Fabregas willing to give up £4m in bonuses

Cesc Fabregas is so desperate to leave Arsenal for Barcelona that he has offered to give up more than £4 million worth of bonuses.

Just a week before the start of the new Premier League season, the 24-year-old Spaniard has told Arsenal he will waive the payments - believed to relate to loyalty bonuses on the remaining four years of his contract - in a last-ditch bid to force through a move, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

Fabregas did not travel to Lisbon, where Arsenal were beaten 2-1 on Saturday night by Benfica.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Fabregas had not been “ready to play”.

But the latest twist in the protracted saga of the Arsenal captain’s desire to return to the club he left at 16 amounts to an official transfer request.

The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust drew attention to the £4 million clause in Fabregas’s contract last week and the player himself has now offered to give up his right to the money to make the deal easier for Arsenal to accept.

It could prove decisive, although Fabregas will still have to see if Barcelona raise their latest offer of £32 million plus £5 million in additional payments, rejected by Arsenal last week.

Arsenal have insisted since the start of the summer that Barcelona will have to pay £40 million for Fabregas and the Catalan club’s vice-president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and director Raul Sanllehi left London on Friday still having failed to secure coach Pep Guardiola’s prime summer target, the 'Daily Mail’ reported.

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