spain, Fabregas has recorded these seasons. Do these look like they can be achieved by a terminal substitute?

2011/12 – 48 games. 15 goals, 20 assists. 2012/13 – 48 games. 14 goals, 15 assists. So that’s 96 games with 29 goals and 35 assists. Only a certain Lionel Messi has been involved in more goals for the club in those two years. For comparison’s sake, in those two years to Fabregas’ 64 goal involvements, Andres Iniesta has 50, Xavi has 50, Pedro 43, Alexis Sanchez 45.

From this, it is clear that Cesc Fabregas is as important an attacking player for Barcelona as anyone at the club after the little Argentine genius. But it’s not just his involvement in goals that marks out his importance. Over his two years at the club, only Messi, Dani Alves, Xavi and Victor Valdes have started more games for Barcelona. Indeed, as he has settled in to the club, his game time has increased markedly. Only Valdes started more often in La Liga last season and Fabregas clocked the 5th most minutes played. Now, sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story, and Barcelona’s use of Fabregas in the Champions League was less than in La Liga, but he still played eight games.

There’s a key reason for this. Barcelona have been more and more careful with how they use now 33 year old Xavi, so Fabregas had been taking up some of that slack. He had also been playing in advanced forward positions, sometimes even as near as a false nine. However, the reason that Barcelona can’t sell Fabregas is not just because they need a long term replacement for Xavi. It is because their other young heir to the number 6, Thiago Alcantara, has been sold to Bayern after Barcelona negligently allowed his release clause pertaining to playing time to become active. Ironically, part of the reason for this is because Fabregas was getting significant minutes instead. To lose one heir to Xavi is careless, but to lose Fabregas as well would be unfeasible.

Remember, when Barcelona signed Fabregas, it was initially with one eye on replacing the then 31 year old Xavi. Fabregas had thrived on becoming the heartbeat of the team at Arsenal, and Barcelona didn’t spent the best part of £35m to sit him on their bench, or to sell him on two years later, when Xavi is two years older, and when they’ve sold the other option they were developing for the role.

Xavi’s position in the Barcelona machine is so critical that it can’t be manned by an inferior player. What happens if Barcelona, for some reason, sell Fabregas this summer and then Xavi decides to retire next year if Spain win the World Cup again? They’d have to pay at least the kind of money that is being offered for Fabregas and he’d have to immediately integrate in to what is a very difficult system to learn and run effectively. Effectively for Barcelona means winning the league and the Champions League and there aren’t many players who can do that in the world that they could make their long term man.

At 26, Cesc Fabregas is the perfect man for that job. At his best Xavi has always been capable of getting plenty of goals when gliding forwards, with his output increasing since the introduction of the destrucitve Sergio Busquets allowed him more offensive freedom. Fabregas is an even better goalscorer than Xavi and has shown at Barcelona and at Arsenal that he has the kind of passing and play making talent to become the main man. He’s already a vital part of the Barcelona squad and is only going to grow in importance. Selling him is not an option.