Not all footballers have it believe it or not, that natural football intelligence, just knowing the game inside and out.
We see it when some players go into punditry and really start spouting off some absolutely wild takes on certain things.
You often sit there wondering whether they actually played the game at all, let alone the fact that they were actually very good at playing the game.
It’s strange, but you can be good at playing football but lack actual footballing knowledge, it’s quite a regular occurrence really.
Then you get some players who were quality and intelligent on the pitch, and they stay quality and intelligent with their views and opinions on the game.
Cesc Fabregas is very much that person. His natural footballing mind has stayed with him and now he is set to use it in what I predict to become a successful career coaching and managing at the top level.
Fabregas is now embarking on a coaching career in Italy at Como. He spent his final season as a professional footballer with the second-tier Italian side, and that’s where this new phase of his career has already begun.
His new path is coaching the ‘B’ and Primavera teams of Como 1907, a project he is passionate about having signed for the club as a player just over a year ago.
He announced his retirement from playing at the start of July and is delighted he has found a new focus so quickly.
“It all comes natural to me,” he told Sky Sports this week. “When I speak to the boys, it comes from the inside. You want to do well, you want to give your all, you want to win, and you want to do it with passion.
“The biggest thing that I’m so happy about is that in the last couple of seasons because of injuries I was losing the fire inside me, maybe because I was worried about how I was feeling,” he added.
“Since I’ve started coaching, from day one, the fire is back. Something has been brought back inside me from my early days that I had lost. Something I haven’t felt for some time.”
And he’s determined to make it to the top as a manager.
Fabregas said: “The Premier League is the objective; it is the biggest dream a coach can have. But let’s keep improving. Have I got it in me? Time will tell. I believe so much in my methodology and every day you learn so much. Expectations are there but it is what you do and how you manage those expectations.”
Fabregas was an excellent player for Chelsea and we really missed a player of his calibre when he left the club. He’s since stayed invested in what is going on at Chelsea and it comes as no surprise to hear him speaking sense on our current project and advising that it will still take some time to reach ‘perfection’.
“I can see what they are trying to do. A young, dynamic, powerful team. The players they have signed are top quality. It is about putting them together and letting them grow.
“For example, Enzo Fernandez has had some time to adapt, and Moises Caicedo is a top player. He is strong and with quality, having been coached by a top manager like Roberto De Zerbi. Maybe not this year, but from next year they will be ready to compete.”
I completely agree with this. The man putting it altogether in Mauricio Pochettino is also the perfect man to do it. But in terms of real success, I do think it will be next season when we will really start to see that coming together.
Of course we all want and need to see improvements, especially from last season. But I have no doubt that will happen and the better results will also come with it.
I think we also have a good chance of winning a domestic trophy this season and of course, the League Cup campaign starts tomorrow night and a good run in this could see us having a good chance of lifting some silverware this season, which would be a great start to the Pochettino era.
But as the football brain of Fabregas says, it will take some time to build all the blocks together and get it ticking.
Maybe one day we will see Cesc back at The Bridge in a coaching capacity, whether it’s on the home or away bench!
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