Gael Clichy has been speaking to Onze Mondial about his time at Arsenal, and explained why he chose to leave for Manchester City in 2011.
What’s the story?
Well, the Frenchman swapped the Emirates Stadium for the Etihad Stadium in 2011, joining Roberto Mancini in Manchester in a £7m deal.
It brought an end to Clichy’s eight years at Arsenal, where he made 264 appearances for the Gunners.
The 36-year-old sounds like he genuinely loved Arsenal, but left in search of silverware as he aimed to fulfil his career aspirations.
Clichy said: “I needed to go up a level. I needed to reach a new step and I felt it was the time for me to turn the page. Winning trophies is something important in the career of a top level player. I needed a more important challenge to reach my goals.
“Going to City, without lacking respect to Arsenal, was necessary. In six years, I won two Premier Leagues. I discovered a new level.”
In truth, you can’t blame Clichy for leaving.
He gave his best years to Arsenal, helping them win the Premier League title in 2004 as well as the FA Cup in 2005.
Sadly, things just went a bit stale under Arsene Wenger, so it was no surprise to see Clichy become agitated at a lack of silverware.
Arsenal cannot allow a Gael Clichy repeat
Some supporters have their concerns over Mikel Arteta, but his recent recruitment record has been very impressive, in our view.
The Spaniard pushed for the signing of Aaron Ramsdale, which has paid off immensely, while the additions of Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney and Nuno Tavares were also admirable.
However, all that hard work will be undone if the Gunners do not put themselves in a position to win silverware in the next few years.
As you’ll know, it wasn’t just Clichy who left for trophies.
Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri – to name a few – also jumped ship due to Arsenal’s struggles, and Arteta can’t let that happen again.
Signing the aforementioned players is a hard enough job in itself, so Arsenal must be competitive and make those players want to spend their best years at the Emirates Stadium.
If not, Arteta shouldn’t be surprised if the likes of Tierney, Gabriel and Ramsdale following in Van Persie, Fabregas and Nasri’s footsteps.
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