Welcome Home Cesc Fabregas!

So, finally the Cesc saga is over. Barcelona got back their player, Arsenal got some good money, and Cesc is happy, but does it all make sense? and will Cesc have his place in the already strong Barca side?

Well, let's do some math. The number of 1st team players registered for some of the highest rated clubs in the world are as follows:

Real Madrid: 25
Manchester United: 33
AC Milan: 26
Chelsea: 28
Inter Milan:35
Arsenal: 30
Barcelona: 21

Barcelona, including Fabregas, have one of the smallest squads compared to clubs at a similar level! Not that that guarantees that he is going to play, but with that you can combine the fact that Barcelona are going to play a large number of games this season, including 38 games in the league, 2 in the Spanish Supercup, 1 European Supercup, 1-2 in the club world cup, between 6-13 games in the Champions League, and between 2-9 games in the Spanish cup that adds up to a potential 65 games! Now that's a number!

Squad rotation will be necessary, and all players will definitely get a chance. Looking at the current squad, I do not see any weak players. Most players can play in at least 2-3 positions, and each position can, consequently, be covered by at least 3 different players. The versatility of the Barca players, is one of their main strengths!

Let's see how this would work:

Goal Keeper: Valdes/Pinto

LB: Abidal/Maxwell/Adriano/Puyol/Fontas
CB1: Puyol/Pique/Abidal/Mascherano/Busquets/Fontas
CB2: Puyol/Pique/Abidal/Mascherano/Busquets/Fontas
RB: Dani Alves/Puyol/Adriano

MD-Defensive: Busquets/Mascherano/Keita/Thiago/Fabregas
MD-Offensive1: Xavi/Iniesta/Fabregas/Keita/Thiago/Affelay (Adriano, Maxwell and Dani Alves have also played here)
MD-Offensive2: Xavi/Iniesta/Fabregas/Keita/Thiago/Affelay

FWD1: Messi/Villa/Sanchez/Pedro/Iniesta/Affelay/Fabregas
FWD2: Messi/Villa/Sanchez/Pedro/Iniesta/Affelay/Fabregas
FWD3: Messi/Villa/Sanchez/Pedro/Iniesta/Affelay/Fabregas

So, there you go, will we see Fabregas in action? Hell yeah...