MADRID, Spain (AP) — Cesc Fabregas wants to complete a transfer to Barcelona “as soon as possible”, the Arsenal captain’s father said yesterday.

“Arsenal has to respect the player’s wishes,” Francesc Fabregas, the player’s father and agent, told Spain’s Radio Marca. “Negotiations between Arsenal and Barcelona are going to be very long. Both sides are going to have to sit down several times because it’s a complicated matter.”

Fabregas has been widely linked with a return to the Spanish club, which he left for Arsenal when he was 16.

“I have the feeling the English club does not want to sell him, but in the end it will yield and let Cesc go,” Francesc Fabregas said.

He said Cesc was now concentrating on his role with Spain ahead of the World Cup but that “he wants the transfer to be sealed as soon as possible”.

On Monday, Barcelona corporate director Joan Oliver said there had been contact with the English club, but that no concrete offer had been made.

“There’s still no offer,” Oliver said. “It’s true the player has expressed a desire to play for Barcelona, if possible this season. We have had first contact with Arsenal, who we have let know our plan to talk and this is how it stands right now.”