Pique confident Fabregas will return to Barcelona

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique said on Thursday he is confident that Arsenal captain and fellow Spanish international Cesc Fabregas will rejoin him at the Catalan giants in the future.

Fabregas has been linked to a return to La Liga with a move to either Real Madrid or to his boyhood club Barcelona, who he left to join the Gunners in September 2003.

But Pique, who spent several years with Fabregas in Barca’s youth team, said he did not believe Fabregas would ever join Barcelona’s arch-rivals and it is only a matter of time before he returns to the Catalan side.

“I still think he?ll be wearing the Barca shirt one day, he is a fan and I know he?d love to come back. When? That?s another matter entirely,” he told a news conference after a training session.

Last week Barcelona issued a statement to deny reports that Fabregas had reached a “verbal agreement” to join the club at the end of the season.

The midfielder is under contract with Arsenal until 2014. He was part of the Spanish side that won the Euro 2008 title.

Britain’s Daily Mirror reported last week that the London club have written to Nou Camp officials warning them not to publicly express their interest in securing the player’s signature.

Fabregas has also recently downplayed talk of a move away from the Premier League.

“I have a cool head, I am very happy at Arsenal and in England there is still a lot for me to do,” he told Spanish sports daily Marca in December.