'I left Arsenal and ended up at Chelsea feeling disgusted and lying to club medical staff'

Emmanuel Petit spent just one season at Barcelona after leaving Arsenal for the Nou Camp in 2000, before moving to Chelsea, and he has admitted he regrets the decision

Emmanuel Petit once spoke out about his decision to leave Arsenal for Barcelona - a move that still weighs heavily on his mind.

The midfielder enjoyed a phenomenal spell with the Gunners after signing in 1997, reuniting with his former Monaco manager Arsene Wenger. Petit's three-year stint saw him play an integral role in Arsenal's 1998 Premier League and FA Cup double.

Following his success at Euro 2000 with France, where he added to his 1998 World Cup victory, Petit made the switch to Barcelona alongside team-mate Marc Overmars, for a combined £7million.

However, his time in Spain was marred by injuries and limited first-team opportunities. Petit expressed his deep regret over leaving Arsenal in 2020, when he reflected on Philippe Coutinho's struggles at Barcelona following his £142m transfer from Liverpool in 2018.

"If I was Philippe Coutinho, every morning I would wake up and think to myself, 'Why, why, did I sign [for Barcelona] in Spain? '" Petit shared with the Mirror.

"And do you know why I say this? Because, I can remember the time when I'd wake up, when I was at Barcelona, when I left Arsenal, and I was thinking the same way, 'why did I leave? Why did I leave? Why did I leave?'

"And to be honest with you I am sure Coutinho has been asking himself the same question for a while now. He left for Bayern Munich, he does sometimes play well, but he's not really a first-team player."

During his brief spell at Barcelona, Petit switched to Chelsea, which ultimately became the final stop in his professional career. Initially seeming to have made a great start in west London, a string of knee injuries soon saw him frequently benched by then-manager Claudio Ranieri, culminating in his release from the club in 2004.

The French midfielder expressed his displeasure over how things wrapped up at Chelsea, revealing his sentiments on SFR Sport 1's The Locker Room: "I really didn't like the way it ended in the dressing room, with the medical staff and the president [Abramovich] at Chelsea.

"I was even disgusted. That's why I left and didn't give them any news about me after that. My performances had been suffering because my knee was a mess, but I put things off.

"I hid the truth from the medical staff. I still had the hunger."