Former Arsenal midfielder Serge Gnabry has revealed that Arsenal were eager to keep him at the Emirates, before his summer move to Werder Bremen.
Having left the Gunners for a reported fee of around £5m, Gnabry's resultant performances for WerderBremen and Germany have left many Arsenal fans feeling like they missed out.
He failed to become a first team regular at under Arsene Wenger, spending his last campaign on loan at West Brom, making just three appearances in 2015/16.
But despite a lack of game time, Gnabry has claimed that Arsenal were desperate for him to stay put before he left for the Bundesliga.
Serge Gnabry's Bundesliga season by numbers:
11 games
21 take-ons
20 chances created
5 goals
1 assist
He's flying. pic.twitter.com/120QyJwPSW
Speaking to Kicker - viaGoal-he said: "It was the right decision [to leave Arsenal]. Everybody who compares my development over the last four months to my time in England before that can't come to a different conclusion.
"That was the main reason for the transfer - I wanted to get more playing time and it worked. Arsenal wanted to keep me, badly. But I had to look after my development.
"If a player does not perform well, a club has no sympathy and they do not want to keep him."
The 21-year-old has scored five times in eleven Bundesliga appearances for Werder Bremen this season, an even more impressive total considering the club's league position of 16th.
He made a total of 18 appearances for the Arsenal first team after joining the club from Stuttgart as a 16-year-old in 2010.