File Under Obvious: Barcelona Target, Arsenal Captain Cesc Fabregas Could Stay With Gunners

Adhering to the self-perpetuating soccer news cycle’s tenant that no news is in fact news, English papers are aflutter today with news that Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal FC’s captain and target of Spanish champions FC Barcelona, could stay with the London club.

Considering Fabregas is currently under contract to Arsenal, this hardly seems noteworthy, but amidst end-of-season reports that Barcelona had bid for the midfielder’s services, speculation that the Gunners’ best player will return home (to Catalonia) this off-season has defined the club’s summer.

With the Spanish national team in South Africa, where La Furia Roja is in the World Cup’s quarterfinals, Fabregas gave an innocuous, reality-confirming comment that is being cultivated as a seed of hope by the London-based media.

Here is an excerpt from The Independent, but you could just also select any of six other sources ([2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]):

And with Arsenal seemingly steadfast in their determination to keep their captain, the 23-year-old conceded his dream switch to the Nou Camp may not happen.

Fabregas, who is with the Spain squad at the World Cup in South Africa, told Sky Sports: “I haven’t said that I will definitely leave Arsenal.

”Everything is possible. Now I have my head and my focus on the World Cup.

“I am very proud to be captain of Arsenal and I love the club and have respect for them. It gave me such pride to be made captain.”

Perhaps with England out of the World Cup, the island’s press is short of story lines. They could always cover the actual World Cup, but instead, they are covering England’s last ties of the event: English Premier League players on surviving sides.

Unfortunately, a number of electrons have been devoted to a story that has not evolved since its last iteration. Lucky for us, those electrons can be re-used (on a useless critique of useless reporting).