Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has said that midfielder Cesc Fabregas enjoy more freedom when he was at Arsenal. Fabregas made the £ 35 million switch to the Camp Nou almost 2 years ago. He was primarily a midfielder at Arsenal, but he has played as a striker at Barcelona on numerous occasions. He has also been regarded as a false number nine by the Barcelona managers. It has been effective on some occasions, but there have also been times when the experiment has failed. When he was at Arsenal, Fabregas dominated the midfield by creating and scoring goals.
Pique believes that Fabregas is at his best when he is playing in the midfield Premier league team because it allows more freedom for the players. He has been restricted on several occasions due to the passing style of football adopted by Barcelona. The 25-year-old midfielder scored a hat-trick against Mallorca during the weekend, which helped him take his total tally for the season to 12 goals. This remains some way off the 19 goals be achieved when he was an Arsenal player back in the 2009-10 season.
It is even more impressive considering that he played in the midfield for Arsenal during that season. Fabregas is expected to be dropped for the Champions League semi-final match against Bayern Munich.
“In England you have more time on the ball; midfielders, especially those who move between the lines, have more space. There is more freedom to move around, and it is enjoyable as a midfielder. But I can see how going back to a positional game can be difficult if you have had the freedom to play according to your intuition instead of a collective order. I can see how Cesc would like to have more freedom as he used to have at Arsenal,” said Pique.