Daniel1980

We can, of course, but it wouldn't make either of them very happy, to put it lightly. Keeping your key players happy is the key to a good management. It's one thing to put a top player on the bench when he has a bad form/tired/injured, and completely another to tell them that they would just rotate. They would be pissed, and rightfully so, considering that they aren't nobodies and have plenty of ambition.Besides, I get the impression that Fabregas is the type of player who thrives and performs much better when he feels his position is secure and is sure of the manager's support and trust. Constantly being subbed, regardless of how well he performs, would do the opposite. It isn't fair to Oscar, either.So no, I still don't see Kroos coming unless Oscar is leaving, and even then, it's a big IF.

Two intelligent midfielders that aren't great defensively(i.e. Fabregas and Kroos) seems too unrealistic in a Jose team. I'm still amazed that the Fabregas deal happened. Fabregas and Kroos? Hmmm. I really doubt it.

The only way I can see it happening if Oscar is leaving and we actually bought Cesc to be an AM. Then Kroos could be a CM. Though I really doubt it's anything but a silly rumour. It would have really helped if we knew for sure what position Jose has in mind for Cesc.

I like him, but this doesn't make sense at all after Fabregas's signing. I would be more inclined to believe if the club was linked with a good defensive player to strengthen defence when Cesc goes forward(and he will, no matter what position he plays).

IMO, Fabregas has never been known for his patience. He's very attack-minded. Even when he played a CM at Arsenal, he played with the aim towards goal rather than endless patient short-passing Xavi does. He definitely can--and did play--a CM, but he's a different type of a CM. He's right that he lacks patience to be the type of a CM Barcelona wanted (Xavi 2.0).

A pretty good article on what Cesc brings to Chelsea: http://www.statsbomb.com/2014/06/what-cesc-brings-to-chelsea/ Coming from an Arsenal fan, no less. Damn, if Fabregas can play even 70% as well for us as he did for Arsenal back then, I'll be happy. He was really incredible when he played in the Premier League. Hope Barcelona's tiki-taka didn't completely mess him up. His style of play obviously changed in Barcelona's system, but some of his stats are still as good:

I bet the mere fact that Fabregas will play for Chelsea is painful for Arsene. Yes, ultimately, he made the right choice -- Fabregas would have been a luxury signing for them, considering the fact that they have more important positions to fill--but this is Cesc, his golden boy. Arsene was/is very attached to Cesc. I almost feel sorry for him.

This puts to rest the rumor that Mourinho didn't want him. Considering Cesc's history with Jose, he wouldn't have signed with Chelsea if he wasn't 100% sure that the team's manager really wanted him.

I agree that stats don't tell the whole story and I do consider Iniesta their best midfielder, but in this case, Barcelona fans blatantly--and very conveniently--disregard Fabregas's contribution to the team. If Fabregas didn't play as well as he did in the first half of the season while Messi was injured and Xavi really sucked, who knows how much worse everything would have been? In this case, the stats tell the objective truth: despite being used out of position and often as a substitute, Fabregas directly contributed to the team's goals more than Xavi and Iniesta put together. Blaming only him for the decline of the club is weird. It's hardly his fault that he isn't Xavi #2. He's a different player. Not necessarily worse--just different, with different skill set.

Hardly surprising. Many Barcelona fans have never warmed up to him. They think that his "Barcelona DNA" got "corrupted" by PL. He plays too directly, isn't that good at Barcelona's tiki taka. Barcelona fans are blind to Xavi and Iniesta's abysmal stats. Xavi in particular had countless poor games last season, but Cesc Is the one they blame for the club's results. Iniesta had 3 goals ans 7 assists in 27 games in 2013-2014 season.Xavi had a total of 3 goals and 2 assists in 26 games.Fabregas had 8 goals and 13 assists in 28 games (and that's considering the fact that he was played out of position) I'm not surprised that Fabregas had a relatively poor second half of the season. I would too, if I realized that no matter how well I played, I would be benched in favour of Xavi and Iniesta. In the first half of the season he was arguably their best player. I think he finally realized that nothing is going to change for him at Barcelona.