Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists that he can see former captain Cesc Fabregas playing for the club again.

Fabregas departed Barcelona aged 16 but then returned to the Nou Camp eight years later when he signed for them in 2011 after over 200 first-team appearances for Arsenal.

Wenger was loathed to lose Fabregas at the time, but he still believes that a return to North London is not out of the question.

"I'm not convinced that he won't come back here one day," Wenger insisted.

"He is really an Arsenal man. He loves Arsenal and watches every game of Arsenal.

"But of course Barcelona was his home town where he grew up and you have to accept that will come into it, especially with them having the best team in the world. [Fabregas would not come back] in the next two, three years, certainly not, because he is linked with Barcelona. But maybe later."

Wenger admits he would love to find another top youngster like Fabregas.

"Fabregas is an exception that I would try again, a world-class player you don't easily find," he said.

When Fabregas left he was the latest in a long-line of high-profile departures from the club, but Wenger is now looking at a British spine with Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade‑Chamberlain all recently extending their deals and he feels it is easier to keep them.

"What you want is the players to grow up together and say, 'We will be successful together.' We had that before. We had the period where we kept our players together for eight, nine years, with Henry, Vieira. Now it is a bit easier to keep them if they are British," he added.