In a recent ESPN Soccernet interview, Peter Hill- Wood, Arsenal’s CEO, revealed a private conversation took place in Barcelona’s boardroom at the highest levels between both clubs during the CL encounter.
According to Hill- Wood who was not present at the meeting, the Catalan club sought to reassure their guests that they were not interested in pursuing Fabregas.
What happened actually was Barca took to intoning “Si se puede “ repeatedly after pitchers of sangria which had the same effect as “Nam myoho renge kyo” lulling the Arsenal members into a sense of peace and self fulfillment.
Next day, Barca comes up with a statement denying any such assurances.
Obviously something got lost in translation.
To make matters worse, in the interview, Peter Hill Wood issues this:
“If you want my opinion, I’m not sure he would even get in their team,” he said. “Do they need him? I’m not sure that they do.”
Way to go, tiger.
The Mirror reports that the remark has not gone down well with the Spanish midfielder recuperating in Marrakesh. I’m not sure if he has Twitter on or is on the web trawling for every bit of personal news. But a sense of peeve on hearing this will not be out of place.
At this stage after keeping Arsenal so close to the title race with his superlative performances, Fabregas is genuinely entitled to feel he belongs to the crop of top players which includes Xavi and Iniesta.
Maybe, Hill- Wood meant it as a way of helping Fabregas prioritize where he can expect to make a significant contribution.
However, given the fact that Arsenal has sought to tamp down rampant transfer speculation, this sort of remark is exactly what fuels stories of his imminent departure. Hill- Wood should have known to keep his counsel. Mums the word.