During the summer, there was a lot of talk that Chelsea FC midfielder Cesc Fabregas could be on his way out of Stamford Bridge. Obviously, he stayed with the Blues, but he is no longer part of the first team. New Manager Antonio Conte has opted to select a midfield of N’Golo Kante, Nemanja Matic and Oscar for his regular starting XI; leaving Fabregas on the outside looking in.
The Spaniard was a big money singing in the summer of 2014, and expectations have been understandably high since he came over from Barcelona.
Fabregas started for just the second time this season last night, and he provided the difference for the Blues in their 4-2 victory over Leicester City in the EFL Cup Third Round. Cesc Fabregas scored two extra time goals, which proved the decisive margin.
With some people, you squeeze them and then they crack. Other people, when you challenge them, you get their best response. Fabregas appears to be in the latter category as he says that he was motivated to prove himself to his manager who isn’t giving him first team opportunities.
“It’s been tough, I’m not going to deny it,” Fabregas told the London Evening Standard. “But the last thing I will do is complain, just give up or feel down.
“Something from inside of me is coming out that is stronger than ever and I feel like a little boy training trying to win my spot back, as I used to do at Arsenal when I was 16.”
“I always give my everything. You can have worse days, you can have moments when maybe you’re not at your best, but I always give my best. I have been training very hard and it is a new situation for me in my career after 13 years of basically playing in everything for clubs and the national team.
“Football, after my family, is everything to me. It’s always been like that. It’s a new situation but you have to accept it, you have to be professional, you have to keep your attitude.
“All my teammates deserve my respect, my coach deserves respect because I know he wants to win and if he doesn’t play me, there is always a reason. Hopefully, he can see what I’m doing and that I deserve to play.”
If Cesc Fabregas continues to produce like this when he’s called upon, Conte will have no choice but to include him in the first team much more often.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.