Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas proudly paraded a Euro 2008 winners medal tonight in the Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna! The final score, as if you didn't know, was Spain 1 Germany 0. Personally, I'm delighted for the young Spaniard. Not only does Fabregas posess maturity beyond his years on the football pitch, but also off it. Since joining Arsenal in 2003 at the tender ago of 16, Cesc has been a classy player and a very classy young man - and it appears likely to be in his character to stay that way.

You would have to think that Spain will also be strong favourites to win the 2010 World Cup - and Fabregas a key component of that team. Like France circa 1998, it's a young, super-talented squad that's certainly yet to reach its peak.

Fabregas has much to thank his manager Arsene Wenger for. Not many are brave enough to give such a young player such an important role at such a big club. Playing for any other top European team it seems inconceivable that Fabregas would have been thrust into the limelight so soon and therefore as advanced a player as he is now. It would be ridiculous to assert it's all down to the manager's influence of course, but nevertheless Wenger is a key reason that Fabregas is a European Championship winner tonight, and a player who also played a major role in that success.

My sympathy extends to Jens Lehmann. To be honest, he didn't have a great tournament and was perhaps lucky to make the final with such a poor German team - but in Oliver Kahn's shadow for so long, this was a great opportunity to bow out on a career high. Apart from his obvious character flaws, Lehmann is probably my favourite Arsenal keeper and I would certainly not have begrudged him a winners medal. Lehmann is a goalkeeper with incredible mental strength and absurd self-confidence. He was always entertaining to watch, and certainly at his peak just as good, if not better, than former Arsenal greats such as Seaman, Jennings, Wilson or Lukic.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum we have Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor, who is swiftly turning into the new Ashley Anelka. Press reports claim via some fairly hefty quotes that Adebayor wants a massive pay rise otherwise he fully intends to leave Arsenal Football Club. Again, speculation is rife and supposition spreading like wildfire, but it seems pretty obvious that this is turning into a highly flammable state of affairs and one that Adebayor, and no doubt his agent, have been instrumental in sparking.

Personally, assuming it's true that Adebayor will only stay at the club if offered a double-wage-busting deal, I certainly don't believe Arsenal should cave in to such demands. This is a player who has won precisely zero in his career and is certainly NOT the finished article - it's still highly questionable as to whether the player is even capable of reproducing his form of last season let alone being paid the sort of mammoth wages commanded by proven club legends such as Adams, Overmars, Bergkamp, Vieira or Henry etc.

One has to wonder what sort of reception Adebayor can expect from Arsenal fans next season presuming he suceeds in his quest for a double-my-wages deal. For example, it's unlikely they will react graciously if he has a stinker in the first few months of the season. You therefore have to conclude that the player has already has put himself in a delicate, if not foolhardy situation - heaping pressure on himself whatever the circumstances.