Emmanuel Petit opens up on rejecting a move back to Arsenal

Former Arsenal star Emmanuel Petit has openly expressed regret over his decision to join Chelsea when he returned to the Premier League after his stint at Barcelona.

Having enjoyed a successful time at Arsenal, Petit moved to Barcelona but spent just one season there before seeking a return to English football. Both Chelsea and Manchester United were interested in signing him, while Arsene Wenger was also eager to bring him back to Arsenal and actively tried to convince him.

Ultimately, Petit made the choice to join Chelsea, a decision he now admits he regrets.

‘Arsenal approached me, but so did Manchester United.’ Petit told FourFourTwo

‘I spoke to Arsene. He really wanted me back, but I was honest with him: I said, ‘I appreciate it and it’s very tempting, but I didn’t feel that you wanted me to stay when I signed for Barcelona a year ago’. 

‘It’s like divorcing somebody: when you don’t feel desired by them, what’s the point of going back?”

Additionally, his wife wanted them to move to London. He said: ‘She wanted to go back to London – she didn’t want to live in Manchester – so I made the same mistake twice in one year.’

Just Arsenal Opinion

No one knows if it would have been a better move if he returned to Arsenal from Barcelona. However, having been a good player on our book previously, we can understand why Wenger wanted to work with him again.

Perhaps his regret will be a lesson to some players, but Cesc Fabregas made a similar career move and did not seem to regret it.

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4 Comments

  1. I see SENSIBLE no reason whatever, for Ad Martin to compare Fabregas’s situation with that of Petit. They are two completely separate players, who simply BOTH, at one timeor another, playedfor our club. That is NO reason to attempt to equate their personal decisions with the other persons decision. This is just the type of unthinking PART of an article,that I find so unthinking and tedious to read. Petit made his own decision, as did Fabregas, entirely separately, make his too.

    So what does one have to do with the other? Nothing whatsoever, OBVIOUSLY!!

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