Why Liverpool should splash the cash on £30m Barcelona star Cesc Fabregas

Cesc Fabregas

Few players in world football can produce such a clamour for their services, that reports over them leaving their club can within hours spark speculation linking them to five of the Premier League’s top sides, but Cesc Fabregas is one of them.

Set to leave Barcelona in order to return to the Premier League, former Arsenal midfielder Fabregas has been linked with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and – of course- a fairytale Fabregas return to former side Arsenal.

The list of clubs reads as a who’s who of English football and serves as a reminder of the season Liverpool have just had that they are in for a player of Fabregas’ calibre, with the lure of Champions League football a key bargaining chip in their summer transfer plans.

If he were to move to Liverpool, it would be a statement of intent from manager Brendan Rodgers. His side came close to a first title of the Premier League era, but know that to do so again is a tough proposition. Their last title challenge was followed by a seventh placed finish, while there is a sense that Arsenal and Manchester United will put up more of a challenge next season.

Key to the prospects of all the division’s top sides, bar perhaps Manchester City, is recruitment. For the first time in years all of the top sides but one have urgent needs to fill in the summer. Manchester United must find a credible midfield, Arsenal and Chelsea a top striker and midfield reinforcements and Liverpool some depth.

Signing Fabregas would certainly provide that in midfield. Injuries to peripheral players may have come and gone during the season, but the midfield was largely settled. Jordan Henderson played in every game up until his late season suspension, but at the expense of falling apart in his absence.

Fabregas compares well to all of his potential future colleagues and, in spite of the season that they have had, is a cut above Henderson, Philippe Coutinho and alternative signing Adam Lallana.

At Barcelona he scored a higher Squawka Performance Score per 90 minutes than any of Liverpool’s midfielders, or Lallana, while also making 13 assists. Only Lallana scored more goals than Fabregas’s eight, but did so in more time giving Fabregas a better goals to minutes ratio, while Fabregas also averaged more passes, although the style played by Barcelona made this inevitable and probably renders the statistic meaningless.

Accommodating Fabregas alongside Coutinho, Henderson, Gerrard and Sterling in a side that also has a front two of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge would be a problem for Rodgers, but one he would relish. The Spaniard could fit into three of the roles in the diamond, into a 4-2-3-1, or in a 4-3-3 with Suarez drifting inside from wide.

Fabregas would also add another option to a Liverpool side built on athleticism, pace and overwhelming opponents. Comfortable with the counter attack, having grown up in an Arsenal side amongst the best at the art, his ability in possession adds another dimension.

Chelsea showed how sitting deep and packing the defence can nullify Liverpool, who are so reliant upon counter attacking waves, but Fabregas would add the spark behind the forward line to help combat that.

He can keep the ball and dictate play, providing the cuteness that was lacking against Chelsea. The Chelsea game saw Liverpool pinging balls in from wide, while only two of the chances they created came from within the penalty box. Five of 26 shots came from inside the box in a game in which Liverpool ran out of ideas.

It is easy to extrapolate from one game and Liverpool did not have a problem scoring for the rest of the season, but Fabregas would add an alternative option and style in midfield. Of his chances created last season, 33% came from within the box, while adding one of Europe’s top assist makers would add to an already mouth-watering attack.

One slight concern would be if the addition of a plan B came at the expense of plan A. Former Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann spoke of Fabregas slowing the play down during his Arsenal career, telling reporters earlier this year:

Lehmann’s comments refer to a specific period at which time Fabregas was almost carrying Arsenal at a young age. He has improved since then, creating around 15% of his chances from the halfway area or deeper, while Rodgers has shown an ability to help players adapt to his style of play – who would have thought a year ago that one lingering memory of Liverpool v Man City would be Coutinho putting Gael Clichy into the stand? – suggesting that he could fit into the team.

If presented with the opportunity to trigger the Spaniard’s reported £30m release clause, it seems a no brainer to take the chance and add a world class central midfielder to the Liverpool squad. A show of ambition, signing Fabregas would give Liverpool a player at his peak, with Premier League experience, that can control games and add even further to the already devastating Liverpool frontline.