There’s an irony that Cesc Fabregas should be on the shortlist to join the Premiership Hall Of Fame at the same time as Sol Campbell.
Premier League 2025 Hall of Fame inductees – vote now
Many Gooners defend Sol Campbell’s choice to jump the North London divide, defending a man making a simple business decision which he justified with his medal collection. Yet some of the very same supporters fail to forgive Fabregas for equally ending up moving across the English capital to lift the Premiership that eluded him at Arsenal.
I remember some of my peers demanding the midfielder’s image be removed outside our stadium when he was announced a Chelsea player. Despite more success at Stamford Bridge, the few times the Spaniard pops up as a pundit he associates himself more with the Gunners. Some fans are even suggesting the 40-year-old could one day replace Mikel Arteta as our manager.
Of course, the reason some might not now like him is because they originally loved him. For better or worse he was the face of the club during the transition from Highbury to the Emirates. If we all think with our head and not our hearts, the truth is it would have been a disgrace had Cesc Fabregas ended up with only an FA Cup medal to show from his time in the UK.
The weight Fabregas carried
In 2025, youngsters get overhyped for doing very little. In 2004, a 17-year-old walked into the midfield of the Invincibles and never looked back.
It was a change in philosophy from Arsène Wenger. No longer was the Frenchman trusting tall athletic talent but willing to put faith in smaller-built individuals who, while not physically imposing, were technically gifted.
Little did anyone know at the time though, the new recruitment policy was more a consequence of the debts because of the need to pay off the stadium. Not able to compete financially with the likes of Man United, Chelsea and eventually Man City, our scouting had to find gems from around the world, no longer able to be fussy about details such as height.
Mr Wenger (perhaps naively) believed his young squad would all wait for each other to develop. There were title races where the Gunners led but in key moments of matches and seasons we just lacked the mentality.
Asked to be one of our youngest ever captains, Fabregas got impatient waiting for more experience to arrive to help him lead an inexperienced dressing room. It was help that never arrived, and there is only so long you can ask a professional to put their career on hold and wait for jam tomorrow.
There’s a famous image of Fabregas conceding a free kick against Chelsea and our skipper trying to gesture towards the official just how much bigger the opposition were. Of course, that frustration had nothing to do with the referee but a young man who cared and was getting tired of the same formula, playing for a team who pass the ball round in patterns but in the end get bullied by a machine.
It didn’t then help that when the player went on international duty he experienced Spain’s Golden Generation of a World Cup sandwiched between two Euros. It would have felt like night and day playing for your club or country.
Day to day, you have the pressure of leading a group of potential. What an escape then to go home and link up with winners from Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Heart vs head
Fabregas moved to England at the age of 15. It’s where he grew up from a teenager into a man. It was where he was given the platform to make his dreams come true. I do believe in his heart his preference was for those dreams to be met in a red and white shirt.
Maybe I’m naive but I believe he cared about the badge and when he calls Mr Wenger a father figure, that’s genuine. As is his claim that a return to Barça was the only way he ever would have left.
Two things were going on at the same time. Arsenal were increasingly failing to challenge for the title, which coincided with his boyhood club playing some of the greatest football of all time. It’s very easy to ask someone in his twenties to ignore those two facts out of love. Mr Wenger after all did that, and was the same loyalty repaid to him?
Returning to Spain was heart vs head. Hence why Arsenal were given contractually first refusal to re-sign him the moment he departed the Nou Camp. When that happened he made it clear that was his preference. It was Arsenal who let the clause expire.
Mr Wenger would later admit he felt the need to send a message to his squad. That if you walked away it couldn’t be easy to just walk back in the door. It was a mistake.
For the record, I’m not one of those who judges someone for maximising his career and showing more ambition than our owners. Hence our once young captain has now retired and we are still searching to end our drought.
Sometimes in sport, success and failure can be decided by the smallest detail. Cesc Fabregas was a world-class player at a time when Arsenal were not acting like a world-class club.
Click on this Premier League link to vote for Cesc Fabregas
Dan Smith
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Maybe Chelsea fans think Fabregas isn’t memorable enough to vote for, since they’ve got other former players who won more major trophies for them
5 trophies in 5 years mate ….think he did okay
Fabregas won two EPL and one EL trophies, but Lampard won three EPL, one UCL and one EL trophies
I guess that’s why Fabregas got fewer votes than other former Chelsea players
Hall of Fame should not be judged by trophies won. Cesc Fabregas is one of the best ever players in the EPL.
Majority of the greats have won things
If you name your best Arsenal 11 of all time not one wouldn’t have won a trophy
Definitely need to. Shearer is the only real exception and if he wasn’t English he would be more forgotten. This Arsenal side will not be remembered if they don’t win anything either. We’ve had no “legends” since we stopped winning the league.
Shearer won the Prem
…and is the PL’s all-time record goals scorer (260)
Yeah but he’s not the exception to the rule
He did, had a brain fart 😆
Cesc has won two EPL titles and total of 6 trophies in England I think. Even if we do not count his Chelsea achievements his time with us alone is worth hall of fame induction.
I don’t hold it against Cesc for joining Chelsea, and it’s not as if Arsenal wanted him at that time, or I’m sure he’d have returned. He definitely is one of the Premier League’s better players and deserves nomination.
Vote for a 🐀that went on strike to force his transfer ? No way !
Sol Campbell gets my vote all day long.
Herr Drier,
I’m just interested to know if you think Ashley Cole deserves to be in there if he already isn’t. Just curious.
🤣. He’s already in Derek, deservedly so.
Derek, for me the answer will be yes. Ashley Cole didn’t go on strike, was underpaid compared to his team mates and was the best LB in the world.
If your saying Cole did nothing wrong like Fabregas did then again not true
He was caught illegally talking to Jose and Kenyon which got him charged by the FA
Some would say that’s worse then what Fabregas did
Hence why he got charged
Again , surprised you wouldn’t have known this
And not forgetting how he treated Sheryl.
Now that one I agree with
Had my dream life
Yet again it seems you have a problem comprehending the written word Still. No where have I posted that Ashley Cole did nothing wrong. If I did, could you please show me in a quoted reply.
Because your stance is Fabregas should not go in the hall of fame because he went on strike to force through a move to another club
So why would it be okay for Cole to go behind Arsenal back and essentially meet Chelsea ?
If your saying it’s not okay for Cole to do it why is he allowed to do something wrong but he in the hall of fame but Fabregas can’t be in because he did something wrong
It’s either a contradiction or again you didn’t know Cole did worse lol
Because players talking behind their clubs back goes on all the time. One of the best players I’ve ever seen play for The Arsenal, Liam Brady, spoke to Uli Hoeness of Bayern Munich in January 1980 when entering the last 6 months of his contract.
As I said in my original post, Sol Campbell for me.
You can vote 2
Who else on the list out of interest
No one.
Campbell and vidic for me .
I was of the impression that it was the former inductees that cast the final votes not the public .?
Yeah kind of
Fans vote and then the players decide off that but let’s be honest they will go with the majority as are they really going to sit there and care about it
I don’t think it will be like Xfactor where Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer are looking at photos
‘ Fabregas … .we have made our final decision…….your through live show ‘
Totally agree there. The difference between Ashley Cole and Fabergras is that Cole was caught. I’m sure Cesc also had ,” Conversations”, with certain people at Barcelona. He was pretty much signed, sealed and delivered to Barcelona even early on in his final season with us. His Arsenal heart had gone walkabout. In terms of impact on the field and legacy I’m not certain Fabregas is a hall of famer. Ashley Cole certainly was a player who made an impact with every game, a solid foundation,but at Barcelona, Fabregas was just a number and at Chelsea, they would probably have won trophies even without his presence.
Yes he was a part of Several major trophies
2010 World Cup
2 FA Cups
2 Premier League
1 La Liga
1 Copa Del Rey
Even more then that Steph
2008 Euros
Euro 2012 Euros
A league Cup
A Europa League
Now when people use words like exceptional
This lad was special
I think, the combined names of Messi, Xhavi, Ienesta, Alvarez, Pique and Busquets had more to do with Barcelona’s and Spain’s dominance than our Cesc and the same goes with his Chelsea career. As good as he was he wasn’t a great who could infya game on his own, which is probably why he couldn’t wait to leave the Wegner and Gazadis penny pinching.
I haven’t given up on Cesc ever. Hoping he can eventually return to us as a hot shot manager and give us something further to be proud of.
Liverpool looking like nothing special. Those points blown at Anfield looking like an opportunity missed. Needed the manager to believe in his team more and try to win and we likely would’ve.
Isak will be ready next week tho and will cover up even more of their flaws. City win next weekend is a must for us! COYG
The big difference is Liverpool win games that they shouldn’t and we lose games we should have won, or draw. Artetas style hasn’t mastered that.
By all accounts, the penalty Burnley gave away at the death was ridiculous
Yeah you know when they say the players reaction tells you everything
He instantly had his face in his hands like ‘ what have I done ‘
SueP, it was stupid by Hannibal to turn his back but stick out his right arm. The penalty should have been retaken, as a Liverpool player was in the penalty area before Salah took the kick.
Herr Drier,
Regarding the encroachment, I agree with you if the ball is saved. But as the ball went in, then nothing was affected by encroachment.
@DEREK:
Is that the rule or your rule?
Derek, my mistake. They’ve obviously changed the law regarding encroachment.
As some commenters put more stock in Slot than MA, I hope his comments are read regarding how hard it is to create chances and the difficulty of playing against any PL team defending with 11 players in the box and that they were not able to do it. He has my respect for admitting the luck element. Of course, if they had been on the other side, it would have simply been an “excuse”.
Thrill and Herr Drier,
Apologies for the confusion. I don’t know the rule and I wasn’t saying it from a point of knowing. But for me if the ball doesn’t go in directly, then for me the encroachment should be applied.
But if the ball goes in, then nothing has been affected regards the encroachment. Just my opinion.
Again, apologies for the confusion.
Derek, no apology needed.
Herr Drier,
Regarding our earlier conversation about encroachment, I looked the rule up on Google.
And apparently, if the team taking the penalty encroaches the defending team get an indirect free-kick.
If the defending team encroaches, the team taking the penalty get to take it again. And if both sides encroach, the penalty is retaken regardless. 👍
👏👏👏👏👏👏
👍👍👍
I don’t know why Arsenal fans are so crazy about this Chelsea and Barcelona legend who as a Captain at Arsenal, went on strike to leave.
Cesc Fabregas is not an Arsenal legend. No way. Lately, he’s been trying to associate himself with Arsenal while Chelsea and Barca awaits.
He was on strike to leave. Has no respect for Arsenal. Fans should forget about him. He’s on the same level with RVP.
I just remember the good times – both were ridiculously good for us and I enjoyed watching them play; they did things very few players in the world could pull off or even think of at times. Put either of them in this current team and I think we’d win the league quite comfortably (assuming rvp could stay fit).
Fabregas is 38,not 40 as you wrote in the article and i’m also of the opinion that he’s not a true arsenal legend.i appreciate a player like giroud more than him from among our players that moved to chelsea.
I personally don’t have a problem with the fact that Fabregas went back to Barcelona, the odds of it happening were always on the cards.
The only problem I do have is the way he went about it. To go on strike isn’t only disrespecting and not honoring your contract, it’s also showing no respect to the fans that have been supporting you. Put in a transfer request if you want to leave, but still be professional about it.
Having said all that, on a purely footballing front I’d have him in the hall of fame. Just to remember one game he played, against Juventus. He came up against a club legend that now played for Juventus and got the better of him on the night, and fully announced himself to the Arsenal fans.
And that club legend was a certain man named Patrick Viera. 👍