OK let’s see what week we are in. Hmmm, internationals so players are in their national squads, surrounded by local media. I wonder who could be the subject of speculation. We asked one hundred people who they thought might be the player in question…

So Cesc has once more been linked with a return home, something that should come as no surprise to anyone. Nor should anyone be upset by it. His desire to be with his family is natural, having proven himself in England, he wants to return the homecoming hero. And why not? He has not said he is leaving, nor that he wants to leave. It was an open-ended statement, the sort that all footballers make when linked with other clubs, doors left ajar not slammed shut.

Yet was Fabregas being that ‘obvious’ or was the message directed elsewhere. Like all at the top of their profession, he is a driven man, described at the weekend by Wenger as a ‘winner’. He wants to do so with Arsenal – his own words – and that was, I believe, where the contents of the message were intended to be listened.

Looking at the Barcelona squad as it is, there is little doubt that Fabregas would go from being a big fish to one of the ‘average – sized’ ones. Whatever you or I may feel about him and his abilities, Iniesta and Xavi are ahead of him in the national squad and would probably remain so at the Camp Nou were Fabregas to move there. In these days of squad rotation, he would get a good few games, no doubt of that. Yet I do not think he wants to move on that basis; he wants to be a fulcrum of the team. He enjoys it, his abilities shown to the full in such circumstances.

What he also wants is his own desire and will to win matched by teammates. Don’t forget he has joined up with the European Champions, leaving behind two below-par domestic performances. The message is clear; shape up. There is no ‘or I’ll ship out threat’ but the constant re-iterations of his manager’s confidence in the squad has to be backed by performances on the pitch. It should be interpreted as a ‘call to arms’ by his colleagues. It might be that he leaves next summer, the offer Arsenal receive being too good to turn down. He might leave in 2009 but reacting as if this is the transfer request or otherwise right now is to misjudge the situation, evidenced by the underwhelming reaction in the Spanish media, perhaps scarred by the summer’s misfiring transfer activity in the national and Catalan capitals.

All of this no doubt is being lapped up in Canary Wharf or wherever the Sunday Mirror is based, thinking that Stan Collymore is some sort of football genius for predicting this very story last weekend. The notion of Arsenal being a feeder club is nothing new and based on nothing more than a sensationalist idea, conjured up with the aid of five or six pints of ale in the nearest tavern. Are Arsenal a feeder club? Well, if they are, it seems that they do a good job of selling on players who cannot cut the mustard elsewhere due to injury or other reasons. The only players who have left in the last two years to have continued their careers successfully are Sol Campbell and Robert Pires. Henry’s personal circumstances and being played out of position mean he has been less than a resounding success at Barca, Hleb remains to be seen; Flamini is already complaining in Milan whilst Senderos is being questioned in the Italian media.

Meanwhile Manuel Almunia is keen to have his beach bum hairstyle seen in an international shirt but according to Ray Clemence, it will not be with England as he thinks Joe Hart and Scott Carson, along with David James, are good enough at the moment. Notably absent is Robert Green from that list. Whilst there is some merit to suggest that Almunia could be used as a stop-gap, the notion of him taking out British citizenship seems to be filling more column inches than is credible. Almunia meanwhile is probably laughing into his spliff over the fuss being generated. Mind you, anything that sends the Daily Mail into apoplexies has to be worth a go, doesn’t it?

Apparently, Heather Rabbatts of Millwall is being considered for the CEO role at the club. She is already being written off by a gin-soaked hack on the basis that the Sarf Londoners have not won anything under her stewardship and have had four managers in the past two and half years, and I am sure that has nothing to do with the mysogyny at all.

Finally, those who wish to receive a daily dose of ACLF via email can do so by clicking here.

’til Tomorrow.