Cesc Fabregas: I will only be a great player if we win trophies

Boys to men. Suddenly, a new generation of Arsenal kids are the talk of the town, and at 21 Cesc Fabregas must feel like a senior citizen. Not sufficiently, he insists, to be taking even fresher-faced lads aside for the sort of paternal lecture Patrick Vieira would once give him, but enough to offer encouragement, and the wholehearted admiration felt by everyone else fortunate to see the young guns blowing away Sheffield United's old pros by six goals to nil in midweek.

The advantage Fabregas has over the rest of us is that he sees these boys at close quarters every working day and knows exactly what each has to offer. "I was really looking forward to the game," he says of the Carling Cup tie. "I was talking to the reserves coach, Neil Banfield, and saying they had a great opportunity, and they took it so well, from Lukasz [Fabianski] in goal to the last man. They were amazing, and more than 56,000 people were really happy to be there. They made us proud."

As to how good they can be: "I must say they are probably the best young generation Arsenal have had since I've been here. These are 16, 17 and they are superb, they can play against Sheffield United and score six goals without conceding. I think they will all be top players, though probably not all of them with Arsenal, because there are only so many [places] in the team. But I think all of them will play in the Premier League."

It is part of Arsène Wenger's philosophy that the best young players should work with the first team as soon as they are ready, regardless of age, just as it was when Fabregas was welcomed to the London Colney training ground for his first session with a bone-shaking tackle from Kolo Touré. No apologies, or even a wry smile; get up and get on was the expectation. It is an approach which the young Catalan believes has justified the difficult decision to turn his back on the club and the city he loved five years ago.

Like the rest of the family, he idolised Johan Cruyff's Barcelona "dream team" of the 1990s, when his particular hero and model was Pep Guardiola, the defensive midfielder, who has now become manager. Yet Arsenal, having tied him to a contract lasting to 2011 with an extra three-year option, need have few fears about losing him now to either Barcelona or Real Madrid, both of whom have made noises in the past.

The noise Barcelona made when Fabregas and Gerard Pique were whisked away from them for no fee by Arsenal and Manchester United respectively was an understandably anguished howl. The English clubs took advantage of being able to sign players at 16, whereas in Spain they had to be 18. Pique may now have returned to the Nou Camp, at a cost of £7 million, but last week Arsenal's chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, said he could see no sense in accepting even £100m for a player like Fabregas.

His arrival in north London almost did not happen nevertheless, for after playing in an easy victory over Arsenal's youth team (he has forgotten whether it was 6-1 or 5-0, but Lionel Messi and Pique were among his team-mates), the young Fabregas felt that Barça had much the better side. London was also a long way from home. The deciding factor, however, was a belief that Barcelona, for all their virtues, would rather sign an expensive new player than trust a youngster in the first team.

Wenger, of course, has always had precisely the opposite philosophy, and he demonstrated it again in his immediate promotion of Fabregas, which the player justified with some outstanding performances.

Confined to the Under-16s at Barcelona, he went straight into Arsenal's reserves and, like the new generation, it all began for him in the Carling Cup, in which he remains the club's youngest debutant and goalscorer, events which were commemorated at the time in the former Rothmans (now Sky Sports) Yearbook under his full name of Fabregas Soler.

Amid the excitement, there were still dull and difficult days in his Barnet bedsit, especially on long afternoons spent playing computer games. Still a games player, in between serious studying towards a degree course, it was appropriate that last week he should be publicising Gameloft's Real Football 2009 in a long series of interviews in one of his four languages, conducted with a maturity beyond his years but long evident in his football.

His second season, as only a 17-year-old, was bookmarked by two victories over Manchester United, in the Community Shield and the FA Cup final, which brought his only Arsenal medals so far. So he deflects any notion of being a great player in a great team, not merely out of modesty but in the belief that the greats must have trophies to show for it.

The biggest trophy of all was beckoning just two years ago in the Champions' League final, when a narrow defeat for Arsenal's 10 men (Jens Lehmann having been sent off) by Barcelona, of all teams, left him "proud but devastated".

The feelings were not dissimilar as Wenger's squad ran out of steam and players last spring. This time there has been another impressive start, most notable for emphatic victories at places such as Blackburn and Bolton, where Arsenal have too often been muscled out of matches in the past. Coming in the space of eight days, with a draining trip to Kiev (and a 1-1 draw) in between times, those games offered evidence of a real hardening of resolve.

"It's important to know that we can cope with that, especially after 10 days away with the national team," Fabregas said. "It's really good to see us fighting and giving everything at places where we were always losing some points. Maybe we panicked a bit too much when they were looking for throw-ins and free-kicks. Now we have more experience of that. It's still difficult because they play their game and do it well, but we dealt really well with it."

Might this be the season then – yesterday's shock defeat by Hull notwithstanding – for a real breakthrough in either the Premier League or in European competition, in which Porto provide the opposition at the Emirates on Tuesday? "The football has been good, the results have been good, but it's difficult to say right now when we've only played eight or nine games.

"Last year we were fighting for everything but finally got nothing. But it's good to see the team being able to win at Blackburn and Bolton, two in a row, scoring seven and conceding one, that is really positive."

Missing the first few games with a minor injury may even have helped by giving him a longer recovery period after this summer's exertions in becoming a European champion with Spain. If the unpredictable Luis Aragones felt he could often do with nothing more than late cameos from Fabregas, Wenger knows better, admitting that if anything he used him too much last season as injuries bit. With Robin van Persie fit again and Abou Diaby and Tomas Rosicky to come back, there may be greater flexibility this season.

Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb may have gone (to Milan and Barcelona respectively) but Samir Nasri, 21, Denilson, 20, and Theo Walcott, 19, have joined forces in Arsenal's first-choice midfield with Fabregas, who says Walcott's England hat-trick has had a profound effect.

"Confidence in football is so important, you can see it's really 80 per cent in your mind. You can have the talent but if you don't have the head, you go nowhere. Theo's the same player but he has 300 times more confidence, and that makes a really big difference. He makes his runs and knows when to pass and when to dribble. Soon as he does that 100 per cent, he'll be in three years one of the best players in the world."

What of the newest kid on the block, the 16-year-old attacking midfielder Jack Wilshere? "He's a serious guy, he doesn't talk a lot but he knows what he wants and he isn't scared of anything. I really like that.

"Fran Merida I saw in the academy at Barcelona and he's a tremendous player too. They all get on really well with each other, they go out together and that really helps."

Is old uncle Cesc always there to put them straight? A wide smile. "Oh no, I'm 21! I would feel embarrassed. But I say to Jack and Fran and Mark Randall, 'Good luck and be yourself'."

"He is the future of Arsenal," Wenger once said of Fabregas. Now the club can see even further into the future, and after last week it looks brighter than ever.

Life and times

Name: Francesc Fabregas Soler.

Born: 4 May 1987, Arenys de Mar, Catalunya, Spain.

Vital stats: 5ft 9in, 10st 7lb.

Position: Central midfield.

Previous club: Barcelona 2002-03.

Arsenal career: 2003-current, 204 games, 26 goals. Premier League winners 2003-04 (not awarded medal); runners-up '04-05; FA Cup winners '04-05; Champions' League finalists '05-06; Carling Cup finalists '06-07.

International career: 31 caps for Spain, 1 goal. European Championship winners 2008.

Facts and feats: Became Arsenal's youngest-ever first-team player at 16 years, 177 days when he made his debut against Rotherham in the Carling Cup, 2003. PFA Young Player of the Year '07-08.

And another thing: Starred in'The Cesc Fabregas Show' on Sky Sports with Arsène Wenger and Matt Lucas of 'Little Britain'.

Win Cesc's Shirt

To celebrate the launch of 'Real Football 2009', available now on the Nintendo DS and any mobile phone, The Independent on Sunday has teamed up with Gameloft to give away an Arsenal shirt signed by Cesc Fabregas.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply answer the question:

What nationality is Cesc Fabregas?

Text the word SPORT with your answer, name and contact number to 65800.

This week's Champions' League

TUESDAY:

Aalborg v Manchester Utd

United and Celtic only managing goalless home draws has added intrigue to Group E. Bruce Rioch's Aalborg, supposed to be whipping boys, had a (wrong) man sent off at Parkhead, though the right one, Michael Jakobsen, misses this game.

Arsenal v Porto

Porto knocked out United when Jose Mourinho danced along the Old Trafford touchline, but since then they have lost to Arsenal, Chelsea (twice) and Liverpool. Home win.

Villarreal v Celtic

A deserved draw at Old Trafford has improved the Spanish side's morale. The tight Madrigal Stadium is not the easiest place for Celtic to improve on their dismal European away record.

WEDNESDAY:

Cluj v Chelsea

The Romanian champions from Dracula country showed their teeth with a 2-1 win at Roma. They may still have bitten off more than they can chew in Group A but Chelsea have been warned.

Liverpool v PSV Eindhoven

In four games between these sides in 2006-07, PSV did not score and lost three times. Not much has changed. Atletico Madrid are the big threat.

Steve Tongue