Arsenal politely turn down Barcelona's offer

According to a public statement on the club's official website, Arsenal have responded directly to Barcelona regarding an offer the Spanish club made for Cesc Fábregas.

UPDATE: commenter pdb has linked to a Guardian article stating that the offer was for 29 million pounds, which sounds a little like telling the salesperson at the Porsche store that you'll give her $19,000 for that new 911 turbo.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: there is a new Guardian article saying that the bid was actually closer to 33 million pounds, or 40 million Euros.  The Porsche analogy holds up, nonetheless: Barcelona offered the same for David Villa, who is five years older than Fábregas. 

This is the first statement to come directly from the club on the matter, but only time will tell if it stops any rumors from circling around the midfielder.

It is strange, or, well, not strange at all, really, that neither FIFA nor UEFA have done a thing to stop Barcelona's front office, their players, or their press organs from constantly spreading destabilizing remarks around.  There seems to be a fair amount of resignation in the Arsenal blogosphere about Fábregas' inevitable move to Barcelona happening sooner rather than later, but in truth, there was very little to back any speculation up, aside from reports that he had told Arsène Wenger that he wanted to leave.

The fact that Arsenal's Chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, made an ill-worded remark about Fábregas' chances of starting for the Liga winners certainly did not help relations, but Wenger no doubt has been working furiously to calm the waters.  It is no secret that Wenger has been the biggest influence on Fábregas' adult footballing career by miles, and if there's one man that Arsenal supporters should want working to keep him, it should be Wenger.

For now, at least, it looks like Fábregas will remain at Arsenal.