One of the major questions raised when Chelsea signed Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona earlier this summer was his astonishing loss of form around the turn of the year. Almost overnight, Fabregas went from being one of their better players to turning into something of a liability for the Catalans, a major red flag ahead of his move to Stamford Bridge.

But now we finally have an explanation for what happened -- on Fabregas' Instagram account he's admitted that he's spent the last eight months injured:

Despues de 8 meses de pubalgia, el sabado jugue mi primer partido sin dolor!! / After 8 months of groin injury, on Saturday I played my first game without pain !!

• *A groin injury coinciding with a major loss of form is actually pretty comforting now that it's cleared up. Players getting worse when they get injured is hardly news, and it's not surprising that Fabregas struggled at the tail end of last season if he really was carrying a knock.

Now that there's no more pain, expectations have to be even higher, right?

He then went on to credit Chelsea's physiotherapist, Ivan Ortega.

I was sad when Arsenal was selling him to Barcelona,then he was a top class,one of best midfielders of world. In Barca his form wasn't good so I'm happy to see him again in from,even in Chelsea!

Even in form, he couldnt play at 100 per cent, few players run into space at Barça, his passing skills what he used to do in EPL, he just couldnt find the same space. And then we cant play arround him, we have Messi we just cant build arround someone else, good luck to him but not really worried if he was injured or not, he wasnt playing a main role as he was doing in Spain, if i had to choose, i would sell 2 Fabregas to make Messi feel confortable, thats the way it is.
Enjoy him as a player, he is awesome pure Spanish Midlefieder with an amazing vision, at Barça almost everyone has some of those skills, Iniesta, Messi, Rakitic...
But its a significant addition to Chelsea who is more physical team with a better defense but was less confortable up front, this could change quickly with the technical addition you had this mercato.

He was never allowed the freedom in Barcelona as he was in Arsenal, and that's the simple reason on why he didn't perform at Barca to the best of his abilities.

He was never as good with Barcelona as he was with Arsenal but he was still one of their important players. In fact, he was doing great for his club until the second part of the 2013/14 season - when his groin injury kicked in.

The picture above confirms Fabregas' final price.

26 million pounds with a 2.3 million add-on. Just 1 million more than Fellaini.

EDIT: And yes...

Cheaper than:

David Luiz
Shaw
Herrera
Sanchez
Mangala

Last year 13 goals 16 assists . Lost form ?? Wow....

@Mladen

You'd have to watch his games to understand. Don't let the stats deceive you.

@ dynastian98, I admit, I didn't watched him at Barca,but stats are important ..

He was wonderful when Messi was injured playing as false 9, but each time i saw both Xavi-Fabregas in the starting line up against tough opposition with Messi playing and Pedro benched, we strugled in the creation and our game became predectible...

@Tiki

Yes, that's true. Cesc is neither Iniesta nor Xavi, and you cannot expect him to play like either one of them. He is the perfect Messi replacement for Barca. But now that they have Neymar and Suarez, Cesc is not needed anymore for that position.