5 stars sold by Arsenal who are now struggling

#5 Alexander Hleb

The skilful Belarussian’s career has gone down the drain ever since his move away

The Belarusian midfielder, who was once tipped for footballing greatness due to impact the results of the game as an attacker has seen his career turn into a travel catalogue since leaving Arsenal in 2008. Following his exploits with Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, Hleb arrived at Arsenal’s previous home, Highbury at the beginning of the 2005-06 season and immediately installed himself as a key figure under the aegis of Arsene Wenger with his creative displays.

During his three years in the North London, the midfielder featured in 129 games for the club. When the European heavyweights Barcelona came calling for the then 27-year-old at the end of 2007-08 season, neither Arsenal, who were offered a cumulative fee of € 17 million, nor Hleb were able to resist the temptation to make the move.

However, the move did not yield the desired result for either Hleb or Barcelona as within a year of joining the Catalan giants, he was deemed excess to the club’s requirement and spent the rest of his days on Barcelona books out on loan to Stuttgart, Birmingham and Wolfsburg. With injuries playing spoilsport on numerous occasions, the once exciting player soon turned into nothing more than a squad player.

He moved to Krylia Sovetov Samara in January 2012 and has since had stints with BATE Borisov, Konyaspor and Gençlerbirlii.

The 35-year-old is currently playing for BATE Borisov in Belarus and we wonder if not for a move that did not work in his favour and numerous injuries that hampered his progress, Hleb could have gone on to become one of the elite footballers in Europe.