La Liga

Guardiola Says Barca Will Wait Until Late August For Fabregas

Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola will not be rushed into a deal for Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas.

Barca have made offers of £27million and £31m for the Arsenal captain, but those bids fall far shiort of Arsenal’s valuation for Fabregas.

Guardiola would love Fabregas to make his Barca debut against Manchester United next week but he is prepared to wait until the very last minute if it means he will get his man.

“This year Arsenal has agreed to negotiate and we are working on it. Barcelona has made an offer, Arsenal another and we have time until August 31 and we’ll try to reach an agreement. There is a sum of money set aside for this signing but if it doesn’t work out it will be kept in the box for something else. We will fight to the end to try to get Cesc because we believe he will improve the team and the squad.”

There has been some comments in the Spanish media that Fabregas should force Arsenal’s hand by handing in a transfer request, but Guardiola is against this saying:

“I think that Cesc has to do what Arsenal ask. For me I wouldn’t like one of my players to say “now I’m not training because I want to go”.”