Ex-Gunner – My final season at Arsenal was difficult

Former Arsenal defender Sebastien Squillaci has spoken about his career at the north London club, and says it was a difficult time for him.

The former French international defender joined Arsenal from Sevilla in 2010 for a fee of around £4 million. However, he only made 23 Premier League appearances for the Gunners in three seasons and was allowed to leave on a free transfer in July 2013.

The 35-year-old, who is still playing professionally with Ligue 1 side Bastia, says that he found it difficult when he was regularly left out of the starting eleven.

It was difficult to swallow, especially because I played everywhere else before. But I was over 30.

However, even with the lack of game time, Squillaci humbly admitted that he couldn’t complain too much as he was still living a very good lifestyle and he was able to provide for his family.

I remain privileged. You have to be conscious of that. So, I trained even harder to try to stay physically in shape. I also know on a daily basis to gauge how fortunate I have been to do this job. I started my professional career at AC Ajaccio, in Ligue 2, and I remember that we often changed training ground because the club did not have one and that we had to clean our kit at home.

The defender also admitted that he contemplated going out on loan during his final season at Arsenal, but he felt it would disrupt his young family too much, so he decided to stay put in London.

My final season at Arsenal was particularly difficult. I could have sent myself out on loan in order to play more, but we had just had a little girl. We would have had to move everything whilst knowing that we would move again anyway the following season.