[bbfan1991]

Barcelona have confirmed that they have made a formal offer to Arsenal for midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

The Gunners captain, who signed from Barcelona as a 16-year-old in 2003, has made no secret of the fact that he wishes to return to Catalonia this summer.

The Spanish international is keen to get his future resolved before Spain open their World Cup campaign against Switzerland on 16th June.

Barcelona, who have already shelved out £34million for Valencia striker David Villa this summer, have warned that a deal is unlikely to be thrashed out quickly and it remains to be seen whether Arsenal deem their offer to be acceptable.

"Everyone knows that Cesc wants to play for this club and everyone knows that we also want this," Barca director general Joan Oliver told the club's official website.

"But there is a third major player, which is Arsenal.

"Any deal must go through them and June 1 was the beginning of the period of official negotiations.

"Until earlier there were informal conversations, but since yesterday these are formal - and the usual mechanism is to present a formal and concrete offer.

"So yesterday afternoon, we submitted a written bid to Arsenal."