‘Fabregas was worth double the price’

BARCELONA vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu believes the club’s €29m acquisition of Cesc Fabregas was “a very good deal” for the European champions — because the Spain midfielder is worth double that amount.

The 24-year-old completed his protracted return to his boyhood team last month — eight years after leaving to sign for the Gunners as a teenager in 2003 — and has made an impressive start to life back in Catalonia.

He scored a stunning goal in the European Super Cup against Porto and also netted against Villarreal on his Primera Division debut, prompting Bartomeu to observe the World Cup winner’s real valuation is closer to the €60m Arsenal initially demanded than the €29m — which could rise to €40m — they eventually got.