Wenger cool over Hleb exit

12 April 2012

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger described himself as "comfortable" with the decision to sell Alexander Hleb to Barcelona.

The Belarus midfielder joined Mathieu Flamini in leaving the Emirates Stadium after the end of last season, and although Wenger had initially been keen to retain his services he was content with the terms of a deal worth an initial £11.8million, rising to a possible £13.5million.

"We must firstly thank Alex for his contribution towards Arsenal during his time with us. He played a significant role in the three seasons he was with the club," said the Frenchman. "We are comfortable with our decision to let him go and we are all looking forward to continuing our preparations for the new season ahead."

He continued: "Everyone at Arsenal wishes Alex the best of luck for the future."

Hleb, 27, meanwhile, has set his sights on helping Barcelona return to their trophy-winning ways after completing his "dream" move to the Catalan giants.

"I want to give my best for this club. I have realised a dream. My aim is to win many trophies," he said.

Hleb also hopes his versatility will be an asset to new Barca coach Pep Guardiola, insisting he is willing to play anywhere on the pitch.

"I am available to the coach to play in any position, including goalkeeper," he joked during his presentation on Wednesday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in