Wenger: Cesc deal done ‘long time ago’

Manager Arsene Wenger maintains there can be no regrets over former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas moving to Chelsea from Barcelona this summer — though he suspects the deal was done long before.

The Gunners will come up against their ex-skipper in tomorrow’s Premier League trip to Stamford Bridge after Fabregas signed for the Blues ahead of the World Cup.

Arsenal held first option on the 27-year-old, who left to rejoin his boyhood club for £30m in August 2011 having come of age under Wenger’s guidance after arriving as a raw teenager. Wenger, however, insists all of that is now water under the bridge.

Asked whether he believed Fabregas’ first choice would have been to rejoin the Gunners, Wenger said: “Certainly, yes. (But) I don’t want to make a big story of that because you have to accept once he had moved away from us, and it was the first separation which was difficult for us. Once he went to Barcelona, he could have gone anywhere else after. I personally believe that deal (with Chelsea) was done a long time ago, early 2014.”

Wenger continued: “I didn’t speak to Cesc directly. I was informed he might go to Chelsea, but when I was informed I thought the deal was already done. Everybody has the freedom to go where they want. We have to respect their decisions.

“As long as we are not in contention (for the transfer), we cannot stop people going where they want.”

Fabregas has impressed in Chelsea’s new-look set-up this season alongside Nemanja Matic and helped provide a supply line for in-form striker Diego Costa.

Wenger, though, is not surprised.

“Cesc has always been a great player, look at the number of assists he had with us, it has not changed, even at Barcelona it has not changed,” the Arsenal boss said.

“That was always the strength of his game and if you look at the number of assists he has had this season, it is like it was before.”

Wenger concedes the 6-0 mauling at Stamford Bridge in March — where Arsenal were 3-0 down inside 17 minutes and had Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sent off — was a day they would certainly “never forget”, on his 1,000th match in charge.

Although the final 6-0 scoreline was tough to take, it also proved a turning point for Arsenal, who won their final five Premier League matches and then came from behind to beat Hull in the FA Cup final

Wenger maintains there is no reason why his team should not be confident of getting a positive result this time around. He also maintained Lukas Podolski is still part of his plans.