Man Utd’s bid to land Fabregas subject to a raid from Arsenal

Arsenal have tossed their fancy hat into the ring alongside Manchester United’s even fancier one in the race to land Cesc Fabregas.

The former Gunners star has reportedly told pals that he is looking to leave Barcelona to sign for Manchester United, but he could be tempted by a move back to the club where he made his name should they make a formal bid.

Arsene Wenger’s men are 11/1 shots to win this season’s Premier League title, while the Red Devils are a much shorter 9/4.

New Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino has declared that Fabregas is unavailable for transfer but, if the Catalans do decide to sell, Arsenal have first refusal on the player and, allegedly, would only have to pay £25m to get him back. United could, therefore, offer £100m, but if he wanted to go to Arsenal and they made a bid, it wouldn’t matter.

A new footballing superstar is linked with a switch to the Emirates almost every day with the club’s expansive transfer war chest one of the summer’s hot topics and, if he does wish to leave his hometown club, it’s difficult to envisage Wenger not weighing in with a bid for the star pupil to come through his famed youth ranks.

It’s arguably Man United who need Fabregas more though, so they’ll be hoping their greater trophy-winning potential would be enough to convince him to ignore his allegiances to Arsenal.

However, if the Gunners were to go out and spend some of this reported untold wealth on one of the names towards the head of their shopping list, the message this would send may well be enough to lure their playmaking fan-favourite back.

So, if Arsenal genuinely want to successfully hi-jack the Red Devils’ bid for their former talisman, they must go out and sign a top star, probably Luis Suarez, first.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date