Sokratis Papastathopoulos has released a statement in which he says it was his "choice" and an "honour" to play for Arsenal Under-23's against Everton on Friday.
The 32-year-old made his first appearance since the FA Cup final win over Chelsea in June, as he started in the Premier League 2 match alongside Calum Chambers, William Saliba and Joel Lopez at Emirates Stadium.
After the game Sokratis posted on social media that he was "happy to be back on the pitch", with reports in Greece suggesting afterwards that it was a 'relief' for him to get game time.
However, as football.london reported last month, the former Borussia Dortmund defender chose to play in the match as he looks to increase his match sharpness ahead of a potential January move.
"The fact that I went and played with Arsenal U23's but also that I will play again until January at least is clearly my choice and my honour!" he said.
"Sokratis as a GREEK footballer has played in teams such as AEK, Genoa, Milan, Bremen, Dortmund, Arsenal but also in his greatest love, ETHNIKI (Greek national team).
"In these 15 long years of my career, I have more than 560 appearances, over 25 goals, winning 6 titles in three different leagues, and three important tournaments with my country.
"My career is very big and will continue to grow even more, so you on the keyboard can continue to disrespect values and careers just to get a 'like' and a comment. We will speak from January."
Arsenal fans around the world responded to Sokratis' post on social media with messages of praise for his 'professionalism' with several comments saying the Greek international is a 'good example to the younger players' at the club.
