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.