Arsene Wenger hits back at former Barcelona president’s Cesc Fabregas remark

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has accused Barcelona of double standards after their latest moan about Cesc Fabregas moving to Arsenal.

Barcelona’s former president Joan Laporta reckons that it will be ‘justice’ if Fabregas, who left Spain for London as a 16-year-old, returns to his home city.

Referring to Barcelona’s Argentine ace Lionel Messi, Wenger said: “Where do they get their players? Where does Messi come from? Barcelona? At what age did they take him? Twelve years old.”

“There’s no reason for any bitterness because we did nothing illegal. We did not force a gun somewhere. We respected the rules. They could take our players, we accept that. They take their players from all over the world. Don’t expect them only to get players from Catalonia,” he added.

Earlier, Laporta had said that the English Premier League officials come Spain “to do fishing”.

“They came to fish for Gerard Pique (former Manchester United defender who has since returned to Barcelona) and Cesc. It’s an issue of justice, we now want to recover them,” Laporta had said.