Arsenal close in on golden boy Cesc

Arsenal appear to have secured the future of a teenager rated as one of the most exciting prospects produced by Spain for many years.

Cesc Fabregas, 16, has been groomed at Barcelona but in Spain players under the age of 18 are not able to have a professional contract.

Arsenal were alerted to the potential of the young midfielder and were hugely impressed after having him watched.

Cesc, as he in known, is at present with the Spanish squad for the World Under-17 Championships in Finland and has yet to visit England. But he is known to be a fan of English football and is close to agreeing a six-year deal with Arsenal.

Barcelona are less than happy at the loss of a player with huge potential, however there is no suggestion that Arsenal have acted improperly.

Arsenal may have to pay Barcelona a small compensation fee of around £200,000 because of the time the Catalan club have spent on his development but they will regard that as cheap for a player of such promising quality.

The case has echoes of the Nicolas Anelka move to Arsenal in 1997. He cost a mere £500,000 from Paris St-Germain and the French club were furious they could not demand a more substantial fee.

But again Arsenal did nothing wrong and they went on to make a huge profit when Anelka was sold to Real Madrid for £23million in 1999.