How else to explain that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was still denying Fabregas was leaving the club at the same time his new Barcelona teammates were communicating via Twitter that the midfielder was in the vicinity of the Nou Camp Stadium?

The 'tweets' told the real story while Le Professeur was towing the company line in an apparent attempt to stack the final negotiations in favour of the north London club.

Twitter was launched five years ago and has already become a useful tool in tracking the biggest stars of the game. And the irony is that some of the least polished professional players have taken to the micro-blogging service.

It got one-cap England midfielder Joey Barton in trouble when, after tweeting about the apparent lack of ambition from his club, he was granted an immediate transfer by Newcastle and effectively asked to leave.

But after surviving that brouhaha and playing in the Magpies' season-opener against Arsenal, Barton got himself in more hot water by commenting on his role in the sending-off of Gunners' new boy, Gervinho. The 28-year-old accused the Ivory Coast international of 'cheating' by diving while admitting to his 380,000 followers that he went to ground easily after being slapped in the face by the striker.

That was followed by a heated exchange with Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, who accused Barton of being 'unprofessional' and 'in the wrong'. An ankle injury kept the youngster out of last weekend's match at St James' Park, but in the virtual world, the two rivals had a memorable tussle in the middle of the park.

So often players and coaches speak in cliches and generalisations in official interviews, often dancing around the truth. The upside of Twitter and Facebook is that we at least have the chance of hearing what they really mean, albeit with questionable grammar.

That's unless someone like a fan puts up a fake profile and pretends to be their idol. Arsenal's unsettled midfielder Samir Nasri distanced himself this week from comments on what appeared to be his personal Facebook page, saying he would 'certainly leave very soon' with 'bitterness and anger in my heart'.

So how did Nasri set the record straight? On his Twitter account, of course!

In the old days of the English game, a tweet was something that Stanley Matthews may have heard from the trees at Stoke-on-Trent as he walked to games at The Victoria Ground. When Bolton's Nat Lofthouse was in his prime, a facebook may have been a fan's compilation of signed player picture cards in a small photo album. 'The net' used to be something that Gordon Banks was protecting in more than 500 league appearances until 1972.

Renowned disciplinarian Alex Ferguson has stopped short of issuing a Twitter ban on his Manchester United squad, but has ordered them not to tweet about specific club matters.

Forbidding the outlet might be seen as an infringement on a player's freedom of speech. Already, Barton, who served 77 days in prison for assault in 2007, has cleverly used Twitter to paint himself as a street philosopher in pursuit of truth.

He even tweeted to share how he helped police capture an alleged burglar who was breaking into a neighbour's house in the early hours of Sunday in Jesmond, near Newcastle. CCTV footage from Barton's home helped identify a 25-year-old man.

By the way, Fabregas has yet to update his personal info on his Facebook page. He still lists his residence as London and his profession as 'Midfielder at Arsenal FC'.

And our virtual 'social circle' is growing. 'Fab' and I already have two mutual Facebook friends- neither of whom I believe I've met, either. But in our parallel universe, I'm sure we'll all get together real soon, probably meeting up with Barton and Wilshere in a cosy chat room.