Arsenal seemed to have slapped Barcelona in the face by offering captain Cesc Fabregas to Real Madrid for £54 million!

It almost seems unthinkable, but it certainly looks that way as Arsenal have issued a ‘you want him….come get him’ statement to Real Madrid (yes Barcelona’s arch enemy) and in doing so, they have stated that bidding will start at an astonishing £54 million.

Now many questions will be asked about Arsenal’s figure, and people are going to look at other players such as Torres, Carroll and everybody else. However, in my opinion it is nothing to do with these other players (mentioned above) how much Fabregas is worth, the only people who are in a position to state the valuation of Fabregas is of course Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger has obviously been keeping an eye on situations between Barcelona and Real Madrid, and just recently, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has identified Cesc Fabregas as his number one priority this summer, in order to put Real back above the Catalan giants.

Is this a shrewd move by Arsenal? Definitely.

Arsenal are aware that Barcelona have eyes on Fabregas, and are of course willing to spend cash to acquire the 24-year-old Spaniard. By offering Fabregas’ services to other clubs means that Barcelona will ultimately have to reach deeper into their wallets to acquire their man, or fear losing out on him this summer.

So this leaves the obvious question…Is Cesc Fabregas’ £54 million asking price justified?

In my opinion, yes he is, and this is why:

Cesc Fabregas is easily worth around £40 million minimum – this is the figure I would look at if we were to sell him tomorrow to any club. However we aren’t dealing with ‘any club’, we are dealing with Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Let’s look at it in the same way that Fernando Torres went from Liverpool to Chelsea. In my opinion, £25 million would have brought the player. However, because it was Chelsea, Liverpool laughed all the way to the bank and sold him for double that figure.

Newcastle then robbed Liverpool, who were desperate to replace Torres, by selling an injured Andy Carroll to the Merseyside for an excess of £35 million! A player that, lets be honest, is not worth that sum when fully fit, let alone injured.

Cesc Fabregas is one of the best midfielders in the world, period. His price tag is certainly justified by the Gunners, as he is their creative spark and of course their captain.

Put it this way, If Newcastle got £35 million for Carroll and Chelsea got Torres for £50 million, then surely Fabregas’ valuation is somewhere in-between, if not slightly more, and Arsenal should look to get as much as they can for the Spaniard…if of course he does decide to quit theEmirates outfit this summer.

Gunnersphere