Although he missed out on arguably the greatest ever football club performance in history, when Barcelona tore apart Man United at Wembley in the 2011 Champions League final, Cesc Fabregas returned to his boyhood club the following season.
It was also Pep Guardiola’s last as manager of the club he had served so well as a player.
Though players don’t have to get on with each other or their manager to still be able to go out and do a job, the news that Fabregas has no relationship whatsoever with Guardiola now hints that all was not well behind the scenes at the Camp Nou.
His comments on Spanish radio, where he admits that he regards Barca’s arch enemy, Jose Mourinho, as a friend are also sure to agitate those of a blaugrana persuasion.
“Jose was the person who inspired me most after leaving Barcelona,” he told Catalunya Radio programme Tot Costa, cited by The Sun.
“He said we had been rivals on the pitch but it finished there and he told me about his future plans.
“I prioritised the professional side of things, and today we still write to each other and I consider him to be a friend who helped me a lot when I needed it most.
“With Pep there’s nothing. There are things that happened which I don’t have to talk about.”
Given that Fabregas never truly hit the heights at Barca, before being shipped off to Chelsea, it sounds like a case of sour grapes from the player.
Not a good look.