United have been encouraged that Fabregas would welcome a move to Old Trafford, but the change of manager at the Nou Camp has emerged as an unexpected obstacle to overcome.
Barcelona, having signed Neymar for £53 million this summer following their decision to reward Lionel Messi with a £17 million-a-year, six-year contract in February, remain set on a policy of reducing their wage bill by player sales this summer – a reality which has boosted United's confidence of landing Fabregas.
Chief executive Ed Woodward's return from United's tour of Australia on Wednesday to attend to urgent transfer business in Europe has yet to bear fruit.
And following United's 5-1 victory against the A-League All Stars in Sydney on Saturday night, Moyes conceded that no breakthrough had been made on the Fabregas move. "I've not had any more news," Moyes said. "I have no more updates on anything really, so there is nothing positive or negative."
United cruised to the win in front of 83,127 at the ANZ Stadium with Robin van Persie marking his first pre-season appearance with a goal following two apiece from Danny Welbeck and youngster Jesse Lingard.
Welbeck's goals, his first in any game for United since the 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in February, came in the wake of a pep talk from Moyes about his recent poor form in front of goal.
"I told him [Welbeck] that he could have scored four or five, but you have to keep getting there to score and he did so," Moyes said. "I have said to him that, if he continues to work as hard for the team as he has been doing, he will get his rewards.
"He made the keeper save with his feet, was a bit unlucky at other times, had some great runs and I think he showed a bit of versatility about himself tonight. I was impressed."
Speaking after the game in Sydney, Moyes admitted that he was looking forward to locking horns with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho in 'mind games' after being asked about his readiness for that challenge by a Scottish reporter.
"It sounds like your accent is the same as mine, so you must be from Glasgow," Moyes said. "But if you're from Glasgow you quite enjoy those kind of things, so bring it on."
Meanwhile, United chief executive Woodward has revealed that the club is considering restoring the words "football club" – which were dropped 15 years ago in a controversial redesign – to their club crest.
Woodward, who added that there were no plans to rename Old Trafford, confirmed that both he and Joel Glazer, United's joint-chairman, and the member of the Glazer family most closely involved in the day-to-day running of the club, were uncomfortable with the present design.
"I didn't like that change," Woodward said of the 1998 redesign which removed the words "football club" from the United badge. "Joel didn't like that change. We will look at that and have a think about that.
"We are a football club. We are not a business. The way I described it to the staff was 'we are a 135-year-old club, and that's what you have to remember. We are a football club. A club with a capital C: Club'. And strapped to that is a commercial business that's going to fund a lot of the player purchases going forward here and we have to be supportive of both.
"We've got to make sure they co-exist together and don't impact each other and that's where we are trying to balance it. The heritage is not just important it is central to what we are trying to do. As an example we will not rename Old Trafford, the name is part of the fabric of the club. It means something to our fans."
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