When Arsene Wenger boldly claimed at the beginning of the season that he ‘did not need to buy’ Cesc Fabregas back from Barcelona, to say it sparked a media frenzy among the broader footballing community and Arsenal fans alike would be somewhat of an understatement.

The Gunners boss was lambasted for making such a decision, and as the infamous Spaniard has nonetheless been crucial to Chelsea’s determined title push this season, it seems Wenger’s critics do have some evidence to back up their claims.

The former Emirates favourite has scored a decent five goals for his new club this term from the heart of Chelsea’s midfield, but what is perhaps more creditable, is the fact that Jose Mourinho’s skilful no. 4 tops the entire Premier League assists table, with an impressive 16 already recorded throughout 2014/15.

So then, whilst the Blues are currently profiting from their new £30 million man this season, did Arsene Wenger ultimately make a mistake in not re-signing Cesc Fabregas across the summer?

The answer seemingly arrives as a pretty complex one…

Clearly within the murkiness of this whole situation, the Spanish World Cup winner certainly has to go down as a top draw player. Flirting with the prospect of being a truly world class talent, Fabregas is one of the best manipulators of the ball the Premier League has seen in a long time.

He can near enough go the whole 90 minutes without ever giving away possession even once, he has incredible positional play and displays sheer intelligence with his off ball running – and as his mighty assists total certainly has eluded to so far this season – the Chelsea midfielder really knows how to set up goals, and plenty of them.

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Because fate has turned Cesc Fabregas into a Chelsea player this campaign, Jose Mourinho’s side have certainly looked better off because of it. They have definitely become even more of a team worthy of claiming the league’s top spot with the technically gifted Spaniard on board.

However, all is not quite as it seems within this dynamic. Yes, Arsenal could have been benefiting from their former star’s talents this season, yes, the North Londoners have seemingly lost out on a club hero because of his recent move to Chelsea, and yes, maybe Wenger has been a bit stubborn in the past when it comes to re-signing old players – but ultimately the Frenchman categorically didn’t make a mistake when it came to Cesc Fabregas.

Such a statement may certainly be difficult to take for those with a vested interest in Arsenal and the former Barcelona man for sure, but as Chelsea’s new no. 4 has an uncanny record of dropping off half way through the season, Wenger’s original stance really starts to become clearer with the use of hindsight.

Between 2009/10 and this year’s current campaign, Fabregas has had a storming start to each season in terms of assists and goals, yet his record for supplying his teammates with his usual well measured ammunition in the second half of the term certainly doesn’t offer anything special at all. The stats seem to suggest that Fabregas has a tendency to burn out at the tail end of each campaign, and that is something the Gunners really don’t require at the minute.

Wenger already had the likes of Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil to call upon in the attacking midfield positions after all – and if his £42 million German international wasn’t so frustrating laid off with injury throughout the beginning of the season – calls for Fabregas to be re-installed at the Emirates would have largely been muted.

Arsenal are clearly displaying that they no longer need their former Spaniard with their current form in 2015. Because the club don’t operate in a fantasy football like mind-set when it comes to sourcing their new players each season – as the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City certainly have the luxury of doing - £30 million for Cesc Fabregas simply proved too much to ask when other players were already in place for Arsene Wenger.

As Chelsea look to be on course to sealing Premier League victory come the end of the season though, perhaps money ultimately does the talking in the end – and if Arsenal truly wanted to win the title this term – maybe the cheque-book should have reluctantly been taken out in order for the Blues not to profit from Wenger’s hesitancy.

With next season looking promising for the Gunners if their squad can stay relatively injury-free however, maybe Arsenal will be an even stronger outfit without Cesc Fabregas on board throughout the 2015/16 campaign.

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