Barca ace on why this Arsenal team can go all the way… And how you can never trust Man Utd.

If he wasn’t playing alongside Leo Messi, Neymar and Andres Iniesta, then you can imagine there might even be some envy creeping in. What would Cesc Fabregas have done alongside Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey?
Next Monday marks 10 years since Fabregas made his Arsenal debut as a 16-year-old against Rotherham. He is focused on Barcelona’s clash with Real Madrid tomorrow but the club that made him is never far from his thoughts. It’s already clear in his mind that he wants to go back one day to begin his coaching career.
‘I’m sure they would give me the option to help out there,’ he says. ‘Sol Campbell is there at the moment. Dennis Bergkamp also went there two or three times a week to train when he was doing his coaching badges. It’s a great club in that sense.’'

Return? Former Gunner Fabregas would like to go back to to Arsenal in the future to begin his coaching career

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Arsenal put Fabregas on the map as a player long before the FA did likewise with their London Underground homage to 150 years of English football — Cesc is Crouch End, not far from his old Hampstead home.
He still talks like a fan when he analyses the players who could now finally end Arsene Wenger’s eight-year wait for a trophy… and one player in particular.
‘If you have the chance to sign Mesut Ozil then you can’t let it pass you by,’ he says at the suggestion that Arsenal were buying what they already had in the summer when they signed the German.

From then to now: Fabregas playing against Messi (right) in the last 16 of the Champions League back in 2011 (above), and the pair are now team-mates at Barcelona (below)

‘He wanted to play for Arsenal. Wenger won him over and when you have the chance with a player like that it doesn’t matter if you already have seven or eight who are similar, you have to take it.’
Manchester United supporters might share the sentiment, fobbed off with the idea that having Shinji Kagawa and Wayne Rooney precluded them bidding.
Ozil has been a feature of Fabregas’s recent appearances in El Clasico. His sublime pass to Cristiano Ronaldo two seasons ago led to the goal that effectively won the Spanish  league for Madrid. 

Sensation: Fabregas has praised Mesut Ozil and feels he will make the difference for Arsenal in attack

‘Ozil is the man who makes the difference in the final third,’ Fabregas says. ‘He will find so much space in the Premier League and he’s a player who with space kills you. His final pass is brilliant. And he will score more goals in England than he did in Spain. He is a spectacular signing.’
That insistence that Ozil must bring goals was an example of the player veil slipping and the anxious fan revealed. Arsenal showed on Wednesday that they might still lack the finisher that Dortmund, for example, evidently possess.
They have a heady midfield mix though, and one that few teams in Europe can better. ‘Ozil will bring the best out in Ramsey and Wilshere. They understand football the same way,’ says Fabregas.

Deadly duo: Fabregas feels Ozil's arrival will help to bring out the best in Wilshere (above) and Ramsey (below)

‘The only player who maybe is a bit different is Theo Walcott but you also need that type of player because it’s true that at the end of pass, pass, pass you need a Pedro — someone who will get behind the opposition. Someone who gives depth and hits space.
‘You need a Walcott or a Robin van Persie. The movement Van Persie gives you is incredible. Players of the quality of Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky, Ozil, Wilshere, you can never have enough.’
Another element missing from the Dortmund defeat was the steadying influence of one of Fabregas’s former team-mates. And he believes Mathieu Flamini’s signing will also have an impact this season.

Big miss: Flamini was sidelined for Arsenal's Champions League clash against Dortmund with concussion

‘That is what makes Arsenal special,’ he says. ‘Because if you saw Flamini play at Milan he is not the same player and yet he was doing the same thing but it was not valued the same way.
‘Arsenal have players who have great movement and Mathieu interprets that very well. And he runs something like 13km every match, something incredible. I am happy he is back.’
And happy too that Ramsey and Wilshere look ready to fulfil their promise. ‘They can both go as far as they want to,’ he says. ‘They have quality on the ball and they have the physical attributes.

Younger days: Fabregas pictured with Arsenal boss Wenger on the training ground in 2004

‘Ramsey’s stamina is spectacular. He and Flamini are the best I’ve ever seen in terms of covering the ground and being physically strong. And Wilshere is a little different from the typical English player.
He is not a Steven Gerrard or a Frank Lampard, he is more of a short passer who keeps moving the ball around the pitch.
‘Ramsey is one of those you look at and think, “You know what? He doesn’t stand out in anything in particular, but he does absolutely everything so well”.

Jokers: Pepe Reina (left) and Carles Puyol (right) put a Barcelona shirt on Fabregas, then still with Arsenal, during Spain's World Cup celebrations in 2010

‘His touch is good, his movement is good. Now he is scoring too. And he gives final passes, which we had not seen before. He is a beast of a team player. He and Wilshere have a brilliant future.’
The confidence factor is vital, says Fabregas. He talks about a ‘mental unblocking’ that comes from winning. There has been something in the way over the years that has prevented Arsenal from collecting the trophy that would open the floodgates.
‘It’s difficult. So many things happened. I don’t remember the year but I think it was 2008 when we were going very well and then came the injury to Eduardo and that impacted on everyone and from there we started to drop.

Great Gunners: Fabregas training with Bergkamp at Arsenal before the Dutch legend retired in 2006

‘In the end, it was a mental thing — when you lose the final of the Carling Cup against Birmingham who then were relegated... you can imagine how that feels. The manager gave a lot of freedom to the young players and that is why they are so good today, because he did not overload them with pressure but when things like that happen with the age of the side it’s tough.
‘When everyone is so young it is difficult for someone to stand up and say, “Come on!” We often had meetings to solve the problem and they helped and we made sense of things but that experience was missing. Now they have found a very good balance. They have  people there who have a lot of experience like Per Mertesacker and Mikel Arteta and Lukas Podolski.
‘What the team has now is the strength of character that was maybe lacking in the past and was only ever going to come with age.

Tough times: Fabregas recalls the mental issues Arsenal have had in the past

‘They look very strong so far, so let’s just see how they last the season.
‘There are a lot of games and we always know with the Premier League that sometimes you are going very well and then you lose two matches and you drop quickly, it’s very sudden.’
At least this season, without Sir Alex Ferguson, there will be no Manchester United in the race. Right?
‘Ha ha! Yes, with Manchester United there is always talk about a dip, a dip, a dip and yet they always end up there, at the top. You can’t trust them,’ says Fabregas.

Not out of it: Fabregas is well aware that David Moyes' Manchester United side are capable of a comeback

And mentally winding the clock back he drifts off again: ‘It’s always the same. Ten years ago I arrived in England and I’ve been 10 years saying, “Look out this year, United might have a dip”, and in the end they are always there.’
Some of Fabregas’s Midas touch needs to rub off on his old team this season. He has won six trophies since going back to Barcelona, though he never forgets where it really  all began.
‘At 16 I was training with Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira. I’d played 50 games when I was still 17 and a Champions League final at 18.
‘Aged 19 I had played in a World Cup final. If I had stayed at Barcelona I would have arrived more slowly, if at all, to those things.’

Success: Fabregas has won six trophies since he returned to Barcelona in the summer of 2011