Why Cesc's silence is danger of ruining his Arsenal legacy

By Martin Lipton

Published 23:10 09/08/11

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The sound from Barcelona has been deafening. The response from Cesc Fabregas, silence.

No wonder many Arsenal fans have now turned on the Gunners skipper, looking for him to show a modicum of commitment to the Emirates cause.

Fabregas’ absence from last weekend’s 2-1 friendly defeat to Benfica was the final straw for a number of Gooners and his lack of Twitter comment about Arsenal since July 31 – until a mention of new signing Ryo Miyaichi yesterday – suggests his mind is already in ­Catalonia.

After eight superb years for the club, it is a shame it should end like this.

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The start of the Premier League season is rightly an exciting time and the best Community Shield in recent memory more than whetted the nation’s appetite for battle to commence.

What a shame, then, that intransigence by league bosses threatens to deny fans up and down the country some proper insight into one of the best weekends of the football year.

The lock-out that saw huge restrictions on coverage of the opening of the Football League campaign over attempts to clamp down on information and photographic rights already looks like an almighty own goal by an organisation that needs to make friends, rather than enemies.

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