Fabregas: Spain Not For Me

Arsenal's Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas quashed rumours that he will swap life in London for either Madrid or Barcelona today, saying, "I'm staying at Arsenal. The priority is to win trophies here. Spain is not for me."

Fabregas has been linked to both Barcelona and Real Madrid in recent weeks, with former Gunners midfielder Alexander Hleb claiming that Fabregas "loves" Barca, and with Madrid, frustrated over their failure to pry Cristiano Ronaldo away from Manchester United, beginning to make overtures. But Fabregas was emphatic in his denials.

"I love London," he said. "There's so much here. Of course, it is not as sunny and warm as Spain, but these things are not important. There may not be stunning mountain ranges such as the Sierra Nevada and Pyrenees, or Mediterranean beaches filled with exotically beautiful women, and you can't get Tapa de Calamares anywhere, and all my friends and family may be back in Spain, and we haven't won much of anything at Arsenal, but, still...I want to stay here."


Fabregas, 21, has years and years left on his Arsenal contract.

Bruce, Wigan to Try Surrealistic Approach

Wigan boss Steve Bruce claims his side cannot remain in the Premier League unless they adopt a new approach. The Latics survived the drop with just one game to spare last season, a fate the former Manchester United title-winner hopes to avoid with more room to spare.


"What we've done has been enough - just," Bruce said. "But we have to make changes. Big changes."

While hesitant to give away too much, Bruce revealed he will be adpting a "highly surrealistic" approach to the coming season.

"It's not about 4-4-2 or 3-5-1 or traditional tactical models like that," Bruce said. "I'm talking about much bigger changes. Maybe for some games, we won't play with any forwards. Maybe no defenders. Maybe," he added, "No players at all."

Premier League officials were quick to react, stating that all teams must start with 11 fully registered professional players in every match. In a followup statement, however, Bruce seemed unmoved.

"Who is to say what constitutes a player? Maybe a 'player' is my iPod. Maybe I'll play my iPod up front. People might think it's crazy, but we aren't a big club, and we need to shake things up to survive the world's toughest league. You think Rio Ferdinand has ever marked an iPod before? We're going to make it uncomfortable to play against us, one way or another."

Wigan open the new season at home to West Ham on August 16.