The iconic London club, with just three of its 28-man first-team squad hailing from England, has closed down its season of goodwill by refusing to allow midfielder Cesc Fabregas to play for Catalonia in a charity friendly against Argentina.

Also on this week's to-do list for the lords of Highbury – legal action against the Dutch Football Federation over an injury to striker Robin Van Persie.

Catalonia is the proudly autonomous region of Spain with its own language, parliament, and culture and has a population of over 7 million people – more than Victoria, Australia.

Unlike, say, Scotland or Wales in the United Kingdom, it is not its own country and is not recognized by FIFA.

It does, though (among other delights), have its own "national" football team that often plays matches for charity featuring locally-born players among its line up.

When Barcelona is the flagship local club, a team with a vibrant and successful youth policy, Catalonia has the potential to be pretty good at footy.

Currently coached by Dutch great Johan Cruyff, a Barcelona legend and adopted son, the squad selected for the December 22 friendly against Argentina includes Barca's Victor Valdes, Carles Puyol, Xavi, Gerard Piqué, Sergi Busquets and Bojan Krkic.

Arsenal, though, are unhappy that Fabregas has been invited to the party.

The Premier League club pays Fabregas's wages, and for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, this means Fabregas has no claim on emotional and symbolic ties to his homeland, even if Barcelona's stars will all be attending.

(Which may be a sub-plot – Barcelona has recently been making eyes at Fabregas).

"We don't allow the players to play in friendlies because we have too many games," Wenger said. "In life, you always have to do well for the guy who pays you and the rest is less important."

For Wenger, while much of the rest of the World is excited by the looming World Cup, international football is an irritant that frustrates his own ambition to be a successful coach.

Arsenal player Robin Van Persie was injured playing for Holland playing in a friendly against Italy last month and may miss the rest of the season recovering.

Wenger believes Dutch medical staff mistreated Van Persie, flipping a situation sometimes experienced by Australian players who receive poor treatment at their clubs and breath a sigh of relief when they see doctors or physios wearing green and gold tracksuits.

Wenger plans to use Van Persie as the smoking gun in a bid by powerful clubs to regain authority over the rights of players.

If it's not about money, then it's about ownership.

"We are working on this with our lawyers at the moment and we are definitely going for it," Wenger said. "I expect financial compensation for the damage it can make to the championship and the salary involved.

"I am not against the national teams," he added. "But at the moment we sit here and they can do what they want. The players are paid by their clubs and get injured playing for another team… There is something completely wrong with the system. I want the power to be rebalanced more in favour of the clubs."

For the rich Dutch, the money may not be the issue.

But for smaller, poorer, countries and federations like Cameroon and Cote D'Ivoire, who have players at Arsenal, the situation may be more complicated.

If Arsenal succeeds where others have previously failed or been frustrated, Wenger can claim to have forever changed the way international football is played.

Which may not be a good thing – unless you're a Premier League club.


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