Cesc Fabregas Biography

Francesc 'Cesc' Fabregas Soler was born on the 4th of May, 1987, in Arenys de Mar, Catalonia, Spain.

Cesc's football career started brightly while with Barcelona's B team. He gained international caps with Spain at the FIFA U17 World Championship, where he was named best player and top goalscorer, even though his side had finished second to Brazil.

At the age of just 16 years, he left his homeland and moved to England with Arsenal, in a £2.25m transfer.

Aged just 16 years and 177 days, the midfielder became Arsenal's youngest first-team player ever, when he made his debut on October 23rd, 2003, in a League Cup match at home, which the Gunners won on penalties after drawing 1-1.

On his next appearance, he broke another record, he scored in Arsenal's 5-1 League Cup win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, which made him the youngest ever Arsenal goalscorer.

The following season saw the Spaniard made the breakthrough into the first-team proper, when he was selected to appear in the Charity Shield match against Manchester United. The North London club won 3-1. From there, he and Arsenal didn't look back, as while he started the Premiership campaign filling in for the injured Patrick Vieira, the team started the season on fire.

Arsenal thrashed Everton 4-1 away, and Middlesbrough 5-3 at home, then in a 3-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers, Cesc scored his first Premiership goal. Unfortunately for Cesc, he was soon ousted as Vieira was back fit, with manager Arsene Wenger opting to go with the experienced Frenchman. The youngster wasn't far from the first-team though, as he was only relegated to the bench, from where he made many other appearances.

In a few games, Fabregas was back in the team, this time along-side Vieira in the centre of midfield. The duo helped their side to wins over Manchester City, Charlton Athletic and Aston Villa. The following game Vieira was absent, but Cesc continued to start to make his debut in the Champions' League in the 2-2 draw at Panathinaikos.

As the season went on, Fabregas was in and out of the starting line-up, he did though start in Arsenal's 4-5 win at North London rivals Spurs.

Cesc became the second youngest ever to score in the Champions' League, when he scored the third goal in Arsenal's 5-1 win over Rosenborg. Arsenal's campaign in Champion League's failed to get any further than the last 16 when they were beaten by Bayern Munich on aggregate.

As the Premiership season came to a close, the young Spaniard scored his third goal of the season, when his side beat Liverpool 3-1 at home in the Premiership, however, Arsenal could only finish second to champions Chelsea.

The season ended with FA Cup glory for Cesc and his team-mates as Manchester United were beaten on penalties.

The summer came and Patrick Vieira went [to Juventus]. This left a massive hole for Cesc to fill. But season 2005/06 started brightly for the Spaniard with a goal in the FA Community Shield, sadly a brace by Didier Drogba saw Chelsea steal a win.

From there, Arsenal's start to the season was erratic, especially after suffering a 1-0 defeat at Chelsea. There were other losses too away at Middlesbrogh and West Bromwich Albion. There were fine moments, like the 2-1 win at Ajax in the Champions' League.

Cesc managed to get on the score sheet, coincidentally again in a 3-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers. But soon his team's form slumped with losses to Newcastle United and Chelsea [again]. There were some highlights though, like the 7-0 home thrashing of Everton.

Cesc the following game got his first red card in England in the 1-0 defeat at Everton. But soon sorrow turned to joy when he assisted Thierry Henry in his match winning goal at Real Madrid, and there was even more joy, when he played for the full Spanish national side in their 3-2 win over the Ivory Coast. He became the youngest player to be capped by Spain for quite some years.

The Champions' League campaign continued with a two legged win over Juventus, in which the Spaniard scored and assisted Henry's goal, although despite this, it ended with a European Cup final against Barcelona. With everything stacked against them after Jens Lehmann has been sent off early in the match, the Gunners went ahead through a Sol Campbell goal. They couldn't hang on to their lead though, with Samuel Eto'o equalising and Juliano Belletti scoring the winner.

Their Premiership campaign saw Arsenal finish fourth after they managed to steal the last Champions' league place from arch rivals Spurs, whose players mysteriously suffered some form of illness prior to their match against West Ham, which they lost.

Now the domestic season was over, Fabregas' international season continued, after he was selected by Spain for the World Cup in Germany. He made four appearances - two as substitute. Despite the Spaniards having a squad of some of the World's finest players, they yet again failed to capitalise. They were beaten 3-1 in the knock stages. Ironically, Cesc's former Arsenal team-mate Patrick Vieira was on the scoresheet for France.

Season 2006/07 started in Croatia, with a Champions' League qualifier against Dynamo Zagreb. Fabregas for scored twice in the away victory. The Premiership campaign started slowly with a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at Arsenal's new Emirates stadium.

Cesc's involvement with the Spanish national side continued in their campaign to qualify for the European Championships. He started in the 4-0 win over Liechtenstein, but was made a substitute in the embarassing 3-2 defeat away at Northern Ireland. There was a further defeat away at Sweden, in which they went down 2-0.

Fabregas In People Opinion...

 Advantages: Vision, Passing, Touch, Awareness, Anticipation, Composure

~~~ Facts ~~~

Cesc Fabregas, full name Francesc Fabregas i Soler is a Spanish footballer who currently plays for Arsenal in the English Premier League.

After spending 3 years of his youth career at the world-renowned Barcelona youth set-up he was snapped up by Arsenal at the young age of 16, much to Barcelona's dismay.

Still only 22 years of age Fabregas is the Arsenal captain and battling for a starting place in the Spanish senior side. However, knocking Xavi (Barcelona) out of the first 11 isn't what you would call an easy task.

~~~ People Opinion by Wils0408n~~~

For me Fabregas is one of the best footballers on the planet and arguably the best centre midfielder in the world at the moment.

There's so much to his game, but the main aspect that stands out is his passing ability. Starting his career as a deep lying playmaker meant that Cesc had to have a sublime array of passing and the ability to dictate the tempo of a game. He does this as good as anyone in the world.

His short passing is crisp and free flowing, critical for anyone playing in the Arsenal or Spain side. His long passes and through balls are almost always inch perfect, finding the tiniest gaps in opposing defences that other wouldn't even dream about attempting.

His other big asset is his awareness and anticipation. It's almost like he has a map in his head of where everyone on the pitch is. Constantly looking around him and thinking about where he's going to play the ball before he even receives it. This awareness is also useful when he's in possession. When someone is coming in from behind him he always turns away just at the last second to shield the ball from his opponent.

Useful since he's only 5ft 9in, playing in a sport becoming more and more about size and physical ability.

Fabregas is also very hard working, regularly clocking up over 10km in each match. This is down to his tracking back to help the defence and also because he's always moving trying to create the right angle for his teammate to pass to him. Also, over recent years Fabregas is going past the forwards much more often in a bid to score more goals.

If he ever finds himself in a tight spot, his immaculate touch will help him out. Passes are often fired into his pass, only for Fabregas to control pefectly.

This new, more attacking approach to the game could cause some players some trouble. Not Fabregas however, who has added his finishing ability to his enormous array of skills. Always composed in front of goal, Fabregas rarely misses opportunities, which arise to him. Once he starts getting double figures regularly for the season then nobody will be able to doubt his talent.

Physically Fabregas isn't anything special. He's only 5ft 9in, isn't built like an ox like most players in the English premier League these days and isn't blessed with blistering pace. None of this really affects him, all because of his footballing brain and his understanding of the game.

~~~ Overall ~~~

Quite simply a footballing genius. If you don't appreciate what Fabregas does on the field, then for me you don't understand the game of football.

To be the captain of such a big club at such a young age could be extremely daunting, but Cesc Fabregas has taken it in his stride and even improved with the responsibility thrown upon him.

And just for the record, I believe Fabregas to be a superior player to Xavi. They both play almost identically, but Fabregas has a slight edge in everything he does.

Excellent - 10/10