‘Why I left Arsenal’ - Cesc claims interview is a fake

CESC FABREGAS has told Sport magazine in an "exclusive interview" that he left Arsenal this summer because he couldn't see the Gunners winning the Premier League or the Champions League in the near future. Or has he? Fabregas now claims on Twitter that he never gave Sport an interview.

Sport presents the article as an interview to mark the Spaniard's return to Barcelona after eight years with Arsenal. "I want to be in a club that is able to win the big titles year after year," it quotes Fabregas as saying.

And Fabregas is remarkably talkative for an interview he claims never happened. "I fear that they won't be able to push the other big clubs in England away," he is quoted as telling Sport. "If you look at the team this season I can't see them finishing in front of teams like Manchester United or City. Or Chelsea. There's just too big a difference between the squads.

"I respect that Arsenal doesn't have the same financial opportunities as the others but it was part of my decision to leave that I find it hard to see Arsenal winning Premier League or Champions League in a near future."

In what might be construed as a dig at manager Arsene Wenger – if he ever said it, of course - Fabregas adds that he became frustrated at Arsenal because "I didn't feel like I was developing anymore as I should do".

Such is the tone of the article that several British newspapers quoted Fabregas on their websites late last night, prompting the Spaniard to take to Twitter to furiously deny he'd given the interview.

"Id never speak 1 bad word abt AFC, here there's once more prove [sic] that so many people put in newspaper wtv they want and its not professional," tweeted the 24-year-old, who's settled in well since returning to Barcelona.

Further tweets followed from Fabregas: "I want Arsenal to be successful as much as every single fan. Thats not why i left, it was never in my mind. AFC made me who i am today... And nobody will ever change that. I never gave any interview since my press conference at my presentation [as a Barcelona player] and there i just said the truth and what came out of my heart....People can h8 me 4 leaving or remember that i gave my all for the club. But me talking 1 bad word or saying smthng against AFC will not seen."

Sport magazine has yet to respond but Fabregas's denial might be undermined by a similar incident in April this year when he was still at Arsenal. On that occasion a Spanish magazine, Don Balon, published an interview with the midfielder in which he questioned the club's ambition and Wenger's position.

The article drew a furious response from Wenger who said Fabregas was upset by the interview because it "is exactly the opposite of what the player said".

However, when the magazine released an audio file of the interview on their website it was apparent that Fabregas had said everything it was claimed he'd said. ·