© EuroFootball.com
Last week, the Frenchman Robert Pires, who officially transferred to the club from London, admitted that it was very difficult for him to leave the English team.
The 32-year-old midfielder decided to move to Spain after "Arsenal," sticking to their policy of offering only one-year contracts to players over 30, refused to sign a new two-year contract. Meanwhile, "Villarreal" took advantage of this opportunity and attracted the player to their team.
Pires arrived at "Arsenal" 6 years ago from the French club "Marseille" and was one of the team leaders almost the entire time. In 2002, the midfielder won the Player of the Year award, and a year later, helped his team win the English Premier League and FA Cup titles.
However, in recent years, the Frenchman lost the trust of coach Arsene Wenger and spent more and more time on the bench, giving way to the Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes on the field. As the player himself states, the last straw that broke his patience was when "Arsenal" goalkeeper Jens Lehmann received a red card and he had to leave the field at the very beginning of the UEFA Champions League final, giving his place to the backup goalkeeper.
"It was a terrible moment for me," said Pires. "One moment I was enjoying the final, and the next I was sitting on the bench. Although the coach had to change a player, the fact that he chose me shows that I lost his trust."
"It was very difficult for me to make the decision to leave the team where I spent 6 fantastic years. However, in recent years I was not completely satisfied with the role I played in the team, so I had to leave."
It was announced that after Pires left, "Arsenal" signed a contract with Czech national team midfielder Tomas Rosicky. The team is also actively interested in acquiring the young 18-year-old left-back Adil Chihi from the team "Koln," who made his debut for the Moroccan national team in a match against Mali on Sunday.
