• Premier League

Fabregas: I'll always be a Gunner

ESPN staff
September 8, 2014
Mourinho not surprised by Fabregas start

Cesc Fabregas claims he will "always be a Gunner" despite opting to join Chelsea this summer.

The midfielder enjoyed an eight-year spell with Arsenal with Arsene Wenger making him captain in 2008 before he returned to childhood club Barcelona for three seasons.

Cesc Fabregas has shone during Chelsea's excellent start to the season © Getty Images
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Fabregas is set to face Arsenal when they visit Stamford Bridge on October 5 but will have to wait until April 25 to return to the Emirates Stadium and says he will have no problems playing against his former club.

"I did think about it," Fabregas told Spanish newspaper El Pais. "I will always feel a Gunner and I know that I am going to return to [the Emirates Stadium] and I feel that it will be a special moment but I am a committed guy.

"I remember when I played a Champions League final against Barca [in 2006] and I swear I would have done anything to win that match - and I have been a Barca fan since I was a kid.

"So when I have to play against Arsenal, I will know which team I am on, who are my team-mates and what I am defending. I know that Arsenal fans will understand me, I have no doubt about that."

Fabregas also admitted the thought of playing for Chelsea under Jose Mourinho would have been an unthinkable notion not too long ago, but feels London is where he played his best football.

"Well I would not have believed it [playing under Mourinho]," he said. "But life can take some strange turns.

"I began to have the idea [about leaving Barcelona] after the Copa del Rey final. That is when I began to think that it was over, that there was a change coming and that there was no sense in continuing.

"I let the club know a week after losing the La Liga title, from London, in the free week before the World Cup. I called [Barcelona sporting director Andoni] Zubizarreta. By the answer, I felt like I was doing them a favour, that it was good for them and for me.

I spoke with my agent and told him to look for a team for me. The offer arrived from Chelsea, and for me it was about returning to London, the place where I grew up. There was no better destination. I spoke with Mourinho and he told me things I needed to hear, I felt valued, I felt I was going to be an important piece of something important."

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