Arsene Wenger has revealed that
Cesc Fabregas is feeling the strain of
captaining Arsenal as they look set to
end another season without
silverware.
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Wenger managed to prevent
Fabregas from returning to his
boyhood club Barcelona last
summer, but will have a real fight on
his hands if he is to convince the
Spaniard to stay at Emirates Stadium
for another season as their Premier
League title bid slips away.
Fabregas, who took over the
Gunners armband in November
2008 aged only 21, recently
suggested Wenger's failure to bring
in established players is the reason
for their lack of trophies.
While Wenger continues to stand by
his philosophy, he admits his
skipper, who turns 24 on
Wednesday, is still too young for
such responsibility and has been
weighed down by the burden of
captaining the young team.
"Maybe this season has been a bit of
a heavy burden for Cesc, he puts too
much pressure on himself," Wenger
said.
"It's too much pressure for someone
his age. But he is captain and [Robin]
van Persie is vice-captain so they put
a lot of pressure on themselves. It's
all self-inflicted. Cesc is a winner. He
wants to win, he is desperate to win.
And of course when it does not
work, he is frustrated."
In a bid to tempt his star midfielder
to stay, Wenger has promised to
bring in more experience in the
summer after the club look set to
finish a sixth season without
silverware, having seen all four
trophies slip from their grasp in the
space of less than two months.
"We'll try to certainly bring in some
more experience," Wenger said.
"One of the reasons I took [Jens]
Lehmann back was because he has
done it.
"Some managers think if a player
wants to go he has to go but I
believe that this team has been
educated and grown together. They
are very young. The biggest
achievement for them will be to win
together. I think they will have learnt
their job the hard way.
"Once they win, they will be
stronger. The pressure is too much
on Cesc at the moment because it
doesn't go as well as we want. But
once it will go well, he will grow with
it. Every difficulty in life will make you
stronger, especially when you have a
strong character."