Philippe Senderos has loved seeing his former housemate, Cesc Fabregas, embracing life as a manager.
The former Arsenal teammates moved into digs together in north London as teenagers in 2003, with Senderos joining the club from Servette as an 18-year-old and Fabregas coming from Barcelona at the age of 16.
Now, 21 years on, the pair are still in touch from their days at Colney and in Arsenal’s first team together under Arsene Wenger.
Speaking about his friend, Senderos told talkSPORT.com: “When we arrived [in London], I lived in digs. I was a little bit older, two years older than Cesc, but he didn’t speak a word of English. So, they moved him in with me because I spoke Spanish.
“I needed to be with someone, I never lived by myself. I didn’t want to live by myself, so we moved in digs for the first year, it was great.
“We were together at home, we would go to London on our days off. We built a very strong bond and we’re still friends today.”
After retiring at Italian outfit Como in July 2023, Fabregas became interim manager a few months later in November, and after the arrival of caretaker Osian Roberts, helped them win promotion to Serie A as assistant.
He was appointed as the club’s permanent boss in July after earning his pro licence.
“I’ve gone [to watch him] a couple of times when he was a player at Como,” Senderos recalled. “Now, since he’s been a manager, it’s only this year that he’s been in Serie A. I haven’t been, but we’ve been in touch.
Asked if he had any inklings Fabregas would have become a manager during their Arsenal games, he smiled: “None at the time. I think when we were young, I saw him develop as a player and also as a leader.
“He arrived as a 16-year-old, so you can see leadership in him, the way he was playing. But I saw him develop as a more vocal and more of a real leader in the dressing room.
“When I left Arsenal, he became captain [in 2008]. You can see the development in his career. The fact that he was coached by top managers, whether in Spain or in his career, he got a lot of experience. This allows him today to have not only his playing career experience, but the other side.
“He’s developed fantastically. Now when I see team talks where they show some images of him at Como, I’m very impressed. To be able to do it in English already, it was amazing.
“Now that he does it in Italian, it’s amazing. I’m very, very happy for him.”
Fabregas and Senderos won the FA Cup together in 2005, beating Manchester United 5-4 on penalties in the final.
The Spaniard went on to win two Premier League titles, the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Europa League with Chelsea whom he joined from Barcelona in 2014, as well as the World Cup in 2010 and the Euros in 2008 and 2012 with his country.
Senderos, meanwhile, retired in 2019 and is now working for FIFA under former Arsenal boss Wenger.
Fabregas wasn’t the only Arsenal teammate he’s kept in touch with since hanging up his boots, with him even signing one of them at his former club after a career change led him to the boardroom.
Asked if any other player had a big impact on him when he was at Arsenal he said: “Yeah, Gael Clichy. We arrived on the same day in London. We had the same taxi driver who picked us up at the airport and brought us home to the hotel.
“At the beginning, we went in pre-season, our very first pre-season in 2003, we were in the rooms together.
“A few months before, we played in the final of the [2002 European Under-17 Championship] against each other, so we kind of knew each other already. And then when I became sporting director at Servette, I signed him as a player.”
Senderos became sporting director of his boyhood club in 2020 and spent three years there before leaving for his role at FIFA where he currently works.
“We’re still in touch now. We’re both retired. He’s coaching the U21s of France as an assistant, I’m at FIFA, so we’re still very much in touch.”
Senderos, who was part of Arsenal’s 2006 Champions League final, went on loan to AC Milan and Everton during the latter stages of his time at Arsenal.
He left for Fulham on a free transfer in 2010. Spells with Valencia, Aston Villa, Grasshoppers, Rangers, Houston Dynamo and Swiss second tier side Chiasso followed.
Now his role is that of a high performance specialist, helping federations implement a long term strategy on talent development where they will no doubt hope to unearth the sort of talent Wenger had the privilege to coach.
