The Belarusian wishes he had never left the Gunners, after his dream move to Barcelona turned sour.
Aliaksandr Hleb has expressed his regret at his decision to leave Arsenal after he failed to impose himself on the first-team at Spanish giants Barcelona.
Hleb joined the Gunners from German outfit Stuttgart in 2005 and became a mainstay in the north London club's starting XI.
The Belarusian struggled at the Camp Nou, where he signing in 2008, and has now returned to Stuttgart on a season-long loan deal. However, he has admitted that leaving England was a move he looks back on with remorse.
"Of course I regret leaving Arsenal," Hleb told ESPN.
"I was playing every week for one of the most exciting sides in Europe, a team that 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, learnrd 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."
Hleb went on to explain his reasons for having to leave Barca, citing a lack of first-team opportunities as the main cause of his departure for Germany.
"Barca were my dream club as a kid, but I couldn't continue with them if the chance to play was not coming," he lamented.
"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."
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