THE GOOD CESC GUIDE
After Conte dropped him, Fab considered quitting Blues. But he dug in and is now key to their title push
admits it would have been easy to “run away” and quit Chelsea after losing his place when Antonio Conte took over.
But Fabregas (left) says his love of English football, London and a new-found maturity convinced him to stay and fight for his Stamford Bridge future.
It is clearly paying rich rewards because he clocked up a goal, an assist and a man-ofthe match performance on his 300th appearance in the Premier League.
The Blues midfielder said: “Experience and maturity gives you this because, in the beginning when I didn’t play, I told people not even to speak to me because I was so upset.
“But that changes with time. Age, maturity and experience helps you understand that the most important thing is always the team.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want to play. Every footballer wants to play every single minute, but sometimes you have to fight for it. Sometimes the easy way is to escape, to run away, to sulk and to want to leave, to create a drama.
“But, in my mind, I decided I wanted to challenge myself. Not everything comes easy in life, sometimes you have to fight certain situations you are not used to, or are against you in a way. But, hopefully, I have shown the manager can trust me in a way.”
Fabregas is only 29 but, after making his debut for Arsenal as a 16-year-old, even he admits there are more miles on the clock than most players of his age.
But he says he still feels young in his mind and manager Conte’s methods have actually helped revitalise his career.
He said: “What keeps me going is the fact I feel really good, I feel in great condition to play football for a very long time. I know in my legs, in my mind, I know I’ve played many more games than a 29-year-old is supposed to play.
“But I feel young in my mind. It’s all in the mind. I feel fresh. Now with Conte, I’m learning new things, new situations, new manners, new football, new philosophy, which makes a difference, it makes it entertaining.
“I know sometimes I didn’t play as much but, even in training, I’m learning. Sometimes you think, if you’ve been playing for a long time and won a lot, you’ve done everything. But then you realise that, in football, you can never know everything. I’m in a good moment, a good situation.
“Hopefully, I’ve reversed the situation from the beginning of the season to now and hope I can keep playing like that to keep my place.”
Fabregas was terrific against Swansea, opening the scoring, hitting the crossbar and then helping inspire the victory, as Pedro and Diego Costa struck late on after Fernando Llorente equalised for the visitors.
The Chelsea fans were chanting his name at the end, nearly as loudly as when Frank Lampard was given a hero’s reception at half time, as he was paraded on the pitch after announcing his retirement.
That is a big compliment to Fabregas as, having played for London rivals Arsenal, it was always going to be tough to win some over. But the midfielder says he almost feels English after living here for so long.
Fabregas added: “I’m 50-50! Listen, England gave me a lot in my life, in my career, Arsenal. I really identify with England. With the lifestyle, education, everything. My daughter was born here, my wife is from here. Of course, I’m Spanish, Catalan, but I feel really adapted to life here.
“I like many things. As I said, the education of the people, the lifestyle of the people. I’m in love with London, I really like the city, how everyone behaves. The kind of people who are around.
“Everyone treated me like a son from day one. People helped me to grow up. I came here as a boy at 16, then I went back to Barcelona as a man.
“Now I’m back and will always be grateful to England in general – London especially, with Arsenal and Chelsea.”