Cesc Fabregas' long awaited return to Barcelona proved so long in the waiting that Barcelona fans could be forgiven for losing interest in the drawn out transfer saga. After a deal was finally completed this summer, said fans interests in the Spaniard will have risen dramatically after a seamless transition into the first team set-up from the clubs returning son.
The 24-year-old's ability to suit the Barcelona style was never in doubt. If Guardiola could have asked for one coach and club to rear the Barca youth prospect other than his own, it would have been Wenger and Arsenal. Labelled as one of the finest players in the Premier League before the age of 21, Cesc Fabregas became a fans favourite at Arsenal in no time and has replicated the feat upon his return to Spain.
Many questioned whether Barcelona were bringing their boy back to his homeland for purely emotional reasons but there was far more to it than that. With Xavi now 31 and Iniesta 27, Guardiola has the perfect players in place to ensure the club doesn't lose their creative superiority anytime soon. Once the masterful Xavi retires, Cesc will partner the majestic Iniesta, and as he grows older the exceptional prospect that is Thiago Alcatranta will come in and support the former Gunner.
Back-to-Back Trophies
Much was made of the fact that Fabregas was leaving Arsenal due to the club's inability to win trophies in recent years and within two weeks of joining Barca he had already picked up more silverware than in his entire time at the London club.
Making his debut in a heated rivalry between Barca and Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, Fabregas came on as a late substitute, playing a key role in Lionel Messi's 88th minute winner. His 10-minute inclusion didn't end there in terms of drama. Fabregas was unceremoniously hacked to the ground by Marcelo soon after, sparking an unbelievable riot between the sides, with petty name-calling and ear-pulling rife. Trophy number one was already in the bag!
The midfielder made his first start for the club days later against Napoli and got on the scoresheet before the half hour mark in a 5-0 friendly romp. Another matter of days later, Fabregas was dropped to the bench for his sides UEFA Super Cup match with Porto. Coming on, again, 10 minutes from time, Fabregas netted the decisive goal with 2 minutes remaining, ensuring it was two finals, two trophies upon his return to the club.
Bring on La Liga
Back-to-back goalscoring displays ensured Fabregas of a start in Barca's league opener with Villarreal after strikes had delayed the original scheduling. A tough match on paper, the hosts were in typically fine form with the Spain international contributing with a goal and an assist in an eventual 5-0 rout.
A week later Fabregas was in the side again but Barca were less emphatic and surrendered a 2-goal lead to draw with Sociedad. Despite this, the man of the match on that day was, you guessed it, Cesc Fabregas, and yes, he scored again!
Injury to Andres Iniesta saw a dropped Fabregas come on in the first half with Barca drawing their Champions League opener with AC Milan. The 24-year-old appeared to have had the impact desired, helping his side overturn a 1-goal deficit, but Milan struck in injury time to earn a share of the spoils at the Nou Camp.
Restored from the start last time out, Fabregas is now one of only three outfield players at Barca - along with Thiago and Busquets - to start every La Liga game thus far. He justified Guardiola’s selection with a quite sensational display in the 8-0 win over Osasuna, again scoring to ensure he has notched in every league game thus far. A hat-trick of assists followed as the playmaker earned a perfect 10 rating from WhoScored, only to be pipped to the man of the match award courtesy of a Lionel Messi treble.
Better with Every Game
The worrying sign for all of Europe's big clubs looking to dethrone Barcelona is that Fabregas is getting better with each game he plays. His tally of 3 league goals have come from just 5 shots, while 4 assists have come from 9 key passes, progressing from 2 on his league debut, to 3, and then 4 last time out. His pass accuracy continues to improve with every game, scoring 82%, 89% and a fantastic 91% in each league game so far, while his involvement is also increasing culminating in a remarkable 122 touches and 107 passes against Osasuna.
A look at Cesc's stats from last season prove that he is at home in Barcelona. A WhoScored rating of 7.54 ranked him as Arsenal's second best player, behind Robin van Persie, in a league campaign hindered by injury last term. Just 22 starts yielded 3 goals - a tally he has managed in as many games at Barca - though he did rack up an impressive 11 assists. However, 4 assists in La Liga already this time around suggests he should go on to trump that figure.
His overall game has clearly had to improve in order to match up to Pep Guardiola's sensational standards. An impressive 81% pass accuracy at Arsenal is markedly increased to 88% at Barca despite averaging 89.3 passes per game at his new club compared to 63.9 last season.
His key passes were always of exceptional quality at Arsenal, with an excellent 2.9 per game last season rising slightly to 3 per game this time around. His range of passing has also improved early in his renewed Barca career with 1.7 through balls per game and 5 accurate long balls per game, compared to 1.5 and 3.1 respectively in the previous campaign.
Prolific Progress
The most obvious, and in turn, remarkable increase has been the prolific nature with which he has scored and supplied goals, with the latter down in no small part, to the exemplary finishing of Messi and co. Fabregas attempted 2 shots per game on average last season, weighing in with just 3 goals. In 3 league starts for Barca he has matched that tally in just 250 minutes of action, despite attempting fewer shots per game (1.7).
On average the Spaniard took a lengthy 629 minutes to score in the Premier League last season, while at his new club he has struck every 83 minutes on average. In terms of games per goal this works out at just under 7 under Arsene Wenger last season to less than 1 back in Spain this term.
Aided by fantastic finishing from his teammates, Cesc has set up a goal at an even more impressive rate, with an assist coming every 62 minutes on average. His impressive 11 assists last season led to 1 assist every 171 minutes on average - a figure that one would have thought would be hard to beat; but a hat-trick of assists last time out may suggest that he should have no trouble keeping up his form in this regard.
Fabregas' outstanding efforts and figures in terms of minutes per goal and assist means that he has contributed to seven goals this season at an unbelievable rate of 1 every 36 minutes. Compare this to his respective figure at Arsenal last term and it took the Spaniard almost 100 minutes more to provide a goal or assist with the London club. His form will have left many suggesting he would not feature in an already spectacular side eating their words!
Interesting, but the samples are way too small. I have to wonder why you only looked at the last season for Cesc. Just the year before Cesc had 15 goals in 27 league appearances. Over the last five seasons Cesc has also been the top assist provider in the top five leagues in Europe. The early evidence suggests he will be at least as prolific in Barcelona, but these numbers will regress towards the mean. The question is how much.
Barcelona is better team than Arsenal. La Liga is weaker than Premier Legue. That's all.
Happy man, good stats.
Great stats. Surely cesc lived up to expectations. Has cesc improved in front of goal? Yes, as he is scoring goals; in the midfield and avg. no. of key passes? For now yes! but season is long. i hope he can further improve 'em :)
fabragrasias
Great Article!