Jack Wilshere delved down on what Cesc Fabregas’ departure from the Emirates indicated at Arsenal.
Fabregas left Arsenal after emerging as a prolific talent and being named captain in North London. In his final season, Arsenal briefly challenged for the Premier League title.
Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri left for Manchester United and Manchester City respectively a year later, on to win silverware. Wilshere, who also graduated from the club academy saw the downturn of expectations since his early days.
“Yeah it did [have a negative effect]. The big players like Robin and Nasri were asking the question like ‘Why is he going, we think we’re supposed to be challenging for the Premier League’,” Wilshere told The Lockdown Tactics podcast.
“Why is our best player and our captain leaving? Then you see obviously Nasri went to City and I got on really well with Samir and I remember having a conversation with him and he was saying what City are building, it’s hard not to want to be a part of that.
“I could understand where he was coming from but at the same time, it hurt because he was so good for us. He was going to be one of the reasons why we’d improve and start challenging. I’d always think back to that first season and when we came so close and thinking what would’ve happened. Would Cesc have stayed, attracted bigger players challenged in the Champions League? But year after year players left.”
“I saw it over when I first started to the expectation dropping even from then,” Wilshere added. “From the first season challenging for the Premier League to then challenging for the top four was what we were going for.”
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