Cesc's great conversation with Wenger

"It was probably the greatest conversation I have had with someone in my life. I respect him so much. He told me to concentrate on my football and the World Cup and he will deal with whatever happens in my future."

- Cesc Fabregas, about a talk he had with Arsene Wenger

I've been lucky enough to have been in the middle of a few great conversations before. As a rule, they tend to be cathartic, visceral and you always leave with your view of the world subtly altered. While you're in one of these conversations, you feel as if nothing else in the world matters except you, the other person and the train of thought that's linking the both of you together.

I suppose Cesc Fabregas had one of those with Arsene Wenger the other day. It's not up to us to speculate what it was about, although I doubt it was to debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin (the two options being a finite or an infinite number), or to debate what is the point of defence when you've an Almunia in front of goal. Cesc seems like a thoroughly pragmatic fellow, and at the moment there's only one pressing question when it comes to Cesc and Arsenal.

Cesc also had this to say:

"It's not up to me any more. It's just now about Arsenal and whoever it has to be and that's it. I don't want to say anything else. I just want to be focused for the World Cup because it's the most important thing. The rest, the future, I'm not interested in the future. The only important thing is to form part of this team and play in the World Cup. When I play it's always to win and help my team-mates. I will give everything to help Spain be champions."

Some bloggers have interpreted this to say that Cesc isn't going to Barcelona this year. I'm not sure. It just means that Cesc is leaving it up to Wenger, and focusing on the World Cup. If Cesc really wants to play for Barcelona this year, I'm sure Wenger would let him. Wenger's not a guy who holds players against their will. I presume Wenger told him that if he really wanted to leave, he'd let him leave when Barcelona offer a fair price.

This is supported, weirdly enough, by Peter Hill-Wood. Normally, I wouldn't trust anything Hill-Wood has to say, but this sounds trustworthy:

"It is our policy that we give the manager a transfer budget, which includes the ability to use all the money from player sales. Absolutely. He will get the money no matter how much we got from selling a player. Fabregas might stay, he might go, I have no idea, and have no intention of making any comment on the subject."

It sounds an awful lot like a chairman of the board distancing himself from the responsibility of being the one letting Cesc Fabregas go. What he's saying is that ultimately, the decision (and repercussions) belongs to Wenger, and not to blame the board if and when Cesc goes. It's the typical cowardly comment we've come to expect from this bunch of chaps who hide behind Wenger's coattails.

However, I'd like to point out to Hill-Wood that if he has no intention of making a comment on Cesc to Barcelona, he should stay on gardening leave instead of talking to every fucking footballing media outlet he can find. Fronting up to the media to say "no comment" is a pretty big comment in itself.

So on the 331st last day of my 20s, I went for a run, came home and tried to teach my nephew to crawl, went to work, and then caught up with a friend for dinner. It's his first week of work in about 8 months, and he's understandably knackered. Saw Prince of Persia with him afterwards.

It was put to me by my nurse today that asking the girl of my dreams out on for a weeknight dinner was a bit forward. I was surprised - I tend to use weeknight dinners as catch-up time with people after work - but she told me it was a red banner date time. So I suppose it's not that surprising the girl of my dreams said she was "busy". Should've started with something smaller, I suppose, like coffee on a weekend afternoon or just random late-night calls. Oh, well... I should've done a lot of things, but then again, fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

My nephew's almost ready to crawl. He can pivot around on his stomach. He can push up on all fours for up to five seconds. If he's really motivated (i.e. when he wants chew on the edge of the rug) he can kind of shuffle/drag himself forward, but it's unreliable - half the time, he pushes himself backwards. It's really exciting. Can't wait to see him finally do it.