In the 2000s, Arsenal has sold players, who had held the captaincy at the time of their departure, including Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fàbregas, and Robin van Persie.

Pennant's record has since been surpassed by Cesc Fàbregas and Jack Wilshere.

Additionally, he has proved an extremely potent creative force thanks mainly to his pinpoint crossing ability and propensity for the killer pass, with his total of 12 league assists in the 2006 – 07 season being third to Cesc Fàbregas and Cristiano Ronaldo.

In 2003 Arsenal persuaded Cesc Fàbregas to leave FC Barcelona B with a much higher salary which FC Barcelona could not offer due to the Spanish contractual law ; and more recently teenage star Fran Mérida also followed Fàbregas ' footsteps and played some time for Arsenal's reserve team, before returning to La Liga in 2010 for Atlético Madrid.

Francesc " Cesc " Fàbregas Soler (; born 4 May 1987 ) is a Spanish footballer who plays for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team.

Fàbregas started his career as a trainee with Barcelona but was signed by Premier League side Arsenal in September 2003 at the age of 16.

Fàbregas was born in Arenys de Mar, Barcelona, Catalonia to Francesc Fàbregas, Sr., who runs a property company, and Núria Soler, the owner of a pastry company.

His first coach, Señor Blai, reportedly did not select Fàbregas for matches against Barcelona in an attempt to hide him from their scouts.

This tactic, however, was unable to withstand Barcelona for long, and Mataró gave in and allowed Fàbregas to train with Barcelona one day per week.

Sensing that he would have limited opportunities at Barcelona, Fàbregas joined Arsenal in their Academy, signing for the London club on 11 September 2003.

On 31 March 2010, in the Champions League first leg of the quarter-final against Barcelona, Fàbregas suffered a leg fracture before scoring the equalising goal in the game which ended 2 – 2.

Although Fàbregas did not play in the League Cup Final, it was his misplaced backheel pass during the second leg of the Champions League game against Barcelona that allowed them to level the aggregate score.

Barcelona made several bids for Fàbregas, while Nasri, Arsenal's star performer the previous campaign, was courted by Manchester City.

On 15 August 2011, Barcelona signed Fàbregas for an initial fee of € 29 million with a further € 5 million in variables.

He is among many players who have played for both Barcelona and Arsenal, including Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, Cesc Fàbregas, Alexander Hleb, Alex Song and Thierry Henry.

Although Arsenal went on to win the league unbeaten in the 2003 – 04 season, Fàbregas was not awarded a winner's medal because he did not play a single league game.

The team bounced back strongly after this setback, and with Fàbregas being prolific in scoring and setting up his teammates, it went unbeaten in the next 13 games.

Vieira was left crestfallen as Pirès regained possession and Arsenal attacked, scoring the first goal of the tie through Cesc Fàbregas.

He got the better of Vieira with his tackle which was the build up to Arsenal's first goal scored by Fàbregas.

As a 16-year-old, Fàbregas did not contemplate breaking into the first team immediately but looked up to senior players like Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva, while concentrating on training and learning the English language.

On 26 March 2005, in a 3 – 0 friendly win over China in Salamanca, he first appeared for the senior side at only 18 years and 361 days of age, making him the youngest player to play for the national team in the last 55 years ( he held this record until it was broken by Barcelona's Cesc Fàbregas ).

Photo: w: Cesc Fàbregas | Cesc Fàbregas duels with w: Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira | Anderson in a football ( soccer ) | football match in 2008.

One of the reasons for his transfer was also the emergence of teenager Cesc Fàbregas, who had played in place of Vieira when the latter was injured.

Reyes was linked to Real Madrid along with Arsenal teammate Cesc Fàbregas in the summer of 2006, when the candidate Arturo Baldasano of the then on-going Real Madrid presidential campaign claimed he would sign them, if elected.

During his time at Barcelona's youth academy, Fàbregas idolised Barcelona's then-captain and number four Pep Guardiola, who would later give Fàbregas his shirt as consolation when Fàbregas ' parents divorced.

On 8 January, O ' Brien put in an impressive performance to help earn Leeds a 1 – 1 draw against Arsenal, Leeds were 1-0 up when Robert Snodgrass scored a second half penalty, Arsenal equalised in the 90th minute when Cesc Fàbregas scored a penalty.

His ex-Arsenal teammate Cesc Fàbregas told the August 2006 edition of the Sky magazine how sad it was to lose him.

Speculation that the player was Fàbregas was confirmed in November 2011 by former Arsenal player Martin Keown on a phone-in show on BBC Radio 5 Live.

After the departure of Vieira to Juventus, Fàbregas was given the Frenchman's number 4 shirt and featured regularly in the Arsenal central midfield alongside Gilberto Silva.

While the contract was unusually long, Fàbregas cited Arsenal's playing style and Wenger as reasons for his long-term commitment to the club.

Fàbregas was appointed captain of the team during the 2008 – 09 season

The 2006 – 07 season was a learning experience for the young Arsenal squad and Fàbregas.

Fàbregas knew that he would become the most important player for Arsenal, but stated he was ready for the challenge.

With Arsenal leading the league table until March, Fàbregas was equally instrumental in the club's 2007 – 08 Champions League campaign ; in the return leg against Milan, the midfielder scored late in the game to send Arsenal into the quarter-finals.

On 11 April 2008, Fàbregas was nominated for the PFA Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year awards for the second year running ; he was later crowned the winner of the latter, and named in the PFA Team of the Year.

On 24 November 2008, 14 league games into the 2008 – 09 season, Fàbregas was named as the successor to William Gallas as club captain.

Fàbregas was later named to the PFA Team of the Year.

Further, as Fàbregas possessed a smaller frame and played with less aggression than Vieira, there were initially doubts over his ability to fill in the void left by the Frenchman.

Fàbregas celebrates a goal with his Arsenal team-mates

Fàbregas ' increase in exposure drew transfer speculation during the summer ; Real Madrid expressed a desire to sign the Spaniard despite his long-term contract with Arsenal, but Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger stated that Arsenal would not listen to any offers.

In tandem with Arsenal's policy to groom its young players, the team that Fàbregas led into the new season consisted mostly of the same young nucleus as before, with the likes of Nicklas Bendtner, Gaël Clichy, Abou Diaby, Denílson, Samir Nasri, Alexandre Song, and Theo Walcott in tow.

The show featured Fàbregas in several sketches with Arsenal teammates like Philippe Senderos and Nicklas Bendtner, as well as coach Arsène Wenger, Fàbregas's parents and Little Britain star Matt Lucas.

He made his club debut on 28 October 2003 alongside fellow débutant Cesc Fàbregas in a Football League Cup encounter with Rotherham United.

During Arsenal's 2007 – 08 campaign, he struck up a strong partnership with Cesc Fàbregas, keeping Gilberto out of the starting XI with displays widely regarded by Arsenal fans as a vast improvement on those during his previous years at the club.

During Chelsea's triumph in the League Cup Final in 2007, Mikel was sent off in injury time ( having come on as a substitute ) after clashing with Kolo Touré, the incident was followed by a huge fracas, in which Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal were sent off, Cesc Fàbregas and Frank Lampard were booked and José Mourinho and Arsené Wenger were involved in a kerfuffle on the pitch.