HE has agonised over it for six weeks but yesterday Cesc Fabregas finally drew the curtain on his Arsenal career.
The Gunners skipper delivered the devastating news in a dramatic face-to-face meeting with boss Arsene Wenger.
It all boiled down to this - he has won NOTHING in four years at the Emirates, with just one FA Cup and one Community Shield to show for his three years at Highbury before that.
And to add insult to injury, while Fabregas has been missing out, Barcelona - the club he has adored since childhood and left for North London in July 2003 - have become the greatest team of his generation.
Simply put, Fabregas does not want to miss the boat any longer.
In SEVEN years at Arsenal he has won TWO trophies. Barcelona have won SEVEN trophies in TWO years.
A close pal said: "Cesc has been at Arsenal seven years and in all that time he's won the FA Cup and the Charity Shield.
"To be honest, you can't really count the Charity Shield and there are quite a few people these days who wouldn't count the FA Cup either.
"Never forget Arsenal effectively stole Cesc from Barcelona in the first place. They've had incredible service and incredible value from him and they can hardly complain now he wants to rejoin the club he's worshipped since childhood.
"In another seven years Cesc will be 30. He doesn't want to look back on his career and see he's missed out on Barca's glory days."
While Arsenal promised much and delivered little, Pep Guardiola's team did the Treble last season.
In this campaign, the Catalan giants lifted the Spanish and European Super Cups, the Club World Championship and just this Sunday won La Liga for the second successive season with a record 99 points.
It's not so much the desire to win silverware, it's the knowledge that at Barcelona it is a certainty he will challenge for all major honours.
The sad reality is, Fabregas sees no real signs that Wenger will equip the team with stars ready to take them to the next level. He is clearly aware Manchesters United and City, Chelsea and local rivals Tottenham are going to be splashing out this summer.
Barca are spending big too and last night agreed a fee of £42.5million with Valencia for David Villa.
By contrast, Arsenal, for the moment at least, have only Marouane Chamakh coming through the entrance door - and he's on a free!
But quitting the Emirates has not been an easy decision for Fabregas.
His soul-searching began in March after he scored the leveller against Barca in the sensational 2-2 first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
Despite breaking a leg in that game, Fabregas slotted home an 85th-minute penalty but was then ruled out for the season.
That left him time to reflect and, in a Press conference last week, he dropped a massive hint on his future.
He said: "I would like to know my future before the World Cup because to play with other things in my head will not benefit anyone."
He also spoke of close pals Gerard Pique and Leo Messi, with whom he played at Barcelona's La Masia academy and said: "You see your former team-mates triumphing there and it makes you dream tremendously because we've worked together for many years."
Fabregas' performances for Arsenal this season have been heroic, as he single-handedly tried to drag them to a title triumph that, frankly, always looked beyond them.
And the Spanish star put his World Cup at risk when he played against Barca despite a calf injury - and ended up with a broken leg. It was his way of showing gratitude to his mentor Wenger, to whom Fabregas has stayed loyal during the club's barren years.
A day after Fabregas' Press conference, I met his buddy, playmaker Xavi, at the Catalans' training ground.
He said: "Yes, I'd love for him to come and join us. He's a very close friend of mine and I have already told him myself a lot of times that he should join us."
And even though Fabregas would play in his position, midfield genius Xavi was adamant the Arsenal captain would be a regular in the side.
He added: "I always look at who could join Barcelona and triumph here. With Cesc I have no doubt.
"Yes, he plays in the same position as I do but we have many games. There's no 11 players here, there's 21 and all will play."
Barca still feel robbed after Arsenal stole Fabregas away at 16. Now they need £30-£40m to get him back.
Everything for Fabregas is clear - he is going home to write history with his boyhood club.
For Arsenal, the questions are more cutting than ever
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