Arsenal Club Chairman Peter Hill-Wood held long and tiring talks with  Barcelona in which he was assured by the Catalans they will not bid for Cesc, at leats not this summer. The 22-yeard spaniard was heavily linked with a move to his native club after the end of this season but the discussions which were held during their recent CL quater-final have led to an understanding beween the two sides that no bid will be made.

Here is what Hill-Wood had to say to ESPN Soccernet: “There was a private conversation that took place in the boardroom and assurances have been made at the highest possible level and Arsenal do not expect those to be broken. I was not privy to the conversation, but was told about it. They said to us they are not interested this summer. It was a recent conversation, as recent as the time that they played us in the Champions League in fact as we got a bit upset because of all the media speculation. Subsequent to the conversation, if they are interested at any time in the future, they would come to us directly.”

Arsenal Chairman also added the following: “Do they need him? I’m not sure that they do. And they said to us they are not interested. That suits us fine. Fabregas is an Arsenal player and we want him to remain an Arsenal player. We hope he stays with us for a very long time.”