Following years of interest and speculation, a spokesperson for the European champions announced on Friday lunchtime that the transfer of the Arsenal captain, which is worth a speculated £35million, could finally be completed 'within hours'.
Fabregas was therefore set to fly to Spain this afternoon in order to put the finish touches to his return to his boyhood club before attending Sunday's Super Cup between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
But Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has told the midfielder, who is expected to sign a five-year contract and is viewed as a long-term successor to Xavi, to cancel the flight in order to avoid upsetting Arsenal.
Fabregas has not been included in the Premier League club's squad for Saturday's season-opener at Newcastle, however, the Gunners say a sale has yet to be concluded.
Risk
As a result, the 24-year-old will stay in England while the deal is finalised over the weekend and it is expected he will then be unveiled as a Barcelona player on Monday.
Arsenal also risk losing Samir Nasri this summer after the Frenchman made it clear that he does not want to sign a new contract, and both Manchester City and Manchester United are interested.
Manager Arsene Wenger, though, is adamant that the Emirates Stadium outfit remain a club of significant magnitude, despite potentially being forced into selling their two best players.
He said at his press conference on Friday morning: "Manchester United let (Cristiano) Ronaldo go, do you think they are not a big club?"
And Wenger was also adamant he was in no hurry to bring new players in.
"Do we want to buy? I don't know because at the moment we have too big a squad, we have too many players," he added.
Fabregas was therefore set to fly to Spain this afternoon in order to put the finish touches to his return to his boyhood club before attending Sunday's Super Cup between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
But Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has told the midfielder, who is expected to sign a five-year contract and is viewed as a long-term successor to Xavi, to cancel the flight in order to avoid upsetting Arsenal.
Fabregas has not been included in the Premier League club's squad for Saturday's season-opener at Newcastle, however, the Gunners say a sale has yet to be concluded.
Risk
Arsenal also risk losing Samir Nasri this summer after the Frenchman made it clear that he does not want to sign a new contract, and both Manchester City and Manchester United are interested.
Manager Arsene Wenger, though, is adamant that the Emirates Stadium outfit remain a club of significant magnitude, despite potentially being forced into selling their two best players.
He said at his press conference on Friday morning: "Manchester United let (Cristiano) Ronaldo go, do you think they are not a big club?"
And Wenger was also adamant he was in no hurry to bring new players in.
"Do we want to buy? I don't know because at the moment we have too big a squad, we have too many players," he added.
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