Denilson has been quick to clear up the messy situation between himself and Cesc Fabregas, insisting he was misquoted in a recent interview.
Speaking exclusively with Arsenal Brasil, shown with English subtitles on Arseblog.com, Denilson was quoted as saying he does not believe Fabregas to be the ideal captain for Arsenal.
The Brazilian midfielder suggested that the Spaniard is not a natural leader, and that this has caused the team problems.
“Fabregas is the captain, but he is not a leader to me,” he said, but has attempted to explain his comments.
“Fabregas is a great friend,” he said. “When I said the team had no leadership it was to point out that Arsenal have a very young squad and sometimes lack a more experienced person, as it had for many years with Gilberto Silva for example.
“I am a shy guy, I do not like controversy and problems. I was misquoted. I have talked with Fabregas and everything is resolved.
“We are fighting for the English title and it will not take away our focus.”
Earlier in the day, Fabregas was also keen to brush the incident aside, saying on Twitter: “Abt what Deni said. I’ve been in his situation before, just a misunderstanding.”
Although I would usually not be the slightest bit interested in anything Denilson has to say, he has a point about Fabregas. At times this season he has not looked happy and it has affected his performances. I don’t necessarily share the view that our captain has to be a Tony Adams or Patrick Vieira type, as Cesc was a great leader by example last season.
However, too often our captains have had their heads turned by other clubs. Vieira and Henry were not quite the same in their final seasons at Arsenal, and I do worry that Fabregas is going through something similar.
If he’s already sick of playing with average players like Denilson, Bendtner, Diaby and so on, how’s he going to be feeling now?
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