Cesc Fabregas’ Chelsea future is in doubt, with Antonio Conte reportedly skeptical about the Spaniard’s suitability in his planned 4-4-2 formation next season.
Despite being an admirer of Fabregas’ vision and creativity, Conte believes the midfielder does not possess the physical, workmanlike attributes that he likes in his midfielders, hence the recent interest in Radja Nainggolan, N’Golo Kante and Andre Gomes.
Fabregas, who joined from Barcelona in 2014 for £30 million, had an excellent debut season. The 29-year-old racked up 18 assists in total in the Premier League as his great campaign helped Chelsea to their fourth league title in ten years.
But the Spaniard was a high-profile victim of our disastrous defence of our Premier League crown in 15/16, so sorely lacking that swagger that he epitomised the season before. Consequently, the contributions of such important forward men dipped as the most dependent source of creativity struggled to find those important passes in between the lines that he was playing for fun the year before.
It is understood that Antonio Conte does not want to sell Fabregas, but to reduce the Spaniard to the substitutes bench. If that’s the case, then at 29 years of age, why not just sell Fabregas for good money when you have the opportunity?
If Conte wants to slowly phase Cesc out of the starting XI, paving the way for somebody like Ruben Loftus-Cheek to cement himself as a starter in two or three years time and become a long-term replacement—then that’s fine by me. But the concept of dropping Fabregas completely and keeping him as a squad player seems pretty pointless.
It’s hard to see where he will fit in under the management of the Italian, and that’s why I think if a silly offer comes in, it could be smart if Chelsea take the money and run.
The Fabregas situation is a difficult one. In an Antonio Conte side, the players ruthlessly press in packs, making it difficult for the opposition the play the ball out from the back. This is probably asking too much of Fabregas, whose less aggressive style of play and lack of pace do not suit a side playing at such a high intensity.
He is the polar opposite of the midfielder Conte likes—zealous, dynamic, action-men.
Midfielders in his side require discipline and tactical intelligence, especially defensively, but Fabregas cannot offer that. It was ultimately one of the main reasons Barcelona let him go. If it’s the creativeness and imagination on the ball that he is renowned for, then why isn’t he fulfilling even that part of his game anymore?
Fingers will point to how bad the rest of the squad was last season, but during the really bad times, Fabregas was probably the most uninterested player on the field. For all his experience, the central midfielder was not focused enough or ready to maintain that success from the previous season.
And when he plays bad, the whole side is affected. You get the Chelsea of last season—a timid, uninspiring, ponderous side with no real inventiveness or flair, and a severe lack of solidity with no capability of competing physically against the big sides.
But Fabregas is still a very good playmaker and one of the best in world football. He showed glimpses of this in the closing stages of last season, especially against Bournemouth where he made two wonderful assists at Dean Court—but that in itself is indicative of the problem.
He settled for these glimpses. And he’s good against the smalls teams, but merely a peripheral figure than an effective one in big games. It wasn’t just last season with Matic’s poor form or Mikel’s occasional ineffectiveness, it was in 14/15 too. He delivered in some big games that season but was average in the majority of them.
Conte’s Juventus, and even his Italy, had technical midfielders who were highly physical, yet there are none of those at Chelsea. People have suggested playing Fabregas in the “Pirlo role” to maximise his ability—a role where under Antonio Conte at Juventus, Andrea Pirlo would sit as a deep-lying playmaker, surrounded by pace and power from the wing-backs and supported by technical midfield machines.
Fabregas, experience in this deep-lying playmaker role under Jose Mourinho, would have actual freedom and protection this time, instead of having to constantly look back and track any marauding midfielders.
But this would be a 3-5-2, and you have to think of the 3-5-2 like a jigsaw—you need specific pieces to put it together, and in this moment of time Chelsea are missing those pieces. We lack those physical, technical midfielders, and those full-backs that have the stamina to hustle and harry around the field for 90 minutes. This weakness has already been identified, however, with Conte apparently looking to bring N’Golo Kante and Andre Gomes to Stamford Bridge having already missed out on Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan.
If not this role, then what else for Fabregas? If Conte is to play the attack-minded 4-2-4, then having Fabregas and another midfielder (say N’Golo Kante) in central midfield would get ripped apart against actual competent sides, but if you play with Kante and Nemanja Matic, there is a lack of creativity in there, so that’s a conundrum.
4-4-2 will never work with Fabregas in midfield as he doesn’t have the athleticism, quickness or tactical intelligence to play there, and that’s according to his manager. His defensive flaws are too exposed in a 4-2-3-1 pivot, and he’s not as effective in the No.10 position because he cannot join the attacks from deep and provide that extra man in link-up play. The 4-3-3 is unlikely because Chelsea just simply don’t have the personnel to play it at the moment, either. It’s the same story with the 3-4-3.
The whole 3-5-2 thing with Cesc playing deep could work, but again, it’s just a matter of if the right players are signed. If not, it could be time for the Chelsea No.4 to leave Stamford Bridge.
