Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis insists 'there is no reason to think' Cesc Fabregas would leave the north London club and return to his native Spain.

Fabregas has long been linked with a return to Barcelona but Gazidis, while refusing to guarantee the midfielder would be at the Emirates next season, believes the club are in a strong position with no indication the player will be on his way.

Talking to BBC Five Live, Gazidis said: 'There's no reason to think he would (leave) and another aspect is, because we have this sustainable business model, it gives us the strength to be able to say we don't need to sell Cesc Fabregas to raise money and that's a tremendously strong position to be in.


'Cesc is under a long-term contract. That gives us some real strength from which to operate and gave us the ability to keep him over the last summer.

'We didn't have a financial imperative that meant we had to sell.'

However, Gazidis (right) knows he cannot say for certain Fabregas will be at Arsenal on the first day of next season.

'I can't look ahead that far, the game isn't like that that you can predict which individual players will be there,' he added.

'I certainly hope Cesc will be. He's our captain and is a very important part of the team, but right now we're focused on this season and not on the first day of next season.'

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has warned his team-mates to watch out for Birmingham striker Nikola Zigic in today's Carling Cup final.

The Gunners face Alex McLeish's side at Wembley this afternoon, but will have to do so without their influential captain.

Still, the Spaniard is desperate for Arsenal to win the trophy, and believes stopping Zigic will be important in today's game.

He said: "Birmingham are playing very well.

"Nikola Zigic will be a big threat to us. He scored against us at the Emirates. I watched him when he played for Racing Santander and he scored a lot of goals there – not only headers but he has a good finish too.

"You have to keep an eye on him because jumping in the air with him you will lose 90 per cent of the time."

Fabregas added that he hopes his team-mates do not carried away by their tags as favourites for the final, as there is plenty in Birmingham's team to trouble them.

He added: "We also do not listen to people who say we are the favourites because that is a dangerous game too.

"This is the first step along the way for this team – hopefully it will be the first trophy and that will make it a big step, but it is still one step at a time."

were wrong!

The Telegraph today have an article about Arsene Wenger intending to try and negotiate contract extensions with six of his current players this coming summer, including Sami Nasri.

And they have a included a quote from the Frenchman’s agent, Jean-Pierre Bernes, which read: “We are in negotiations,” he said. “Nothing is agreed yet but it is going well.”

They also report: Nasri’s father, Hamid, has been seen at Barcelona games and there have been suggestions that the Catalans want to sign him.

So we can all still worry about whether Nasri will still be a Gunner next season. Nothing is guaranteed until the piece of paper is signed…….

The other five players that will have just one season left on their contracts in the summer are: Andrei Arshavin, Gaël Clichy, Johan Djourou, Tomas Rosicky and Lukasz Fabianski, and the Telegraph says that Wenger will try and extend everyone of them.

But there is one player that will definitely be leaving in June, Manuel Almunia, who’s contract will be up…..