Cesc Fabregas - Arsenal

Club Captain for Arsenal from the early age of 21, Fabregas has been a footballing prodigy - the embodiment of Wenger's philosophies, from the time he came to the London club.

Fàbregas started his career as a trainee with Barcelona but was signed by Arsenal in September 2003 at the age of 16. Following injuries to key midfielders in the 2004?05 season, he established himself as Arsenal's starting central midfielder and playmaker. He went on to break several of the club's records, earning a reputation as one of the best young players for his position of his generation.

Fabregas' style of play is reminiscent of Platini rather than Patrick Vieira. He is not a physically dominant player but when required he has a burst of pace. His greatest asset, though, is his vision and reading of the game. This manifests in 2 key ways.

The first is his passing. Fabregas is one of the most consistent deliverers of the killer pass - the one that sets up a goal. Time after time, you see Fabregas sliding the ball through the smallest of gaps for an inch perfect pass for one of the front running forwards.

The second happy manifestation of Fabregas's game awareness is his ability to be at the right place at the right time. Especially, Platini like, to ghost into the opposition penalty box from the midfield to score. It's commonly understood in football that a midfielder making a well timed run into the box is one of the harder things to defend against. Fabregas seems to do this with stealth and that makes him even harder to mark.

Despite setting the stands alive for his club, Fabregas has not found it easy to become first choice starting midfielder for his country. Such is the richness of Spanish football at present, Fabregas must make way for Xavi and Iniesta in the middle of the park. Nonetheless, he has made regular appearances for Spain and was a part of the Euro 2008 winning team. He played in the 2006 world cup and will definitely have a role to play in the World Cup 2010.