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Fàbregas: 'When I told my agent I wanted to go back to the PL, I thought it was Arsenal. In my eyes, in my heart, in my mind, I’m going back to Arsenal and that’s it. This is what I was thinking and expecting. But it didn’t happen. Arsenal had the option but they didn’t take it.'
Fàbregas: 'We had to find other solutions and that’s when we met Jose. I listened to Jose because of who he is and because of the respect I had for him, and I ended up loving his words, his ideas, his future at Chelsea, what he wanted from me. In one second you change your mind.'
Fàbregas: 'So never say never, that’s my lesson from all of it and I’m very happy I took the decision. When I was with Arsenal I never believed I could feel what I felt towards Chelsea. It was impossible. But this is the beauty of football.'
Fàbregas: 'It was my opportunity as a football player, as a professional. But when I took that chance, I never thought I would be so happy [at Chelsea], that I would be so successful and that I would have so much appreciation and feeling with their fans.'
Fàbregas: 'Being at Chelsea is something that I will never regret in my life; in fact completely the opposite. I will always talk about Chelsea and about my time at Chelsea as probably the best decision of my career.'
Fàbregas: 'With Conte, I felt that he didn’t really know me. At the start, he said to me that he wanted two strong midfielders, that he didn’t think I would have space or the right qualities in his team and that’s it. I just had to be patient and prove him wrong.'
Fàbregas: 'I think, forgetting trophies and performances, it’s probably the proudest moment of my career when he called me to his office one day and he told me "Cesc, I’m sorry. You were right."'
Fàbregas: 'In our first discussion I told him something back, I was not arrogant, but I told something. He looked at me then like "Yeah, yeah, yeah, talk like you want — you won’t play."'
Fàbregas: 'So after that, proving him wrong, him coming to me and telling me I have a place in this team and that I’ve been doing very, very well, that was very satisfying and in the second season I basically played every single game.'
Fàbregas: 'Some teams I played in at Arsenal and Chelsea were similar in terms of talent, but the difference I felt straightaway is that at Chelsea we were ruthless.'
Fàbregas: 'At Chelsea we didn’t really care if one day we had to win 1-0 by not touching the ball for the whole match. At Arsenal, sometimes we forgot that to win leagues and Champions Leagues, you need to win ugly.'
Fàbregas: 'When I was young I always wanted to play the beautiful game, but there are always five or six games a season that you need to struggle but win. At Chelsea we did that. We were very competitive and very experienced. That’s the main difference.'
Fàbregas: 'Arsenal need [the FA Cup Final win] more. Chelsea basically every year has won a trophy, so it’s a different animal. In terms of trophies, Arsenal needs it more for confidence and getting into Europe. Chelsea are in the CL and Arsenal has nothing at the moment.'
