Could Arsenal fans have just witnessed their future next manager? Cesc Fabregas has been very impressive with Como 1907 and one day in the future he could become Mikel Arteta's successor
Cesc Fabregas has impressed at Como begging the question whether Arsenal fans have just had a glimpse to the future
Cesc Fabregas has impressed at Como begging the question whether Arsenal fans have just had a glimpse to the future(Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
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Mikel Arteta is well entrenched as Arsenal manager and football.london understands there is calmness from the club regarding his future and the hope of a renewal of his contract, which has just the one season left to run on it. However, that does not mean life beyond Arteta isn’t considered.
What there is more guarantee about is the ownership’s commitment to the club. Kroenke Sports Entertainment, owned by Stan Kroenke, who bought Arsenal outright in 2018, have no desire to sell and wants to continue to win major trophies as they oversaw last season with the Premier League.
Stan’s son, Josh Kroenke, who is a co-chairman at the club and who takes a much greater hands-in approach with the running of operations at the highest level, will one day have to find a replacement for Arteta. And it could be that the man who stood on the touchline at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night is that replacement.
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Cesc Fabregas is a former Arsenal captain like Arteta, a former midfielder like Arteta and has taken his side forward in his first official post as manager, like Arteta did. The parallels are very clear and obvious.
While there is much more mixed feelings from the Arsenal fan base regarding Fabregas than there was for Arteta, considering how he left the club to join Barcelona and then joined West London rivals Chelsea, there is still plenty of appreciation. Fabregas’ work at Como 1907 has garnered plenty of praise across Europe.
Fabregas has shown commitment to Como, having helped them qualify for the UEFA Champions League. He described their pre-season friendly with Arsenal as “history” and explained how they’d reached this level in two-years-plus as opposed to the planned six-year forecast they’d initially laid out.
But it was his view of Arsenal’s rise since leaving the club, asked by football.london, that showed the appreciation he still has for the club he grew from a boy into a man at. At the club which he became the global football superstar that would maintain it’s status long after he left.
"Congratulations to the club in general, starting from seven, eight years ago when they first started with this project,” Fabregas said. “Because what you watch and you see in football every day, what Arsenal did, especially in the difficult moments, it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist.
“I told Edu, I told Andrea [Berta] when I came last year to the Champions League and congratulations to the whole club for the patience, for sticking together and sticking to the plan. Went for three years in a row, correct me if I'm wrong, but finished eighth, eighth, fourth year, nearly Champions League, it was a big disappointment. Tottenham come, you finish fifth.
“But you keep going because you have a plan, because you have an objective, you have a progression, you keep going forward. We lack this in football today. Every day you see, okay, lose three games, change the coach, he was playing one style, now he's playing another.
“And at the end of the day, I don't believe in this a lot. I'm very lucky that I am in a project, of course, with much more lower level, lower everything, for the history, for everything. But we're trying to look a little bit at the stability that Arsenal had, at the values, at the culture that they are bringing.
“And I think Mikel has done a tremendous job. So I can only wish them the best, really, because also the group, I don't know, these guys, now you talk to them and they give you, I don't know, they're good guys, you know, and they want to play good football. They are respectful.
“You can see how they stick to the plan all the time. And, no, really, I'm super happy to come back here and see and smell this feeling.”
Fabregas really could not stop smiling and while there was no moment where the Emirates crowd was provoked to react to his presence by an announcement, it's understood that was not intentional by any means. Fabregas has been back to the Emirates before as a player, and understandably, it’s hardly like every time a former player returns, they need to be singled out.
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But there were no boos or chants of a negative nature from behind the dugout where the press box is situated that football.london could detect. Wounds have seemingly healed, and one day, when Arteta does go, Fabregas might be considered one of the most coveted coaches out there.
Although I will say, when it comes to press conferences, I would not relish transcribing 20-plus questions with the length and detail we experienced from just five on Wednesday. My goodness me!
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