Frank Rijkaard believes that Francesc 'Cesc' Fabregas' departure
from Barcelona at a young age was no catastrophe, citing instead
the midfielder talent available to him at the Nou Camp...
Cesc left Barcelona's B team at a young age to join Arsenal in
England, where he has grown into one of the Premiership's top
midfielders.
Many have speculated as to how things would be if he'd stayed at
the Nou Camp, but Rijkaard isn't among them.
"I'm glad to see a player from our cantera doing well, but we can't
underestimate our own players when they're of the standard of Xavi,
Iniesta or Deco," said the Dutch boss.
Rijkaard had only just taken over at the blaugrana when Cesc was
headhunted by Arsene Wenger and his men and, since the youngster's
breakthrough into the Gunners' first XI, there have been no
shortage of rumours about a possible return for the local
lad.
Fabregas has previously said that a lack of potential first team
opportunity was his main motivating factor for exchanging Catalunya
for London.
