Arshavin: Crushing time on the bench at Arsenal left me on the verge of depression
Andrey Arshavin has claimed that his time on the bench at Arsenal left him on the verge of depression.
The talented Russian has re-signed for Zenit St Petersburg following the expiration of his Gunners contract, just over four years after at £15million becoming the club's record signing and having made such a promising start to his Premier League career.
Last season was another in which he rarely featured when manager Arsene Wenger, whose patience in the forward appeared to have run out some time ago, limited him to only 80 minutes in the league, and it is this, he says, that had such an effect.
The fact is I didn’t want to stay in England, this was clear since January,' said Arshavin, who is understood to have been paid around £85,00 a week in London, to
Sport Express.
I don’t regret anything, but I had to leave.
It was a punishment sat on the bench. To train even though you know you won’t play – it is psychologically difficult.
'I nearly suffered depression, but I didn’t because I’m mentally strong. The monotony of life there was crushing me.'
At the same time as Arshavin's departure, Arsenal also confirmed that Sebastien Squillaci and Denilson were to leave the club. Unlike those two, however, Arshavin was once considered a key player but this instance is not the first in which he has similarly suffered.
The forward was left out of Arsenal's starting line up for their 1-0 defeat away to Sunderland in 2009, when Wenger felt he was so low as a consequence of Russia's failure to qualify for the World Cup that he could not be relied upon to start.
Andrey is very down,' Wenger said then. 'He came back from international duty very low and that’s the main reason I did not play him from the start against Sunderland.
You want players to be 100 per cent focused and play a game like it’s a matter of life or death, so it is impossible not to be down if you don’t win. If you care, you are down.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2350829/Arsenal-spell-left-verge-depression-says-Andrey-Arshavin.html#ixzz2XaoHIhz4
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[ 此帖被Ar敬在2013-06-29 01:42重新編輯 ]
