Catalan sports paper Sport today reports that Joan Laporta’s desire to have Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas back into the club could be his toughest undertaking yet. The player is not only attracting interest from Real Madrid but also from one of the presidential contenders, Sandro Rosell. Laporta sees Cesc’s acquisition as a coup in the culmination of his presidency, while preventing the player from being used as a pawn during next year’s presidential election, as was reported in an earlier article.

The Barcelona president has spent months testing the waters for the return of Cesc, who is currently having a great time with Arsenal, scoring 9 goals in 15 matches this season. Laporta is said to be in constant contacts with the player and is still waiting patiently for Arsenal to give its green light to start formal negotiations. Laporta has already confessed that the operation to get Cesc will be the club’s major undertaking and estimated the player to cost no less than 50 million euros.

Laporta’s main competition now comes from Real Madrid’s Florentino Perez. In fact, the club has already contacted Arsenal last summer but failed to entice the player to come. With Perez said to be leading Real Madrid’s push for the player, armed with a grand offer, rumoured to be around 70 million euros. Perez has always been mindful of the fact that ‘money talks’ as with the case of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka.

To counter Real Madrid and Perez, Laporta wants to be personally involved in the operation to send the message to Arsenal and Cesc that Barcelona is serious in its interest.

The third party in the negotiations is presidential contender Sandro Rosell, who is also rumoured to have contacted the player and his close associates, understanding the fact that with Cesc’s promised acquisition, he will have an advantage over the other contenders in the electoral contest.

Cesc meanwhile had already conveyed his desire to return to Barcelona sometime in the future but professed his loyalty to Arsenal for now. The main obstacle to any future move for the player however lies with Arsenal’s manager, Arsène Wenger, who was reported to be the one person in Arsenal’s hierarchy steadfast in his objection last summer.

If all the reports are to be taken at face value, Cesc could personally ask his manager for a transfer to Barcelona but as with last summer Florentino Perez might once again messed up the market with his proposal when that happens.