Transfer history: Cesc

In an interview with Catalan television channel TV3, Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fàbregas (20) talked about his transfer from Barcelona to Arsenal in 2003, when the player was 16 years old.

The Spanish international told it was a very difficult decision to make. One of the reasons that made him choose to leave was that players from the same age group, like current Manchester United central defender Gerard Piqué (21) and current Barcelona right winger Lionel Messi (20), were allowed to play for a higher youth team while he had to stay in his age category.

Cesc explicitly denied that he left cause of president Joan Laporta (previously it had been said that Laporta, after getting elected as president in the summer of 2003, wouldn't have tried to keep the player), calling those rumours "a big lie". The player said about his transfer: "It all happened in the election period", suggesting there was a power vacancy in the club at the time.

(read more transfer history stories here)