Did Chelsea or Manchester United get the better deal?

There were 88 minutes on the clock and no goals in the game when, with unerring accuracy, Cesc

But if all roads led to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, he could have been lining up in the colours of the opposition. Manchester United spent the summer of 2013 pursuing him. In a transfer window where they displayed an embarrassing inability to buy, they wanted Ander Herrera too. They got neither. Now potential team-mates are opponents. United, presumably aware he was bound for Chelsea, ruled themselves out of the reckoning to get Fabregas last summer. They renewed their interest in Herrera instead. Now he is the Spaniard in the centre of United’s midfield.



Perhaps it summed up United’s economics that they paid more - £28.8 million – for the uncapped Herrera than Chelsea spent on Fabregas, a World Cup winner who is closing in on a century of appearances for Spain. There may only be three years between them, but if United bought potential, Chelsea purchased the finished article. Jose Mourinho is rarely a gambler and Fabregas was a risk-free signing. It was why, despite Herrera’s heartening recent revival, the league leaders secured the better deal. They knew precisely what they were getting.

Fabregas was immediately installed in a pivotal role in the team whereas Herrera’s battle to convince Louis van Gaal lasted most of the season. His re-emergence has come in the last two months. Mourinho knew his 4-2-3-1 formation and preferred personnel before the campaign kicked off. Van Gaal has conducted umpteen experiments before finding the system and the starters.

But after enduring his own mid-season break, when he only began one league game in four months, it is little wonder Herrera is the fresher of the pair. He has chipped in with four goals in his last 10 matches. Fabregas has only one assist in three months.

He no longer seems certain to break his old Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry’s Premier League record of 20 in a season. That winner at QPR was something of a rarity: after 70 goals in his previous five seasons, he has only mustered four this time. He has become a supplier, whereas Herrera is a scorer; he has seven goals from just 28 attempts in the most productive season of his career. He has been far more clinical than many a striker. 

Catalan and Basque, youthful veteran and late developer, they are opposites. Fabregas has been overworked, Herrera underworked. The Chelsea creator peaked in first half of the season, the United technician in the last few weeks. Form suggests Herrera might get the better of their duel on Saturday.





Mourinho might be tempted to recalibrate his team to avoid pitting Fabregas into a direct contest with Marouane Fellaini, the renascent destroyer who has tormented Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City in recent weeks. The Belgian is a third veteran of the 2013 fiasco, a player who was burdened with the pressure of being the sole signing after Fabregas, Herrera and many another eluded United. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Fellaini has performed better after the subsequent influx of expensive players.

But that illustrates Fabregas’ achievements at Chelsea. Players of his pedigree are not permitted to blend into the background. Quiet failure is not an option. He and Diego Costa were the flagship signings, the men charged with powering them to the title. They have done, too.

They have offered incision from different departments of the side. Fabregas can unlock a defence with a pass from deep, something Chelsea’s central midfielders rarely did last season. He has brought the set-piece expertise to find the heads of their battalion of six-footers from free kicks and corners. He did not need time to acclimatise to new surroundings. He slotted straight in.

As Mourinho pointed out, Fabregas has fewer assists of late because he tended to supply Costa and the striker has been suspended, injured and out of sorts for swathes of 2015. But his late intervention at QPR extended Chelsea’s lead at the Premier League summit to seven points, and with a game in hand. His job for the season is almost done. Keep Herrera and United at bay and it will be a step nearer a successful conclusion.

And while Herrera is helping ensure United reach their goal for the season, of a top-four finish, and is offering them hope for the future, the chances are that they will come third. That was Chelsea’s fate last season. It didn’t satisfy Mourinho. He went and bought Fabregas. He has had a transformative impact. He ranks as one of the signings of the season. And, as Chelsea’s accountants can note with glee, he was cheaper than Herrera.

Fabregas steered his shot into the bottom corner of the QPR net last week. In an instant, one point became three. That is Fabregas, the difference-maker. Chelsea have gone from third to first with him in the team.