French right-back Mathieu Debuchy has revealed that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger blocked a potential move to Manchester United at the end of the January transfer window. Debuchy was allowed to leave the north London club on loan in January but the French boss did not want to strengthen a direct rival.
The 30-year-old defender eventually joined French Ligue 1 side Bordeaux on loan until the end of the current season on deadline day after finding game time hard to come by at the Emirates. The rise of Hector Bellerin last season after Debuchy was injured twice confirmed the young Spaniard as the first-choice right-back, thereby demoting Debuchy to the bench.
Trending
Speaking to Canal+, Debuchy said: “I was disappointed, obviously. If I had the chance to go to Manchester United it would have been magnificent.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case. I discussed it with the coach too, who said that obviously he couldn’t help out a rival.”
The last player to move between the two clubs was Danny Welbeck when he left the Red Devils to join the Gunners last season for a fee in the region of £16m. Players rarely move between the two clubs with Robin van Persie being the other high-profile player to make the switch to Old Trafford.
When Debuchy was asked whether he took the decision well, he said he was annoyed but ultimately could not do a thing about it as it was Wenger’s choice.
“Yes, I’m a little bit annoyed with him,” Debuchy said of Wenger. “It’s his choice.”
Wenger did not give me the game-time he promised: Debuchy
Debuchy has seen ups and downs in his career after making the £12m switch from Newcastle United to Arsenal prior to the star of the 2014/15 season. Although he impressed for the Gunners, two separate injuries over the course of the season – an ankle injury and a shoulder injury – saw him lose his spot to Bellerin.
This season, he had only played two games in the league and saw his appearances restricted to the Capital One Cup and two Champions League games – both of which Arsenal lost (he only played 8 minutes in the third game – a 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb).
Debuchy thought that he had come back stronger this season after a nightmare campaign in 2014/15 and even spoke to Wenger about increased game-time.
“I came back well this summer, I had a good pre-season,” Debuchy explained.
“I was able to talk to him to know my future at Arsenal. He said that I would have game time and that we would discuss it in December. Unfortunately, I didn’t have this game time.”
Manchester united are currently short on full-backs after losing Luke Shaw to a horrific injury while Matteo Darmian recently dislocated his shoulder and will be sidelined for a few weeks.
