Alexander Hleb has offered up a stark admission that he should have never left Arsenal for Barcelona back in 2008.
Hleb was one of the more under-heralded cogs in an Arsene Wenger side which went agonisingly close to winning the Champions League in 2006.
Arriving from VFB Stuttgart ahead of the 2005/06 season, the midfielder took his game to another level at Arsenal.
He started in the aforementioned Champions League final loss to Barcelona at the end of his debut season before leaving for Spain in the summer of 2008.
Hleb insists he was happy in London at the time but remembers his agent persuading him to make the move.
“It’s still difficult for me to explain why I left Arsenal,” Hleb told Planet Football. “I was absolutely happy there. Arsene completely trusted me, it was idyllic. And then I decided to leave.
“I was on vacation and agents and managers convinced me that I had to go to Barcelona. At some point, I realised, ‘Oh god! I’m leaving Arsenal!’
"To be honest, I didn’t really understand what I was doing."
Hleb added that Wenger did all he could to stop him leaving for Barcelona, with the Belarus international in tears after reading one of his ex-manager's texts.
“When Arsene said that it was a matter of hours, I felt devastated. It was really hard for me to accept that. Wenger did everything to make me stay at Arsenal," Hleb added.
“He even texted me as I was fishing. ‘Alex, I won’t let you go, we need you here.’ I cried when I read it.”
