I'm staying here despite Henry exit, says Cesc

There was concern that the transfer of Thierry Henry to Barcelona would trigger the Spanish midfielder's departure, with Real Madrid prepared to offer a record fee.

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But Fabregas, who signed an eight-year contract last season, has now told manager Arsene Wenger he is staying.

He said: "I feel that my summer is already about to end and I'm planning for pre-season training with Arsenal in about 10 days. Arsenal are my club and I'll be staying in London.

"I was on holiday in Mexico when my dad sent me the text message confirming that Titi [Henry] had signed for Barca but, by then, I had pretty much come to the conclusion that his mind was made up. In fact, I knew a few things about what was going on.

"He spoke to me a lot about Barca and the possibility of moving there, so it was not a surprise.

"I guess all of us suspected he was coming to the conclusion it was impossible to turn down Barcelona twice, but we all kept a candle of hope burning that he would change his mind."

Fabregas believes it will impossible to find a like-for-like replacement for Henry but new signing, Croatia international Eduardo da Silva, comes highly recommended by his national coach Slaven Bilic, who said: "He's a brilliant striker and a complete player. He's going to be amazing for Arsenal."

It emerged today that his £10million move from Dinamo Zagreb was wrapped up so quickly the player was kept in the dark until a deal had been agreed.

His representative, Zdravko Mamic, who is also the Dinamo vice-president, was in London on Sunday to negotiate terms with Wenger and then flew to Austria to reveal the news Da Silva, who was had just met up with his old club team-mates for pre-season training.

"He was very surprised and very happy," a friend of Da Silva's said. "He didn't know anything about it until the last minute. It is a great honour for him to play for Arsenal and to be asked to replace Thierry Henry."

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood said: "Arsene is full of surprises and he knows what he is doing. This forward is certainly better than some we have been linked with."