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Fabregas signs 5-year-deal, completes move to Barca

Comment: 0 August 16th, 2011 by: admin

He passed the medical then signed a contract. Deal done.

At last, Cesc Fabregas’ transfer from Arsenal to Barcelona is complete.

Fabregas inked a five-year deal with his boyhood club, ending probably one of the longest transfer sagas in recent football history.

“It’s nice to be home after eight years,’’ beamed the 24-year-old Fabregas as he met fans at Camp Nou after the signing on Monday.

He was presented with his No. 4 jersey and he repeatedly kissed the Barca emblem to the applause of the crowd.

Fabregas has a 200 million euros (175 million pounds) buy-out clause written in his contract which also stipulates that Barca will pay the Gunners 29 million euros (25.4 million pounds). Fabregas, on the other hand, will contribute 1 million euros (880,000 pounds) from his salary each year of the initial contract. Moreover, Arsenal stand to get 5 million euros (4.4 million pounds) if Barcelona wins two  La Liga crowns and one Champions League title in the next five years.

Fabregas said he is ready to play for the Blaugrana when they meet rivals Real Madrid in the second leg of the Spanish Supercopa on Wednesday. Fabregas’ medicals showed he is in the pink of health, with team doctors saying he can be integrated into training without any hitches.

The former Arsenal captain was a 16-year-old prodigy at Barca’s La Masia Academy when he joined the Gunners in 2003, becoming the London side’s youngest-ever starter one month after getting on board. He left Arsenal with only the FA Cup title in 2005 to show during his stint there.

In 303 appearances for Arsenal, Fabregas netted 57 goals. He has also played 58 times for the Spanish national side and was a member of the 2008 European Championship and 2010 World Cup champion sides.

After his presentation to the media, Fabregas immediately trained with Barca to get a feel of his new team which is already packed with classy stars like Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Sergio Busquets. Messi and Busquets played with Fabregas for Barcelona’s youth teams in their teenage years.

After the 2009-2010 season, Fabregas expressed his wish to move to Barcelona but Arsenal refused to sell him so he stayed for another year.

It was under Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger that Fabregas hit his potential as a top-notch playmaker so it was no surprise that he lavished praise on the Frenchman during the signing.

“Wenger is a special person for me. He’ll always be my second father,’’ he said. “I’ll never be able to find the words to express my thanks for what he did to me.’’

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