SOL CAMPBELL’S huge presence helped ease Cesc Fabregas’ mum’s fears when he first moved to Arsenal.
The Spanish midfielder moved to North London in 2003 when he was just 16 and left his mother Nuria in tears at the airport.
Sol Campbell helped welcome Cesc Fabregas to Arsenal
Cesc Fabregas and his mother Nuria
But a chance encounter with then England skipper Campbell helped put her mind at rest.
In an interview with Marca, she said: “I went to London after one month and while waiting for him [Fabregas] to come out, a 6ft tank came out wearing a fashionable beret.
“And then my little one appears. I ask him ‘who is this?’ and he says ‘Sol Campbell, mum. He is the captain of England’.
“But he plays with you right? ‘Yes he is a defender’ he told me.
“That’s great! Now I am calm.”
Former Chelsea ace Fabregas opened up on the heartache he suffered when his parents split up when he was just 14.
He told Marca: “I still feel bad today.
“I was 14 when they broke up and it’s something that I’ve carried with me for more than half my life, but it’s always there, a recurring sadness that I can’t get over.
“I’ll always remember that it was a Sunday evening and my father called us saying that there was a family meeting.
“I thought they were going to tell us that my mother was pregnant because everything had been very normal.
“However, my father was visibly upset so my mother spoke to us.
“When she told us I was in shock.
“I remember going up to my room and punching the wall.
“It threw me off a bit because I was a boy with very clear ideas and a stable life, but this really messed with my head.”
Cesc Fabregas and his family Credit: Instagram
The Monaco star said football became ‘the way for me to disconnect’.
And he used the sport as his ‘way of forgetting my problems and enjoying myself’.
Fabregas is married to wag Daniella Semaan and they spent lockdown together in their luxury flat.
The couple have four children.
Cesc Fabregas claims only two players were on his level at end of Arsenal career and reveals he cried after losses
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
