After Arsene Wenger said that Barcelona had given up on signing Cesc Fabregas this summer, we all thought that there was a quiet transfer window ahead regarding the tapping-up series that we seem to see every year, but now things seem to have taken a strange turn.

Yesterday Andrei Arshavin revealed that Fabregas had given each Arsenal player a small parting gift before he flew out to the Spanish Grand Prix, and this morning David Villa announced that he would love to have Cesc still to come to Barcelona.

Now El Mundo Deportivo is reporting that Fabregas has agreed personal terms with Barca, and it just remains for the two clubs to agree a fee, and they say that the Catalans are ready to increase their offer to £40m to force Wenger to bite the bullet.

Wenger recently said: “I expect him to be here next season, and I will fight very hard to keep him here.

“You have always to fight when you have a player of that quality. You must always fight to keep your players.”

But Wenger also said that he would be unusually active in the transfer market, so perhaps he also knew that he would have to let his captain go this year?

One thing about Arshavin, he always tells you like it is! Could he be the only honest one around…….

Justarsenal