Not done yet: Fabregas deal put on the back burner ahead of first leg
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola admits negotiations over the signing of Cesc Fabregas are “very advanced” but denied a deal had been done ahead of Sunday's Supercopa de Espana.
The Catalan giants take on Real Madrid at the Bernabeu tonight with reports in England and Spain this week claiming Arsenal had finally agreed to sanction the 24-year-old’s move back to the club he left in 2003.
The news appeared to be confirmed by Victor Valdes who told a press conference he believed the deal was close to being completed while team-mates Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique both took to Twitter to welcome Fabregas back to Barcelona.
However with no official endorsement from either club, Guardiola refused to be drawn on the issue on the eve of the first ’Clasico’ of the season.
“He’s not here yet,” the Barca boss said. “According to the information we have from club bosses negotiations are very advanced but there is still a document missing to confirm. The prospects are good, but he’s still an Arsenal player. Otherwise I would confirm it.”
The European and Spanish champions believed they had tempted the Gunners with an offer of £35million (Dh208m), with £5.2million (Dh31m) in result and appearance-based add-ons, after two bids of around £30million (Dh179m) were rejected.
That led to hopes in Spain that Fabregas would arrive in Barcelona before Sunday's first leg but Spanish daily AS reported his arrival had been pushed back as Guardiola feared it would upset preparations for the Supercopa, as well as proving disrespectful to Arsenal as they kicked off their Premier League campaign at Newcastle on Saturday evening.
New signing Alexis Sanchez is expected to start on the bench for Barca who also have doubts over Xavi, Pique and Sergio Busquets while Puyol is definitely out with a knee injury.
The match will be played amid tight security in what is classified a high-risk meeting after last season’s five-game saga. After Barca won the first match by a comprehensive 5-0 margin, the subsequent four matches in the space of 18 days in April were more evenly fought and saw Real regain some lost pride with their Copa del Rey final victory.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored, until now his only goal against Barcelona, in the final to qualify his team for Sunday’s clash and he is keen this season to add more titles.
“Of course we are going to try and have a good year,” said Ronaldo. “I’m not thinking about beating my own figures. I just want to play as well as I can for the team and win trophies which is what we work hard for.”
Defender Sergio Ramos trained with the squad and will be available after missing Spain’s mid-week friendly defeat to Italy with a back injury.
“Jose Mourinho was able to enjoy some great news: the return of Sergio Ramos to the group,” a team statement said. “After overcoming his injuries, the Madrid defender returned to work at the same rate as his peers in the third training session since the team returned from its tour of China.”
Karim Benzema is expected to lead the line for Madrid after thriving for Los Merengues during pre-season in which saw him net eight goals in seven matches.
The only selection question for Jose Mourinho’s side is on the right-hand side of midfield where new signing from Benfica, Fabio Coentrao, and Angel Di Maria are fighting for one berth.
