Matt Macey has revealed that he wanted to leave Arsenal at every possible opportunity.
The English goalkeeper quit the Gunners in January to join Scottish side Hibernian, where he is now thir first-choice stopper.
The 27-year-old was on Arsenal’s books since 2013 but never managed a single Premier League appearance.
In total, Macey only clocked a handful of senior games for the Emirates Stadium club.
And although the player himself has told The Daily Record that he attempted to leave every transfer window, no move of any description would ever materialise.
Macey, who only left London Colney at the age of 26, said: “I get asked a lot if I could have left Arsenal earlier. It’s not always as easy as that at a big club. There are responsibilities for the manager to protect, in terms of players picking up injuries at the top level.
“One thing I’d say is that every summer, I always looked to go and play football, whether it was on loan or to leave Arsenal. For whatever reason it didn’t happen. I’m just lucky that when I did decide to make the jump, it worked out really well at Hibs.”
There’s no comparison between Hibs and Arsenal in terms of club size.
But Macey won’t care about that. This is the first time in his professional career that he’s ever been a key player for a club that owned him.
And although he isn’t confronting the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Cristiano Ronaldo or Harry Kane down in the Premier League, he’s playing regularly and after spending so long as a spectator with the Gunner, that’ll suit the player just fine.
As covered by HITC Sport at the time, Macey sough the advice of Scotland internatioal and former Celtic star Kieran Tierney before moving up North.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
