Snippets: Eye on Fabregas during cup, and more

Barcelona hope to negotiate the signing of Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal captain, at the World Cup. Arsenal have insisted that the 23-year-old midfielder, a Barca youth product, is not for sale, but that could change in South Africa, according to Joan Oliver, Barca's corporate director general. "Cesc has arrived in South Africa to play the World Cup, but there are a lot of football people there," he said.

"[Arsenal coach Arsene] Wenger will be there and there will also be representatives of Barca." Barca have had one bid for the Spain midfielder rejected, with Arsenal saying they would not welcome further bids, but Oliver wants to hold direct talks with the Gunners. "This is a three-sided affair and the third side [Arsenal] have not expressed themselves in any way," he said. "There is a player who wants to come here, but he has a contract. We have made an offer [of ?35 million (Dh157.5)] and they have said that the player is not for sale. The problem is between the player and the club [Arsenal]; we haven't been invited to the table [to negotiate]."

Fifa is investigating why a section of seats in the Soccer City stadium was unoccupied during the World Cup opening match between South Africa and Mexico. "There was one block that looked empty and our people in ticketing are looking into it," Nicolas Maingot, a Fifa spokesman, said yesterday. The upper tier section of around 200 seats was filled by tournament volunteers later in Friday's match, which ended 1-1.

Fifa said 84,490 people attended at Soccer City - a record for one of its matches in Africa. All tickets were sold for yesterday's matches between England and the United States at the 45,000-capacity Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg, and at 62,500-capacity Ellis Park in Johannesburg where Argentina faced Nigeria, while South Korea v Greece was slightly under the 46,000-capacity at Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth.

Gennaro Gattuso, the Italy midfielder, has announced he will retire from the national team after the World Cup. -Speaking two days before the Azzurri's opener against Paraguay, the 32-year-old Gatttuso said that at his age it's "only fair to cede space to players with more gas in their tanks." Gattuso is coming off a difficult season at AC Milan, when he struggled with a knee injury and was often relegated to a bench role. The combative midfielder is expected to be a back-up player for Italy at this tournament, but has a chance of starting against Paraguay tomorrow due to a Daniele De Rossi injury. Gattuso said he dreams of coaching Italy at the World Cup one day.

If he received as many flowers as he does red and yellow cards, Brazil's Felipe Melo would be a very happy man. The defensive midfielder has a fearsome reputation for his crunching tackles, admitting that he often goes over the top, but yesteday revealed a soft centre which few would have suspected. "I'm an old romantic," he said to much bewilderment from the hundreds of Brazilian reporters at the team's daily news conference. "People may think I have a nasty face, but I like to send cards and flowers to my wife, and I like to receive them as well, it's great... in fact, I get upset if I don't get them. "We've been married six years but it still feels like we've just started going out," he added.