Cesc Fabregas ready to talk tough with Arsenal

By Wayne Veysey

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TheArsenal board are steeling themselves for tough contract negotiations with Cesc Fabregas after it emerged the Spanish midfielder's new agent is Darren Dein, son of the club's estranged former vice-chairman, David Dein.

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Fabregas is already committed to Arsenal until 2014, but the club recognise the need to tie him to an improved deal in keeping with his status as one of the finest young players in the world - and to ward off Barcelona and Real Madrid.

	Kissing goodbye to Arsenal? Cesc Fabregas is set for tough contract negotiations with the club

Tentative talks began earlier this year and the Arsenal board were then furious when they found out that Fabregas sacked his Spanish agent, Joseba Diaz seven weeks ago and replaced him with Darren Dein.

Their misgivings are two-fold. The board's acrimonious relationship with Darren's father is well known after he was forced out of the club last year and then teamed up with Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who has acquired a 24.2 per cent stake in the club.

It is understood the board feel the fall-out from that split could now impact on the negotiations with Fabregas. He also represents his friend Thierry Henry - Dein was best man at Henry's wedding - and struck a hard bargain when the former Arsenal striker was weighing up whether to move to Barcelona two years ago. The switch was finally completed 14 months later.

Analysis of Arsenal's accounts has shown that, incredibly, Henry was paid the equivalent of £200,000 a week during his final season in north London, when Dein senior was in charge of contract negotiations.

Henry received a £5 million signing-on fee when he put pen to paper on the four-year deal, which was topped up by a £5 million salary.

The deal was approved at board level but there was anger among some of the directors that the signing-on fee had not been spread out over the entirety of the contract.

There are fears that Arsenal may need to offer Fabregas a similarly lucrative package to keep him.

He was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year this season and has inherited Henry's status as the club's talisman.

Fabregas has been given his own television show, which has been commissioned and created by his sponsors, Nike, and was broadcast on Sky Sports last week.

The midfielder's existing agreement, which has annual increments built in, is believed to be worth around £60,000 per week, which leaves him short of the club's top earners, William Gallas and Arsene Wenger, the manager, who earn salaries of £4 million.

Fabregas and his advisers are seeking a new deal that will replace the terms of his existing agreement.

Although Arsenal have a strict wage structure and were unwilling to make Mathieu Flamini the club's top earner, they are prepared to give more ground to Fabregas, who was plucked from the Barcelona academy and has made huge strides since making his debut for the club as a 16-year-old.

Talks will centre on the terms rather than the length of the deal but it is likely that Fabregas will be seeking around £100,000 a week to reflect his 'Galactico' status.

Player page: Cesc Fabregas stats, news and images

Wenger has a big say in contract talks and he insisted earlier this month that the Spaniard would mature into the finest midfielder in the world.

Fittingly, Fabregas will wear the presitgious number 10 shirt when he plays for Spain at the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland, which begin next month.

The number 10 jersey is synonymous with a team's most creative player and has been worn by some of the best footballers of all time. Other players to have worn the mythical number include Zinedine Zidane, Ferenc Puskas, Diego Maradona and Michel Platini.

In Germany in 2006, Fabregas became the youngest Spaniard to play in a World Cup when he came on to replace Luis Garcia against the Ukraine in a 4-0 first round victory. He was nominated for the tournament's Best Young Player Award but lost out to Germany's Lukas Podolski.

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Related articles Arsenal Premier team page 7 May 2008: Fabregas back on Real Madrid's agenda

Darren Dein works for sfx which is owned by Jerome Anderson and rumour has it David Dein is a silent partner. Darren was Henry's representative, but the good news is Fabregas just brought a £4.5 million flat in hampstead so don't think he is leaving us too soon.
Posted by Daniel Adams on May 29, 2008 12:26 AM
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Where does it actually say that Dein was Henrys agent when he actually moved?

''.....when the former Arsenal striker was 'weighing up' whether to move to Barcelona two years ago.

The switch was finally completed 14 months later.

?????????????
2+2=3????

Your right though.....
The aresenal accounts dont actually state that Henry got all that money.

This is actually a classic case of journalist assuming things incorrectly. ie,. making it all up.
Aresenal will keep Cesc for a long time, AW will give him whatever he can. The only reasons he might move is AW leaves or he starts a family and moves back to Sapin to be with his parents etc.....


Posted by j on May 29, 2008 12:22 AM
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Also, why would David Dein's son be interested in moving Arsenal's best talent away from the club? His father may have been ousted by the board but he is still a huge Arsenal fan and is obviously still interested in a future role in the club; especially considering his role in Red and White holdings. I doubt there is any truth in this article at all.
Posted by Dennis Bergkamp on May 28, 2008 10:58 PM
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i think fabregas a god we worship now in football and if he stays at the emirates he will become the greatest player of all time.please stay fabregas. and the board should also increase his salary 2to become the expensive player in europe
Posted by rockln(fabregas) on May 28, 2008 7:21 PM
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If mr cowan would read the article correctly, the reporter states dein was the agent during contract talks for the contract thierry signed over a year before the barcelona transfer. Not for the barce transfer itself. This is a classic case of someone trying to look clever at someone elses expense, and it backfiring.
Posted by owen on May 28, 2008 7:05 PM
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M Cowan, if you're right about the agent thing, then I have to say wow I cannot believe the author would just boldface lie like this for the sake of writing an article.
Posted by Xiao on May 28, 2008 4:48 PM
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It would really pay for your journalists to do their research before printing such poorly informed and misleading information. Thierry Henry's agent was Jerome Anderson during the Barcelona transfer. This is another classic case of a journalist needing to sell papers so making 2+2=5.
Posted by M Cowan on May 28, 2008 3:30 PM
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