Wenger asks Fabregasto end speculation over his future

| Monday August 2, 2010 00:00

'This story in the last six months has made our life difficult and what is important is that Cesc comes out.  Only Cesc can clear the air when he gets back from holiday.  Only Cesc can stop the speculation,' said Wenger.

The Frenchman reiterated his hardline stance that no business would be done with Barcelona, going as far as to state that the Spanish club have known for a while that their attempts will hit a dead end. 'Bara have given up for a long time,' he said. 'Who is the person who says Bara will not give up? The papers. But they don't make the decisions.'

Wenger has been less than impressed with the constant 'noises' emanating from Spain, the latest of which has seen Barcelona's captain, Carles Puyol, suggesting that F‡bregas is being kept in London against his will. 'Puyol has to look after his own affairs,' said Wenger, who went on to the question of whether Barcelona are guilty of tapping-up his player. 'They have a case to answer, but as always, can you prove it?'

The extent to which Arsenal are being destabilised by the F‡bregas situation was made clear by Wenger's wry assessment that the player was not even in town, a crowd of 60,000 plus had just watched a game in which he did not figure, and yet his name dominated the conversation. Wenger preferred to chew the fat about the players who had made an impression in the Emirates Cup. Arsenal drew 1-1 with Milan and - unsurprisingly considering Wenger's relatively quiet summer in the transfer market - looked their usual selves. They were pretty on the ball, easy on the eye, not as ruthless as they should be, and susceptible to soft goals. Plus a change.

But there were at least two new faces, and Wenger was pleased with the contributions of his new arrivals from the French league, Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny. Their first stroll on the Emirates greenery was encouraging.

Chamakh showed some strong, bulldozing runs and enterprising interplay. In the 36th minute he demonstrated his eye for a cool finish when he latched on to a pass of featherlight delicacy from Andrey Arshavin. 'Good presence, good intelligence, and a good first game,' said Wenger. Koscielny made a couple of tidy interceptions but also the odd slip. Overall he slotted in relatively comfortably alongside Thomas Vermaelen. His use of the ball was also promising as he looked to pass positively from the back.

Of most intrigue, though, were the personnel in central midfield. Two precocious 18-year-olds, Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong, were testing their mettle against a midfield as combative as Gennaro Gattuso and Clarence Seedorf. Wilshere was prominent and ambitious. Frimpong, who has made a big impression in pre-season, was bullish. Wenger does not want either player to go on loan this term. 'I want to keep them,' he said. 'They have something interesting in that they have individual quality but are fighters too. They are not scared of anyone.'The same can not be said of the goalkeepers at Arsenal's disposal. Few thought they would start this campaign without having addressed what is a glaring problem.

Lukasz Fabianski played against Milan, and although he was not directly at fault for a goal conceded from a set play as Pato nudged in Seedorf's expert delivery, Wenger admitted he could have organised the defensive side better. Manuel Almunia gets the nod against Celtic. Not a convincing situation but Wenger just smiled coyly when the name Mark Schwarzer was thrown at him again.

Up in the directors' box, David Beckham seemed to enjoy the afternoon in the company of his sons.  But he will have been less pleased to hear Milan's new coach, Massimiliano Allegri, discount the possibility of his return to San Siro. 'David is now recovering from very bad injury at that age it is very difficult to come back,' said Allegri. 'But it has been a great pleasure for us to see him today.' (Guardian).