Puyol’s fellow Barca and Spain team-mates, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, have already gone on record over their desire to see 23-year-old don the famous blaugrana shirt – and now Puyol has also come out to lend his support.

Arsenal are understood to have already rejected a bid from Barcelona for their captain who moved to north London as a teenager in 2003, going on to make almost 200 appearances for the Gunners (Arsenal 7/1  2010/11 Premier League Outright).

Arsenal’s fans are hoping Fabregas is still on board to make many more appearances for them, but he won’t be if Puyol and co get their own way.

Speaking to The Sun,  versatile defender Puyol said: “He is having to stay at a club where he no longer wants to be for another year.

“I wonder how intelligent it is keeping a player who doesn’t want to be there.

“After seven years of great service, I thought Arsenal could have granted him his dream move.

“Cesc has given everything to Arsenal to try to win a trophy but they haven’t matched his expectations.

“I won’t say he is in a prison, as we know how privileged we are as football players.

“But after how clear Cesc made it that he wanted to be in Barcelona, I thought they would have granted him that.”

Whether or not Fabregas is still a Gunner by the end of the transfer window remains to be seen.

But if he is, boss Arsene Wenger has told the midfielder he stands a chance of playing his part in taking the Premier League title back to north London for the first time since 2003/04.

The Frenchman told Arsenal’s website: “We know in England that the Premier League is the biggest league in the world and everybody invests a lot of money.

“We invest in our work, in our beliefs, in the quality of our behaviour and I am confident that will pay off.

“We finished third last year and we hope we can improve on that – but the race will be tough.”

The Gunners host the Emirates Cup again this weekend, kicking off against AC Milan on Friday night.

Arsenal (7/4 – 90 Minutes) kick off the season at Liverpool (5/4) on August 15.

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