One of the major transfer deals to happen so far this summer has been Cesc Fabregas' move from Barcelona to Chelsea. Having moved back to Barcelona from Arsenal in 2011 many saw it as Fabregas' homecoming but in fact it turned out to be a Catalan nightmare that many Arsenal players have experienced.
In total since Arsene Wenger's arrival in North London in 1996 seven players have left Arsenal to join Barcelona starting with Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit while Alex Song has been the most recent player to swap North London for Barcelona each having their own varied level of success.
When Fabregas returned to Barcelona for £25 million in August 2011 as well as it being seen as his homecoming it appeared to be the ideal signing for Barcelona as he had the club’s ‘DNA’. After an initial bright beginning for Fabregas scoring 15 goals and creating 20 from his 48 appearances in his first season Pep Guardiola, the coach who had been so persuasive in him deciding to return, resigned having failed to win either the Champions League or La Liga.
Fabregas also seemed to be moved further and further up the pitch by both club and country. At Arsenal he had been a player who had very much controlled matches from the centre of midfield, being the club’s playmaker and though this was a role occupied by Xavi at Barcelona, he seemed to be the club’s long-term answer.
In the summer of 2012, a year after leaving Arsenal, he played the ‘false nine’ position for Spain as they won the European Championships, their third straight international tournament win.
During the next two campaigns Fabregas was used as an attacking midfielder for Barcelona and Spain, rather fitting into wherever there was space for him rather than, like at Arsenal, the team being build around him. The Barcelona dream was not quite what he thought it was going to be.
Even Thierry Henry struggled with being forced to play from a wide left position rather than drift out their like he had done at Arsenal. Eventually though he found his feet, scoring 49 goals in 121 appearances whilst winning two La Liga titles and a Champions League winners’ medal having formed part of an unstoppable strike force including Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi.
Marc Overmars, the first Arsenal player from the Wenger era to move to the Camp Nou struggled to deal with being the most expensive Dutch player of all-time in 2000. Injuries were also a factor for Overmars who had to retire aged 31 because of a knee problem after just 99 appearances in his four seasons there.
Emmanuel Petit, who moved at the same time as Overmars, though is perhaps the closest resemblance to Fabregas. Both were key players for Arsenal and both joined the club was world champions, Petit having won in France in 1998 while Fabregas had helped Spain win in South Africa in 2010.
The two of them were also both afforded game-time with Fabreags making 151 appearances in three seasons while Petit notched up 38 appearances in his only season with Barca, also both followed their time with the Catalan side by joining Chelsea.
Petit though, perhaps like Fabregas, claimed that his problem at Barcelona was the fact that the coach at the time Llorenç Serra Ferrer didn't even know what position he played.
As for the more recent examples of Alexander Hleb and Alex Song, these are perhaps two players who perhaps took for granted what Arsene Wenger did for them. The two of them looked great in the red and white of Arsenal, however, neither will remember their time in Spain with much fondness.
Hleb moved in 2008 and despite being contracted to the club for four years spent just one season with Barcelona, his debut season 2008-09, in which he started just five league matches.
At Arsenal Hleb was a tricky, dazzling winger but he was perhaps not quite of the level required at Barcelona. Having moved aged 27, during the prime years of his career, he wasted these years and even admitted he regretted leaving Arsenal in 2010.
Alex Song, the most recent player to join Barcelona, has struggled to make any impact whether that be as the tough-tackling midfielder Arsenal fans saw in the 2010-11 campaign or as the playmaker he was during his last season at the Emirates in 2011-12.
During the majority of his two years with Barcelona he has warmed the bench while playing second fiddle to Sergio Busquets.
Of the seven transfers that have happened though, the most successful it could be argued, even ahead of Thierry Henry, would be that of Giovanni van Bronchorst.
The Dutchman joined in 2001 for £8.5 million after an impressive spell in Scotland with Rangers and was seen as a replacement for Emmauel Petit. A cruciate knee ligament injury stopped van Bronchorst’s Arsenal career from taking off despite him earning a Premier League winners’ medal and two FA Cups during his two year spell with Arsenal.
He initially left for Barcelona on loan in 2003 where Franck Rijkaard converted him into a left-back before signing him permanently for £1.2 million in 2004. It was a deal that was extremely successful for the player and the club as they won two La Liga titles together as well as beating Arsenal to the 2006 Champions League Final in Paris.
Van Bronchorst and Henry seem to be the exceptions and after Cesc Fabregas’ much publicised falling out with Barcelona since signing for Chelsea as well as the recent career de-stabilising move for Hleb, Arsenal players may finally be getting the message that the Barcelona dream isn't quite what it is made out to be.