By Chris Harris

Arsène Wenger's frustration over Spanish transfer speculation runs so deep that he has even written a letter asking the perpetrators to leave his players alone.

The Arsenal manager's revelation came in the wake of the latest bout of rumours regarding the future of Cesc Fabregas. The captain has been consistently linked with a move to his former club Barcelona or Real Madrid despite equally consistent denials by the player himself and Wenger.

On Friday, the Frenchman admitted that his exasperation with Spain's two biggest clubs reached the point where he implored them to stop spreading rumours via the media. It's no surprise to discover that neither Barcelona or Madrid responded.

"The speculation comes from Spain, not here," said Wenger as he fended off the usual questions about Fabregas' future. "We have always had the same speech about that.

"What they speak about in Madrid or Barcelona, how can we influence that? We wrote them a letter. We do not say that Messi and Kaka will sign next week here. If one day we want to sell a player and they are interested they can call us. They don't need to go through a newspaper.

"[I wrote the letter] a long time ago to say we are not ready to sell any of our players. I don't remember when but they did not write back.

"In Spain you have to understand it is a bit different. The chairmen are elected by the fans so you have to make a campaign: if you elect me, I come with him, him and him. But they have never spoken to the guys, not to the clubs, most of them, and it's just part of the speculation."
