Cesc Fabregas : The Counter Attacking Unlock Button

Fabregas, who moved to Arsenal in 2003 to get regular gametime, was already the captain and star player of the Gunners team when he arrived at Barca. After Eduardo Gaspar, Gilberto Silva's injury, the midfielder has been a regular in the squad since he made his debut at the age of 16. After the great Patrick Vieira left for Juventus in the summer of 2006, the number 4 jersey went to Fabregas, coincidentally Fabregas' idol Pep Guardiola also had the number 4 jersey.

Fabregas, a creative game controller skilled in passing, through ball, vision, quickly established himself in the EPL. Then, looking back, manager Arsene Wenger, dubbed as his "second father", compared Fabregas to the French great Michel Platini. Under him he became the source of midfield's core creativity. Twice a place in the UEFA Team of the Year, for two consecutive seasons becoming the Premier League's highest assisting player. Arsenal's Player of the Season at a young age. Surpassing everyone with personal achievements. At just 21 years of age Fabregas. captained the team. And was on his way to becoming a legend in Arsenal history. Although the team's achievement was just the FA Cup and the Community Shield for so many years.

Before the start of the 10/11 season, Barাa bid 35 million euros for the market's hotcake Fabregas, which Arsenal rejected the bids as their captain was untouchable. Barca did not give up and made one bid after another for Fabregas, and Fabregas, who had scored 57 goals and 92 assists in 303 matches, decided to return to his childhood club after being knocked out of the second round by Barca in the champions league that season. The Gunners sold Fabregas to the Catalans for an initial transfer fee of 29 million euros and 5 million euros for variables. Initially, in Pep Guardiola's team he got a free roll in midfield in a 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 transition. According to Fabregas Pep wanted some change in his system as he thought his opponents were reading him easily. So he gave Fabregas a free role to accomodate for Messi dropping deep and create threat in the box, morr like a number 10 role but more emphasis on scoring. But the change in formation after Pep's departure did not allow him to take a regular place in the Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets combination. Unlike Busquets, he was not in Volante. But if someone else had given him a defensive cover with a high work rate, he might have done well as a ball distributor. Neither could he cover for Busquets by a press resistance workrate, nor he had dynamic dribbling abilities. That's why he couldn't get up the pecking order against Xavi or Iniesta. With Arsenal he played position based. His through balls in counter attacks and direct football have been deadly, but in the Barcelona's possession game, the through balls has not been effective. So even though he came with a lot of hope, it was tough to adapt even though he was La Masian. So he couldn't be a replacement of Xavi nor Iniesta who were on the declining stage and preparing for retirement. That's why Cesc Fabregas, who has scored 42 goals and 51 assists in 151 appearances for Barca in three seasons, is back in the EPL, this time at Chelsea. Which later proved to be the best decision of his career.

There Fabregas won the domestic doubles as a vital member in the first season, winning everything possible for Chelsea except the only Champions League in his career. Leaving the team as a Chelsea legend, he is spending the last years of his career in the French league with Monaco.