Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits Barcelona were able to sign Cesc Fabregas on the cheap because the Spanish midfielder wasn’t willing to join any other club.

Fabregas finally completed his dream return to Barcelona on Monday after Wenger accepted it was no longer worth the trouble of trying to keep his captain in north London against his wishes.

Barca will pay a 29-million-euro fee up front that will rise with add-ons depending on Fabregas’s success in Spain, but Wenger knows he could have demanded a much higher price if the other clubs that coveted him had been allowed to enter a bidding war.

Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City would all have paid closer to €55 million to sign the 24-year-old. But Fabregas only had eyes for Barca from the moment the Catalans made it clear they wanted to bring him back to Spain.

“We sold Cesc for a reduced fee,” Wenger said.

“If Cesc is for sale and you can make an auction between Real Madrid, Chelsea and Man. City you will certainly get more money but he just wanted to go to Barcelona.

“What is funny is that people call multi-million pound players ‘cheap’. But we did want to get a decent fee. That’s what I’m paid for.

“You cannot say because you want to get the deal done as quickly as possible: ‘Just take him and give us what you want’. You have to fight for your rights in the transfer market.”

Wenger has grown accustomed to selling great players like Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira when they are just past their best, but Fabregas is still firmly in his prime and the sale represents a significant blow to his hopes of ending the club’s six-year trophy drought.