Michael Shade kindly translated an article published in El Pais on Saturday:

"In the Spanish team one player is special. Almost from nowhere, a leader of extraordinary quality has emerged: Francesc Fabregas, Cesc. At 16 he is the second youngest in the squad, but no-one disputes his leadership on the field."

"Cesc is the centre of attention in the tournament in Finland. And Arsenal have just filched him from Barcelona by the old trick of changing the family residence – his father has officially moved it to London – and he will now spend 6 years under the watchful eye of Arsène Wenger."

"So much fuss over a mere lad? "He’s ahead of his time. His technique is magnificent and his vision of the game sensational. And he has goals in him. He directs the team, reads the game … As a footballer, he’s like a 20 year-old", says Ginés Meléndez, his trainer in the Spanish under-16 squad."

"Cesc is a central midfielder shaped during his 4 years with Barça in the Guardiola pattern, but 'more widely talented', and was captain of the Catalan under 14 squad. "Technically, he has it all. There’s no saying how far he could go. Such maturity … ", adds Meléndez.

"Cesc has been the great revelation of the tournament. With 5 goals he’s the tournament’s top scorer, along with Curto of Portugal, but he retains his humility. He strolls with his fellow team members, plays cards, watches videos, swims in the pool and gets homesick. Via a message on his under-vest he dedicated his golden goal in the semi-final against Argentina to his Uncle Jordi, who is devoted to him, and to his pals in his home town of Mataró. A great goal. "He’s an authentic leader, and a straightforward, well-behaved and generous lad", says Meléndez."

"Keen on ice-hockey as a child, Cesc began his football with Arenys del Mar, where he was born, and moved on to Mataró and then Barça. He admires Figo, Zidane and Guardiola, and reads Johann Cruyff. Juan Santisteban, the trainer of the Spanish U17 squad, tries to protect him from his recent fame. "He’s only a boy". Maybe so, but he’s the leader."

And Duncan Grant clinches it with this article in AS. Unless my Spanish is much worse than I thought, this article says that he's already trained with the Arsenal first team (who were impressed by his skill and confidence), his agent says that Cesc will not return to Barca, and that he's lodging with Swiss new-boy Philippe Senderos (who speaks Spanish).

Of course, at this stage it's just potential. But what's the harm in getting excited now and then? Everyone's going on about Arsenal not signing anyone apart from Lehmann this summer, but it seems to us that Arsenal may actually have been making some extraordinary signings...

...check out this article from the Standard, on new American signing Danny Karbassyoon and the impact he made in his first training session with the first team.

Rupe adds...
I've removed the link to the Standard article about Danny Karbassyoon above, because it's been brought to our attention that the quotes in the piece, including those from Arsenal chief scout Steve Rowley, which purported to refer to Danny's recent training sessions with the Arsenal, actually came from a piece written back in January about Danny's earlier visit to the Arsenal. Our apologies to Robert Ziegler of Top Drawer Soccer, and a bit "tut tut" to This is London/The Evening Standard. To read the quotes in their intended context, here's a link to original article. It's well worth a read cos it's got a lot more intersting stuff in it than just the bits the Standard stole!

Of course, Danny is training with Arsenal now, and we're sure he's still doing well. But that doesn't excuse this extremely shoddy piece of "journalism".