Fabregas sacked his Spanish agent and replaced him with
Darren Dein.'
The Dein family is poised to have its financial revenge
on Arsenal after it emerged that Darren Dein, the son of David
Dein, the Gunners' former vice-chairman, is to represent Cesc
Fabregas in the midfielder's contract negotiations.
Talks are expected to open in the next few weeks with the club
determined to quell speculation linking the Spaniard with a return
to his homeland by offering him a lucrative new deal. Fabregas'
current contract runs until 2014 but the Arsenal hierarchy have
recognised the need to improve his remuneration in order to reflect
his status.
However, according to The Daily Telegraph, '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.'
The newspaper reports their misgivings as being two-fold.
Firstly, '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.' Secondly, 'It is
understood the board feel the fall-out from that split could now
impact on the negotiations with Fabregas. Darren Dein 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.'
A 'hard bargain' is something of an understatement.
Detailed analysis of Arsenal's accounts for 2006 found evidence
to suggest that Thierry Henry was paid as much as £10m during his
final season at the club, receiving a £5m signing-on fee when he
put pen to paper on a new contract in addition to his £5m salary.
Just 12 months later, however, he left the club for Barcelona.
While Arsenal's board are now reported to be concerned about the
impact their split with David Dein will have on their attempt to
secure Fabregas' future, it has been speculated that it was their
dealings with Darren Dein over Henry which actually prompted the
ousting of his father. 'The award of an up-front payment to Henry
for his signing-on fee contributed to the rancour between Dein Sr
and the rest of the board in the lead-up to his departure 12 months
ago,' claimed The Guardian last month.