Hleb: Emirates exit was an error

13 August 2009 08:29
The Belarus midfielder is back in Germany, four years after he left the Bundesliga, after a difficult first campaign at Barcelona. Hleb rarely featured as the Catalans stormed to the treble and he believes he should never have left north London. "Of course, I regret leaving Arsenal," he told ESPN. "I was playing every week for one of the most exciting sides in Europe, a team which was always in the top four in the Premier League and were Champions League contenders. "Also, I was being guided by one of the best coaches in the world in Arsene Wenger. I owe him a great deal. "I developed a better all-round game under him and I became more robust physically, learnt to look up more and play better passes and generally improved greatly as a team player. "No player ever gets worse under Wenger. For me, leaving Arsenal was not a good move. "A footballer only exists when he takes to the field and makes a proper contribution to the team and even though I was part of a Barca squad that was almost unstoppable, it was hard not to feel detached from all the happiness and celebration at the end." Arsenal also had a poor season as they finished in fourth place in the Premier League, 18 points behind Manchester United who also dumped them out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage, winning 4-1 on aggregate. However, Hleb feels Arsenal can usurp United this season. "Obviously, I still look out for Arsenal each week and I hope they can do well this time," he continued. "I think they will be in the top four again and could even push for the title if they don't have the terrible injuries of last season. "People forget the long unbeaten run they had after Christmas last season, which was a good sign for this season." It became obvious Hleb's time at Barca was coming to an end when the Catalan's offered him as part of the swap deal which took Samuel Eto'o to Inter Milan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic the other way. Hleb, who only made 19 Primera Division appearances and never found the back of the net for Barca, turned down a move to the San Siro but insists it is no reflection on Jose Mourinho's team. "Barca were my dream club as a kid, but I couldn't continue with them if the chance to play was not coming," he said. "I'm 28 and who knows how much time I've left in the game. "I needed to move on and the chance to go back to a place that I feel happy in was the best solution. It was more a pro-Stuttgart than an anti-Inter decision. "I was coming off the back of a season almost entirely spent on the bench at Barca and just wanted to go to a team where I was completely comfortable and could play regularly. "I had five very happy years at Stuttgart and know the club well, so no one needed to tell me how ambitious they are."

Source: Team_Talk