Cesc Fabregas confident of Arsenal's success [ Monday, August 13, 2007]
Cesc Fabregas believes the sudden rejuvenation of Arsenal in the Emirates Cup at the weekend justified his decision to turn his back on Real Madrid during the summer.

It cannot have been an easy decision. Questions were being asked of Arsene Wenger's squad after the disappointment of finishing adrift in fourth place last season, and the departure of Thierry Henry heightened an air of disillusionment.

However, wins on successive days against Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan have cleared the dark clouds from the skies above the Emirates Stadium.

"We played some great football," Fabregas said, "and if we keep doing it all of the way through the season we have a lot of chance to win things this year. Everyone was nearly perfect.

"We have a strong team, but we don't keep saying, 'We will win, we will win'. We have to keep going game by game and if we can keep the concentration, and play like we did on Sunday, we have a strong team and we can win. Why not? But we need luck as well with injuries. Manchester United and Chelsea, when they win big trophies, every weekend they nearly [always] play the same players. In that way you have to be lucky as well."

It was not just the Arsenal players who recognised the improvement over the weekend; the Inter Milan players commented on it, too, apparently. "Some of their players were saying during the game, 'Don't make me run so much, you play so well'," Fabregas reported. "If some players from Inter say that, it means something. We have a very young squad, but we're not scared of anything and want to win things. I think Sunday was the first trophy of many this season."

Fabregas committed himself to Arsenal during the summer, spurning overtures from Real Madrid. However, that has not put off Ramon Calderon, who made the signing of Fabregas one of his presidential pledges a year ago.

Now, though, Calderon has said the Spanish midfielder is his No 1 target for next summer. "Since I signed this contract everybody could see I really believe in this team," Fabregas said, "and my commitment is the same as the first day I came here." However, he added that he would never say never about a move in the future.

Robin van Persie, back after a long injury to score the winner against Inter, said he was surprised at the football Arsenal played against the Italians. "It was quite funny because during the game Cesc and I were smiling at each other because we liked the fact we were playing so well," he said. That now has to be transferred to the season proper.

Chelsea have taken a major step forward in their efforts to sign the Brazilian defender Alex by applying for a work permit.

Alex is now likely to attend a hearing in the near future to assess whether or not he meets the criteria for a work permit.

Guidelines require that a player must have played for his country in at least 75 per cent of their competitive 'A' games in which he was available for selection, during the two years preceding the date of the application.

Alex is understood to have only played in eight of the 14 Brazilian games he was available for in the last two years and was not selected for the others. Arjen Robben's potential move from Chelsea to Real Madrid could end up being an expensive deal for the Spanish champions, according to the Bernabeu coach Bernd Schuster.

Madrid are understood to be ready to pay £20 million to land the Holland international.

Meanwhile, according to the Spanish sports daily Marca, Real Madrid will later this week offer AC Milan £60 million for the Italian side's Brazilian star Kaka.

If the deal goes through it would be the most expensive transfer in football history