Cesc agent split monitored

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo reports that Barcelona is re-evaluating the situation of Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fàbregas (20) after the player has broken with his agent Joseba Díaz (read more here). The latter didn't have a good relation with Barcelona, and especially with sports director Txiki Begiristain, after Cesc's transfer to Arsenal in 2003.

Although the player's family and a big part of the Barcelona fans are very much in favour of a return to Catalunya, this seems very unlikely at the moment since the player is very comfortable with Arsenal and the transfer price of supposedly around 50 million euro (°) is not attainable for Barcelona. For possible future negotiations, the agent switch is nevertheless seen as a positive thing, with Mariano Aguilar, Iván Corretja and Ramon Sostres said to be amongst the candidates to replace Díaz. Cesc, who was in Spain for an international friendly on Wednesday, didn't want to pronounce on the issue to Spainish journalists: "I don't want to speak about this issue."

Meanwhile, Arsenal is reacting surprised to the agent split, just when a contract renewal deal with Cesc, whose current six years contract expires in 2012, seemed close. A spokesperson of the English club is quoted as saying that the news comes as a "tremendous surprise". Díaz, who also represents Arsenal players Manuel Almunia and Fran Mérida, has an excellent relationship with Arsenal manger Arsène Wenger.