Cesc Fabregas says he left Arsenal
for Barcelona in 2011 for a number of reasons, including his
relationship with some former team-mates, pressure on winning trophies
and the club’s lack of recruitment.
Fabregas
joined Arsenal from Barca as a 15-year-old in 2003 and went on to make
303 appearances across all competitions before returning to the Nou
Camp, where he then joined Chelsea, and now plays for Monaco in Ligue 1.
In
a wide-ranging interview with Arseblog, the 32-year-old spoke openly
about his decision to leave the Gunners nine years ago, citing a number
of different reasons, admitting that he felt Robin van Persie and Samir
Nasri were the only players “on his level” and that he had many
“sleepless nights”.
“I was the captain, I always felt so
much pressure on myself,” Fabregas said. “I had to lead this team to win
something. I gave everything. Sometimes, I used to go home after we
lost and I used to cry.
“I used to suffer, I used to spend
sleepless nights suffering. And then you lose a game, you’re in the bus
like this, destroyed, and then you hear some players laughing, thinking
about where they will be going out later.
“This
was going on for a few years. We were playing beautiful football and I
enjoyed that side of things but I was putting pressure on myself to
lead, to do everything and at one point I felt kind of lonely.
“Especially
in the last two or three years, I felt Robin and Samir were the only
players – it’s not an arrogant thing to say, it’s how I felt at that
time – were the players who were at my level mentally and technically.
“Many
things came in my head, I have to admit I was a bit empty, I was
drained mentally, physically, in my soul knowing I’m giving everything,
knowing a few signings the club could have made but didn’t happen.
“Seeing
some behaviours from certain players or something like this made me
feel I wanted to check something else. If it was not because of that, I
would not have left Arsenal at that time.”
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