Cesc Fabregas spent eight years at Arsenal, three of them as captain. The day after leaving the Gunners for his boyhood club he was pictured kissing the Barcelona badge for the cameras…

Less than two years before, when asked whether he could envisage staying at Arsenal for the whole of his career, Fabregas said: ‘Why not? I have never really thought about it, staying here all my life, because I am only 22 and you never know what your career will bring – but why not? It is my seventh season now, I am really happy, better than ever, so you never know.”